![Hope End House & footpath above Wellington Heath, Herefordshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Hope_End_House_%26_footpath_above_Wellington_Heath%2C_Herefordshire.jpg)
Hope End is an area and former estate of
Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
, England, near the
Malvern Hills
The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit affo ...
, noted for its literary associations. As described by a 19th-century railway guide, Hope End Park and a country house lay near the
West Midland Railway
The West Midland Railway was an early British railway company. It was formed on 1 July 1860 by a merger of several older railway companies and amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 August 1863. It was the successor to the Oxford, Worces ...
, between the stations at
Colwall
Colwall is a civil parish in Herefordshire, England, situated on the border with Worcestershire, nestling on the western side of the Malvern Hills at the heart of the AONB. Areas of the village are known as Colwall Stone, Upper Colwall which sha ...
and
Ledbury
Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.
It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street ...
. Hope End House may refer to any one of three houses on the estate, all reduced and much altered from their original states. Hope End ward is a local government area that is more extensive than the old estate.
In 1831 an earlier guide, to Ledbury, noted Hope End among "gentlemen's seats and residences", by the Colwall road. It belonged then to E. M. Barrett. This was Edward Moulton-Barrett, father of
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime.
Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabet ...
who was brought up there; financial problems caused him to sell it the following year. The same guide gives fulsome praise to the Park: "Nothing can surpass the romantic beauty of Hope-end park. The most lovely graces of nature are here combined." According to Elizabeth, the setting for her poem ''The Lost Bower'' was the wood above Hope End House's garden.
Land at Hope End, around , is on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
Owners
![Hope End Bluck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Hope_End_Bluck.jpg)
*George Pritchard of Hope End, in the 18th century, had sole heiress Susannah Pritchard Lambert, his granddaughter and the daughter of Henry Lambert, who married Sir Henry Tempest, 4th Baronet (1753–1819)in 1791.
*Sir Henry Tempest, 4th Baronet, who acquired the Hope End estate by his marriage. ''The Beauties of England and Wales'' wrote (1805) "On the well-wooded eminence called the Dog-hill, north of Ledbury, is Hope End, a small but very pleasant seat, belonging to Sir Harry Vane Tempest, Bart."
*Edward Moulton-Barrett, who bought the house and land in 1809, with of land. The existing house was modified, becoming stables. A new house was completed, to a design and with a garden by
John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...
. In the "Moorish style", with
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
s, it was completed by 1812.
*
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...
purchased the house in 1832. He died in 1866.
*(James) Charles Archibald Hewitt (1837–1910), of the
24th Foot
The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years.
It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In ...
.
The house was burnt in 1910, but the stables remained.
Notes
Further reading
*
{{coord, 52.06897, -2.40592, region:GB, display=title
Country houses in Herefordshire