Wickhamford Manor,

Wickhamford Wickhamford is a village and a civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is situated on the A44 road approximately halfway between the towns of Evesham and Broadway. It is mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book under the name of ''Wiquene'' ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

dating from the 16th century. It was the childhood home of

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extens ...

, the writer. The manor is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

History

The manor was originally a

monastic grange Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by Monastery, monasteries independent of the Manorialism, manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians, and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, mo ...

in the possession of

Evesham Abbey Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in Worcestershire, England between 700 and 710 following an alleged vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary by a swineherd by the name of Eof. According to the monastic history, Evesh ...

. Following the Dissolution of the monasteries, it was granted by

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

to Thomas Throckmorton in 1562. Throckmorton sold the manor to

Samuel Sandys Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys (10 August 1695 – 21 April 1770) was an English Whigs (British political party), Whig politician and peer who represented Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), Worcester in the House of Commons of Great Brit ...

in 1594 and the Sandys family retained ownership until 1860. Penelope Washington, daughter of a later Sandys and a distant relative of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, lived at the manor in the 17th century. Her tomb in the estate church of St John the Baptist, is carved with the

Washington coat of arms The first coat of arms of a member of the Washington family is first documented in the 14th century, borne by one of the male Washington family members of Washington Old Hall in County Durham, England. The design (three red stars over tw ...

, three stars above two bars (or stripes), which is traditionally assumed to be the origin of the Stars and Stripes, although this is disputed. In 1906 the manor was bought by George Lees-Milne. The Lees, and their relatives the Cromptons, were originally from Lancashire, where they had made considerable fortunes from coal mining and cotton spinning. In 1908, George's son

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

was born at the house. An exaggerated portrait of his parents as "a pair of ludicrous eccentrics", and his difficult relationships with them is recorded in the early chapters of his volume of autobiography, ''Another Self''. George Lees-Milne sold Wickhamford in 1947, two years before his death. In 2010, it was again for sale, at a guide price of £2.95 million.

Architecture and description

Pevsner describes the grouping of manor house, ancillary buildings and church around a lake, originally a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

fish pond, as "highly picturesque". The present manor buildings date from the 16th century, with later additions. It has a

timber frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

, infilled with

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

, is of two storeys and built to an ''E''-plan. Much is early 20th century reconstruction and expansion undertaken by George Lees-Milne. The

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

by the lake is genuinely medieval, dating from the 13th century, and has its own Grade II listing.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Cite book , last=Vile, first=John R. , title=The American Flag: An Encyclopedia of the Stars and Stripes in U.S. History, Culture, and Law , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WUFvDwAAQBAJ&q=five+acts&pg=PA342 , year=2018 , publisher=ABC-CLIO , isbn=978-1-4408-5789-8 Buildings and structures in Worcestershire Grade II listed buildings in Worcestershire Country houses in Worcestershire