Whittington Court is an Elizabethan manor house, five miles east of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Glo ...

, England. Adjacent to the house is the Whittington parish church which dates from the 12th century and now dedicated to

St Bartholomew Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

. The origins of the site are unclear, but probably date back to

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

times; however, in 1948 the remains of a Roman villa were found in an adjacent field. The current building was probably begun by Richard Cotton's son John Cotton in 1556 on an earlier moated site. It was completed in anticipation of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

's visit to the house in 1592 en route to

Sudeley Castle Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some 15 acres within a 1,200-acre estate ne ...

. Subsequently, passed to Sir John Denham, who married Anne Cotton and died 1669, and was Surveyor General to Charles II. It then passed through the female line to the

Earls of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

and by the mid-late 18th century belonged to Thomas Tracey the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members ofte ...

for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the ...

, who died in 1770. Misses Timbrell and Mrs. Rebecca Lighbourne inherited the property but left no heir, the house passing to Mr. Walter Lawrence Morris and subsequently to his descendants who adopted the name Lawrence. Alterations and additions were made in the 16th, late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the mid-eighteenth century the estate was sold and became part of the Sandywell Park estate. The kitchen wing was added 1929. It is a grade I

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 Irel ...

. The interior of the house is

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

and contain two carved overmantels from Sevenhampton Manor - one showing the arms of

Lawrence Washington (1602–1652) Lawrence Washington (1602 – 21 January 1652) was a High Church rector of the Church of England. He was an early ancestor to the Washington family of Virginia, being the great-great-grandfather of U.S. President George Washington. Family Washi ...

(the stars and stripes). A barn dated 1614 and stable block are both grade II listed. Since 1972 a disused gardener's cottage at Whittington Court has been the home to The Whittington Press, a fine press which also publishes the journal ''Matrix'' on printing.

References

{{coord, 51, 53, 4, N, 1, 58, 57, W, type:landmark, display=title Grade I listed houses in Gloucestershire Grade II listed buildings in Gloucestershire Country houses in Gloucestershire Houses completed in 1556 1556 establishments in England