The Court House is a

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

house in Hale Lane,

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's Taxus baccata, yew trees and the local Painswick House, Pain ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England, within the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

. The house was built in the late 16th century with additions in 1604, for Thomas Gardener on the site of an earlier manor house. The exact dates of the earlier house are not known, but the manor house of Pain fitzJohn, who gave his name to the village, stood on the site in the first half of the 12th century. The demolition of the house in 1445 and subsequent rebuilding is recorded. It is known that King Charles I stayed at the house during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643. The house is still believed to be haunted by the king and his troops. The

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

house has a two-storey front with a three-storey return wing supported by

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. The name "Court House" relates to the room used as a

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

with cells in the cellar beneath the rest of the building which held the prisoners awaiting trial. The garden is surrounded by an 18th-century wall which is long and high, and includes a set of 11 semicircular steps near the house. Above the roof are stacks of tall chimneys. A path to the parish church crosses the garden. In 1942 a major sale of the contents of the house was held. The house itself was sold in the 1960s, and again in 2009 as a private house. After extensive renovation the house and its later 20th century additions is now used as a hotel..In 2023 the house was sold again and is now a private residence once more.

References

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