Coughton Court - The West Front - a photo on Flickriver

A visit to Coughton Court in Warwickshire, on the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend in late May 2018. A National Trust property, it was the home of the Throckmorton family.

Coughton Court is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building.

The house has a long crenelated façade directly facing the main road, at the centre of which is the Tudor Gatehouse, dating from 1530; this has hexagonal turrets and oriel windows in the English Renaissance style. The gatehouse is the oldest part of the house and is flanked by later wings, in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style, popularised by Horace Walpole.

The Coughton estate has been owned by the Throckmorton family since 1409. The estate was acquired through marriage to the De Spinney family. Coughton was rebuilt by Sir George Throckmorton, the first son of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton Court by Catherine Marrow, daughter of William Marrow of London. The great gatehouse at Coughton was dedicated to King Henry VIII by Throckmorton, a favorite of the King. Throckmorton would become notorious due to his almost fatal involvement in the divorce between King Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Throckmorton favoured the queen and was against the Reformation. Throckmorton spent most of his life rebuilding Coughton. In 1549, when he was planning the windows in the great hall, he asked his son Nicholas to obtain from the heralds the correct tricking (colour abbreviations) of the arms of his ancestors' wives and his own cousin and niece by marriage Queen Catherine Parr. The costly recusancy (refusal to attend Anglican Church services) of Robert Throckmorton and his heirs restricted later rebuilding, so that much of the house still stands largely as he left it.

After Throckmorton's death in 1552, Coughton passed to his eldest son, Robert. Robert Throckmorton and his family were practicing Catholics therefore the house at one time contained a priest hole, a hiding place for priests during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The Hall also holds a place in English history for its roles in both the Throckmorton Plot of 1583 to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, although the Throckmorton family were themselves only indirectly implicated in the latter, when some of the Gunpowder conspirators rode directly there after its discovery.

The house has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1946. The family, however, hold a 300-year lease and previously managed the property on behalf of the Trust. In 2007, however, the house reverted to management by the National Trust. The management of the property is renewed every 10 years. The family tenant until recently was Clare McLaren-Throckmorton, known professionally as Clare Tritton QC, until she died on 31 October 2017.

The house, which is open to the public all year round, is set in extensive grounds including a walled formal garden, a river and a lake.

The gatehouse at Coughton was built at the earliest in 1536, as it is built of stones which came from Bordesley Abbey and Evesham Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries Act in 1536. As with other Tudor houses, it was built around a courtyard, with the gatehouse used for deliveries and coaches to travel through to the courtyard. The courtyard was closed on all four sides until 1651, when Parliamentary soldiers burnt the fourth (east) wing, along with many of the Throckmorton's family papers, during the English Civil War.

After the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829, the Throckmorton family were able to afford large-scale building works, allowing them to remodel the west front.

