Madresfield Court facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Madresfield Court
The court across the moat
Type	Country house
Location	Madresfield, Worcestershire
OS grid reference	SO8087347463
Built	late Medieval (original house), 1866-1888, Victorian reconstruction
Architect	Philip Charles Hardwick, for the Victorian rebuilding
Architectural style(s)	vernacular
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Madresfield Court, including bridge, retaining wall and North service court
Designated	25 March 1968
Reference no.	1098779
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Wellhead at Madrefield Court
Designated	9 February 1988
Reference no.	1166846
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Stables south of Madresfield Court
Designated	9 February 1988
Reference no.	1098780
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Gates and Gateway northwest of Home Farm, Madresfield Court
Designated	9 February 1988
Reference no.	1098778
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Home Farmhouse and attached dairy, Madresfield Court
Designated	9 February 1988
Reference no.	1098777
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Madresfield Court is a large country house located in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. This historic home has been owned by the Lygon family for almost 600 years. It has never been sold, only passed down through generations. This makes its family ownership one of the longest in England, second only to homes owned by the British Royal Family.

The building you see today was mostly rebuilt in the Victorian era. However, parts of the house date back to the 1500s. The land itself has been lived on since Anglo-Saxon times. The famous writer Evelyn Waugh often visited Madresfield Court. He even based the Marchmain family in his novel Brideshead Revisited on the Lygon family. Madresfield Court is surrounded by a moat and is considered a very important historic building, known as a Grade I listed building.

History of Madresfield Court

Early Beginnings: From 1086 to 1746

The name Madresfield comes from an old English word meaning 'mower's field'. While Madresfield is not in the 1086 Domesday Book, it is mentioned in another old record from that year. It was owned by Urse d'Abetot, who was the Sheriff of Worcestershire.

By 1196, the de Bracy family owned the manor. They kept it for 300 years. Then, in 1419 or 1420, Joan Bracy married Thomas Lygon. This marriage started the long connection between Madresfield Court and the Lygon family. In 1450, Joan's mother left the manor to their only son, William. Since then, the house has been the Lygon family home.

The Lygons were important landowners, though not super rich, until Richard Lygon married Anne Beauchamp. She was one of three daughters who inherited from Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp in the late 1400s. In 1593, Madresfield Court was rebuilt, replacing an older building from the 1400s.

A New Era: From 1747 to 1865

In 1806, William Lygon was given the title of baronet. Later, in 1815, he became an Earl, known as Earl Beauchamp.

The family's wealth grew a lot after a distant relative, William Jennens, died in 1798. He was known as "William the Miser" and was said to be the richest commoner in England. Jennens had made a huge fortune from inheritance, buying and selling stocks, property, and lending money. When he died without a will, his fortune was divided among three distant relatives. William Lygon's share was worth about £40 million in 2012 money.

Because there was no will, his estate became part of a very long court case called Jennens and Jennens. This case lasted for over 100 years. It even inspired Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House, where a similar long court case is a main part of the story.

Victorian Changes: From 1866 to 1919

In 1866, the title of Earl and Madresfield Court passed to Frederick Lygon. His older brother and father, both named Henry, had died within three years of each other. Frederick Lygon quickly continued a major rebuilding of the court that his brother had started. This building work went on until the 6th Earl died in 1891.

Madresfield and Brideshead Revisited: From the 1920s to 1938

Madresfield was the home of the 7th Earl Beauchamp. He had a successful career in politics and society. After some personal difficulties, the Earl had to leave England in 1931.

After the Earl left, Evelyn Waugh became good friends with three of the Beauchamp daughters. He visited the house often. Waugh had already been close to Hugh Lygon, the Earl's second son, when they were at Oxford. The main family in Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, the Flytes, are based on the Beauchamp family.

The narrator in Brideshead Revisited once said, "More even than the work of great architects, I loved buildings that grew silently with the centuries, catching and keeping the best of each generation." This shows how special Madresfield Court was.

