Clopton House is a 17th-century country mansion near Stratford upon Avon,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, now converted into residential apartments. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

. The Manor of Clopton was granted to the eponymous family in the 13th century and in 1492 was owned by Hugh Clopton then

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

. In the late 16th century Joyce Clopton daughter of William Clopton (1538-1592), (a

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

Catholic), and heiress to the estate, married

Sir George Carew ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

(later Baron Carew and

Earl of Totnes Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

). They had no issue, and the estate fell to their nephew, Sir John Clopton. Thereafter the manor passed by marriage through the female line to the Partheriche, Boothby and Ingram families; the latter two changed their name to Clopton. A manor house existing on the site in 1450 was owned by John Clopton, Alderman of the Trinity Guild of Coventry, and was rebuilt in the 16th century. The present house is a 17th-century creation by Sir John Clopton around the core of the 16th-century manor, with 19th-century extensions and improvements. The earliest part of the house on the north was substantially rebuilt in the 1840s. The south and east wings date from 1665 to 1670 in the Restoration style. The south front is two storied with attics and dormers. It has seven bays, the projecting central three being pedimented. The pediment over the entrance carries the Clopton family crest. The east wing is a similar but unpedimented seven bay range. The entrance porch bears an inscription ''FHH 1904''. Clopton House Tower - geograph

The Cloptons sold the estate in 1824 to the Meynells, who sold it again in 1870 to George Lloyd of

Welcombe House Welcombe Hotel occupies a 19th-century former country mansion house near Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, which was previously known as Welcombe House. It is a Grade II* listed building. History Some of the lands at Welcombe, which are record ...

. His nephew Charles Thomas Warde (

High Sheriff of Warwickshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

in 1846) carried out the significant extensions of the 1840s and also built the Grade II listed coachhouse and Clopton Tower, a Grade II listed

belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

in the grounds. In 1872 the estate was acquired by Sir

Arthur Hodgson __NOTOC__ Sir Arthur Hodgson Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (29 June 1818 – 24 December 1902) was an Australian pioneer and politician. Early life Hodgson was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England; the second son of the Rev. ...

, High Sheriff in 1881. On the death of his son Rev Francis H Hodgson (FHH) in 1930 the estate was broken up. In 1605

Ambrose Rookwood Ambrose Rookwood (c. 1578 – 31 January 1606) was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. Rookwood was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and edu ...

, a

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

conspirator, lived in the house.

References

* Image and architectural description
''A History of the County of Warwick'' Vol 3 (1945)pp258-66 from British History Online
{{coord, 52.2088, -1.7080, type:landmark_region:GB-WAR, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Warwickshire Country houses in Warwickshire Folly castles in England Grade II* listed houses