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| Great Witley | |
|---|---|
 The Hundred House, Great Witley | |
  Great Witley Location withinWorcestershire | |
| Population | 743 (2021) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Worcester |
| Postcode district | WR6 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament |
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Great Witley is a village andcivil parish in theMalvern Hills District in the northwest of the county ofWorcestershire, England. It is situated around ten miles to the north west of the city ofWorcester. The parish had a population of 743 in 2021.[1]
The civil parish shares agroup parish council withHillhampton, known as the Great Witley and Hillhampton Parish Council.[2]
There has been a settlement in the area since before theNorman Conquest.
Great Witley was in the lower division ofDoddingtree Hundred.[3]
Following thePoor Law Amendment Act 1834 Great Witley Parish ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred toMartley Poor Law Union.[4]
The village is home toWitley Court, aJacobeancountry house extended on a number of occasions throughout its history, but which became derelict after a spectacular fire in 1937. Themansion, formerly one of the finest in the Midlands, is now in the care ofEnglish Heritage, who describe it as their number one ruin. They have restored the extensive gardens leaving the skeletal ruin of the building overlooking them.
Nearby isWoodbury Hill commanding extensive views south to theMalvern Hills and over theRiver Teme valley to the west. On the summit is anIron Age hillfort.Owain Glyndŵr's army ofWelsh andFrench camped here for eight days in the summer of 1405 facing an army ofKing Henry IV atAbberley Hill. Skirmishes took place but neither large force initiated full-scale battle and the Welsh withdrew under nightfall back toWales. The location was also used as a meeting place during theEnglish Civil War byClubmen from the local farms and cottages.
From 1843 to 1846Queen Adelaide, the widow of KingWilliam IV resided at Witley Court. Whilst there she financed the first village school.[5]
The church, ofSaint Michael and All Angels, is a brick building but like the adjoining Witley Court was faced with bath stone by theGloucester architectSamuel Daukes in the 1850s. The interior is one of the finest ItalianBaroque churches inBritain originally fromCannons House atEdgware in Middlesex and fitted to Daukes's building byJames Gibbs. It was completed in 1735.[6]
It incorporates a richly gilded ceiling with a number of paintings byAntonio Bellucci, a funerary monument toThomas Lord Foley and his family byJohn Michael Rysbrack and ten large paintedstained glass windows byJoshua Price dated 1719–1721.[7][8][9]
Beneath the church is the burial vault of the owners of Witley Court, where – among many others –William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, is buried in a splendid marble sarcophagus. In 2014 thecrypt, which contains nine lead coffins, was reopened to the public and can now be visited on Saturdays and Sundays. On display there is also the restoredSamuel Thorp clock. The clock was commissioned by a laterBaron Foley in 1804 and served the Court and the Church until 1877 until it was replaced by the present clock.[10]
The village is home to the Grade IIlistedcoaching inn The Hundred House Hotel,[12] once the collection point foragriculturaltithes from the districts or 'hundred (division)s' of the local area. In this instance theDoddingtree Hundred.
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