Documents released in January 2006 showed that emergency plans were made during World War II. If Germany had successfully invaded Britain after the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were to be moved to Madresfield. Five years later, it was confirmed that this 1940 plan was part of older invasion plans from 1938. If an invasion happened, the entire UK government would move to Worcestershire, and the royal family would stay at Madresfield.

Modern Times: From 1939 to Today

After the 7th Earl died in New York in 1938, his son Lord Elmley inherited the court. The atmosphere created by the 8th Earl and his wife, Mona, was not welcoming to most of the family. As a result, three of his sisters left the house and did not return for 50 years. Before her death in 1989, Mona, Countess Beauchamp, created the Elmley Foundation. This foundation supports the arts in the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The house was never open to the public while she was alive.

From 1970, Madresfield Court was the home of Rosalind, Lady Morrison, who was William and Mona's niece. As of 2012, her daughter, Lucy Chenevix-Trench, lives in and manages the house. In 2014, the inside of the house was extensively redecorated by designers Todhunter Earle. Madresfield Court has never been sold or bought in its history. It has always been passed down through the Lygon family, sometimes through the female line.

Architecture and Design

Outside the Court

Madresfield Court is described as "a moated house of considerable size." The current building started in the 1500s, but the site was used even earlier. The Tudor house was built like a typical manor house surrounded by a moat. The original bridge and entrance tower are from the 1500s, though they have been repaired. A stone panel above the gatehouse, which has been moved, shows the names of Sir William Lygon and his wife, Elizabeth, and the date 1593.

The house was greatly repaired and rebuilt between 1866 and 1888 by Philip Charles Hardwick. He worked for the 5th and 6th Earls, creating what is now called a "Victorian fantasy." Hardwick followed the main shape of the old building, but the work was more of a complete reconstruction than just a repair. Only two out of over 150 rooms were left untouched. The work finished around 1890. The original Great Hall, built in the 1100s, is still at the center of the building. Many experts believe the internal courtyard is the most impressive part of Madresfield.

Inside the Court

The Chapel

The chapel was decorated in the Arts and Crafts style. Artists from the Birmingham Group, including Henry Payne, William Bidlake, and Charles March Gere, worked on it. The decoration was a wedding gift in 1902 from Lady Lettice Grosvenor to her husband, the 7th Earl. However, work continued until 1923. The murals on the chapel walls include pictures of the couple and their seven children, shown in scenes with Christian symbols.

The Library

The 7th Earl Beauchamp made the library larger by combining it with what used to be the billiard room. This helped it hold its collection of 8,000 books. The Earl chose Charles Robert Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft to decorate the new room. Ashbee created beautiful carvings of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge on the ends of two bookshelves. The Earl himself hand-embroidered the colorful covers for several of the library's chairs during his years living abroad.

The Staircase Hall

Another change made by the 7th Earl was creating a grand staircase hall. He combined three smaller rooms in the middle of the house. This was designed by the architect Randall Wells. The hall rises two stories high to a ceiling with three large, domed skylights. A balcony runs along two sides of the upper level. Its railing has balusters made of clear quartz crystal.

The large fireplace, made of alabaster, porphyry, and green serpentine stone, was a wedding gift to Lettice, Countess Beauchamp, in 1902. It came from her brother, the 2nd Duke of Westminster. It was carefully moved from his house, Eaton Hall, in 1910 and rebuilt in the Staircase Hall at Madresfield. Dozens of portraits, many of them of Lygon family members from different centuries, cover the walls. Around the top of the walls, a quote from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Adonais is stenciled: "The one remains, the many change and pass; Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly; Life, like a dome of many-colour'd glass, Stains the white radiance of eternity; Until Death tramples it to fragments."

Gardens and Grounds

The Madresfield estate, including its gardens and park, is also listed as a Grade II* historic site.

Other Buildings and Structures

Several other buildings and structures on the Madresfield estate have their own separate historic listings.

• A late-1800s wellhead near the court is listed as Grade II.
• The North lodge, the South lodge, the lodge cottages near the Home Farm, and the stable block are all listed as Grade II.
• At the home farm, the farmhouse itself, the farm gates and gateway, and a dovecote are also listed as Grade II.