Witley Court

I had decided earlier in the week that I'd do a slightly different kind of shot for Derelict Thursday this week: I wanted to take some photos of the derelict mansion at Great Witley, which is now run by English Heritage. In the event I almost rethought the plan because by the time I'd walked the dogs this morning it was heaving down; but after two days of lovely light I really didn't fancy sitting at home in our little valley in that kind of weather - which is like being shut in a Tupperware bowl with a leaky lid - so off I went in search of an interesting experience.

And it was interesting. Interesting, and very, very damp. It was raining in the peculiarly wetting way that happens in Worcestershire (which I believe learned almost everything it knows from Wales), and even though I delayed getting the camera out until the last possible moment, by the time I'd taken half a dozen shots the lens was dripping and I couldn't read the LED screen for water. On the plus side, the place was almost deserted - of the ten people I saw while I was there, six were stewards; and when I got simply too cold and wet to carry on I was able to go into the church (which not only isn't derelict, it's actually heated ), and chat to the nice man there about the history of the place while I steamed gently and regained the feeling in my fingers.

So: Witley Court. It was originally built by the Foley family in the C17th, but a couple of hundred years later they sold it to William Ward, the 1st Earl of Dudley, who had inherited a fortune made from industry in the Black Country. The Wards (from whom the actress Rachel Ward is descended) kept the property until 1920 and then sold it to a Kidderminster carpet manufacturer. In 1937 a fire broke out in the kitchens and did considerable damage to some of the state rooms; the carpet manufacturer couldn't afford the repair bill, so the estate was put up for auction - but with war looming in Europe there were no buyers for the house. Eventually it fell into the hands of some salvage dealers from Stratford-upon-Avon, who stripped it of everything saleable and left the rest to vandals and the weather. In the 1970s it was made the subject of a guardianship order by the Government, and in 1984 it was put into the care of English Heritage, which has made the structure of the house safe for visitors to explore, and restored the garden and the fountains. There are woodland and lakeside walks, which I was told are especially lovely in the late spring. The church, which looks quite severely Georgian from the outside but has an extraordinary Italianate baroque interior, is still in use and has also been extensively restored via private donations.

I've put quite a few more shots of the Court on Flickr, starting here. There is more information about the estate here and here, and about the church here. It's all very well worth visiting - but I'd recommend a drier day!