Goodrich Court, Goodrich,

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 Monmouths ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

was a 19th-century,

neo-gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

built by the

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick in 1828. Designed by the architect

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's back ...

, the court is described by Pevsner as a "fantastic and enormous tower-bedecked house." The court's situation, on a hilltop facing

Goodrich Castle Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle ruin north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire, England, controlling a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye. It was praised by William Wordsworth as the "noblest ruin in Herefordshi ...

, so offended the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

that he wished "to blow away Sir Samuel Meyrick's impertinent structure and all the possessions it contained." Meyrick built the Court to house his very significant collection of armour and antiquities, much of which subsequently passed to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and to the Wallace Collection. In the years following its construction, Meyrick's house and its collections became a notable element of the Wye Tour. Meyrick's son predeceased him and after Meyrick's death, the Court passed through a number of hands, housing pupils from

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. When the school left, the building was stripped of its contents, furnishings and fixtures, and completely demolished in 1949–50. Today, apart from a small lodge and the stables, the only significant remainder is the Monmouth Gatehouse, which stands on the Monmouth to Ross-on-Wye Road.

History

Samuel Meyrick was an antiquarian with an interest in Welsh history who claimed, incorrectly, to be related to the Welsh prince

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...

. Meyrick originally intended to buy and restore a genuine Marches castle as his ancestral home, but was unable to acquire one. He explored the possibility of buying Goodrich Castle after a visit in 1823; "the very thing to suit us, so exactly that it seems to have been made on purpose"; but was unable to complete negotiations. Instead he decided to build his own new castle alongside the ruined castle which he named Goodrich Court. Architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

called it a "fantastic and enormous castellated tower-bedecked house", whilst its siting, directly opposite the genuine Norman castle, a positioning which foreshadowed that of Peckforton Castle and Beeston Castle, caused

to condemn it as "impertinent". After Meyrick's death in 1848, Goodrich Court was bought by George Moffatt, a Liberal party Member of Parliament. The Moffatts extended the castle, including building new stables in the same style as the original property. During the

the castle was used by

, which was evacuated from Essex to the area. The broadcaster Kenneth Kendall recalled life at the court during the evacuation; "The house was furnished with amazing furniture and paintings (with) armour everywhere. I remember one boy got stuck inside a Jacobean helmet and had to be rescued by the headmaster." When the school relocated at the end of the war the court was stripped of its fittings in 1946 and demolished in 1949. The Monmouth Gate, on the road to

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye a ...

, is the only significant surviving remnant of the court.

Architecture

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

architect

to Meyrick's instructions, Goodrich Court was built of local red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

in the neo-gothic style, and although based on the Edwardian architecture seen at

, to some it more resembled a French chateau. Enjoying a gatehouse, portcullis, battlements, a moat and towers, it was also noted for the Armoury, a large hall which contained Meyrick's collection of armour. Many of the details of the castle utilised the heraldic symbols of Alymer de Valence, a medieval lord at

in the early 14th century. The Monmouth Gate, which remains intact, is described by Pevsner as of "red stone with round towers and machicoulis." 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 ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{cite book , last1 = Roscoe , first1 = Thomas , last2 = Meredith , first2 = Charles , authorlink1 = Thomas Roscoe , title = Wanderings and excursions in South Wales with the scenery of the river Wye , url = https://www.worldcat.org/title/wanderings-and-excursions-in-south-wales-including-the-scenery-of-the-river-wye/oclc/27114282 , year = 1844 , publisher = Longman , oclc = 8678083 , ref = {{sfnRef, Roscoe, Meredith, 1844 Castles in Herefordshire Gothic Revival architecture in Herefordshire British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Mock castles in England Edward Blore buildings