Grade I Listed Building

Coughton Court

Listing Text

COUGHTON
SP06SE
1/144 Coughton Court
10/02/56

GV I

Country house, Gatehouse late C15, and after 1518; early and late C16; late C17
additions; west front remodelled 1780; additions and remodelling of 1835(VCH).
Limestone ashlar gatehouse. Timber framed with lath and plaster infill; brick;
imitation stone render. Tile and lead roofs; brick stacks, U-plan, formerly
courtyard. 2 and 3 storeys; 13-window range. Entrance (west) front symmetrical.
3 storey central gatehouse range has moulded plinth and double string course.
Square ground floor with corner turrets. C19 Gothic panelled part-glazed
double-leaf doors in 4-centred moulded arch with square head, hood mould and
carved spandrels. Stone mullioned and transomed windows with arched lights
throughout. Upper floors of different coloured stone. 2-storey canted oriel with
flanking lights and glazed octagonal turrets; 2 transoms on first floor, one on
second. Shield of arms on each floor. Turrets continued up another floor'; left
turret unglazed. Remainder 2 storeys only. Single 5-light window with transom
and hood mould. Clasping buttresses with quatrefoil panels projecting above
roof. Crenellated parapets with string course throughout. Remainder of front of '
scored imitation ashlar with stucco hood moulds. Ground floor has leaded 2-light
casements, 3 slightly recessed bays have Gothick sashes and moulded surrounds on
first floor. Projecting end bays with clasping buttresses. First floor: leaded
cross windows. String course above first floor. Attic with quatrefoil panels,
some part glazed. String course and crenellated parapet. Right return side of
thin bricks. Two C17 shaped gables with stone coping. Left gable between 2
external brick stacks; right gable has ball finials. 5-window range, mostly C17
stone cross windows. Narrow gabled wing set back. High single-storey range with
early C20 window, and plaster eaves cove. East front of gatehouse has unglazed
turrets and inscription over entrance. Irregular ranges to courtyard. Timber
framed with brick ground floor. Corresponding small 4-centred door. Irregular
fenestration with moulded stone mullioned windows ground floor, wood mullions
and casements above; some with transoms. 2 storey south range has close studding
with middle rail. Left section breaks forward and has 4 framed gables with
brackets. Entrance in recessed bay below third gable has 4-centred moulded
doorway with square head, hood mould and carved spandrels. Paired 6-panelled
doors with Gothick overlight. Right section has 2 large gables, and another
behind and above in roof, with decorative panel framing. Elaborately carved
scrolled bargeboards with finials and openwork pendants. End wall has gable.
Ground floor has 2 stone cross windows with arched lights. Blocked arches above
and in centre. 2-storey and attic north range. Close studding. 3 large framed
gables and smaller end gable all with casements and brackets. Ground floor has
four 3-light mullioned and transomed windows. First floor projects on plaster
cove. Blank gabled end wall. Left return side: range of c.1690. Scored render
with quoins. 3 projecting bays with hipped roofs. 4-centred doorway. Slightly
projecting first floor. Irregular fenestration with wood mullioned and transomed
windows. Interior: Entrance Hall with plaster fan vault. Late C18 open well
cantilevered staircase with moulded soffit and simple handrail; Gothick
plasterwork cornice. Drawing Room has simple early Cl6 stone fireplace. Windows
with C16,C17 and C19 armorial glass. Gothick plasterwork cornice. 6-panelled
doors. Little Drawing Room has C18 style carved wooden fireplace. Newel
staircase to roof. Tower Room has moulded 4-centred fireplace with carved
spandrels and projecting top. Two 4-centred doorways. North east turret has 2
hiding places. Dining Room and Tribune have fine C16 panelling possibly with
later work, turned balusters, grotesques and medallions with heads. Fine marble
chimneypiece with paired Ionic and Corinthian columns, cartouche and coat of
arms, Saloon, formed 1910, has arcaded panelled screen c.1660 (VCH) to Tribune.

C16 double-flight staircase from Harvington hall with heavy turned balusters and
square newel posts with finials. Study has fine C17 panelling with pilasters.
Ground floor with broad-chamfered ceiling beams. North range has part of a fine
C16 panelled timber cieling with moulded ribs and carved bosses. Dog-leg
staircase with C17 turned balusters. The Throckmortons were Catholics, and were
deeply involved in the Throckmorton plot of 1583. In 1605 the wives of the
Gunpowder Plotters awaited news at Coughton. In 1688 the east wing was destroyed
by a Protestant mob, and was finally cleared away in 1780.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.III, pp.75-78; Buldings of England: Warwickshire,
pp.245-6; Coughton Court; The National Trust 1984).

Listing NGR: SP0831160624

This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.

Approaching Coughton Court in the car. View of The West Front and The Gatehouse to the right.

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Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Coughton (show map)

Taken on: May 26, 2018

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Timber framed with lath and plaster infill

Spring Bank Holiday weekend

The West Front

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Aperture:	f/4.7
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