Property market
The history and mystery of old Warwickshire is alive and kicking, with villages only ‘gently touched by the hand of time’
Bordered by Leicestershire to the north-east, Staffordshire to the northwest, Worcestershire and the West Midlands to the west, Northamptonshire to the east and south-east, Gloucestershire to the south-west and oxfordshire to the south, landlocked Warwickshire sits right at the geographical heart of england. Historically, in peace and war, this dynamic county has played a leading role in many of the great events that have shaped england’s history, yet, in terms of its appeal as a dream country-house destination, it seems to play second fiddle to its more high-profile Cotswolds neighbours, Gloucestershire and oxfordshire.
This is unfair, suggests James Way of Knight Frank’s busy Stratford-upon-avon office (01789 297735), who points to the strategic advantages of Shakespeare Country, particularly as a commuter base for both London and Birmingham (see page 84) and a gateway to the national motorway network serving the north, west and south of the UK. He also highlights the appeal of south Warwickshire’s rich and varied landscape, its unspoilt pretty villages, its fine country houses and its great sporting and cultural traditions—all encapsulated in Knight Frank’s latest offering, the charming, Grade Ii-listed Claverdon Hall at Claverdon, which has come to the open market with a guide price of £2.75 million.
In his enduring work, The King’s England (1936), the chronicler Arthur Mee conjures up a vision the of the old, unchanging Warwickshire in his description of Claverdon village, where ‘winding lanes bring us uphill to sudden views of miles of Warwickshire with the Cotswolds far off. enshrined in trees, Claverdon has an old forge and a few timbered cottages gently touched by the hand of time’. So gently, in fact, that Claverdon, now firmly established as one of the premier villages in the ‘golden triangle’ between Warwick, Stratford and Henley-inarden, has changed remarkably little since Mee wandered through it and Claverdon Hall, off Lye Green road, remains unchallenged as the premier house in the village.
Curiously enough, Pevsner makes no mention of Claverdon Hall, although its existence is recorded in 1485 and current thinking is that its origins may well be even older, with roots going back to Saxon times. either way, it has been around long enough to provide a backdrop to some of the most
intriguing periods of history, from the Wars of the Roses, through the Dissolution and the Reformation, to the English Civil War. Among the landed gentry who owned the Hall over the years were the Verneys, the Dudleys, Earls of Warwick and the Spencers, who sold it to the Archers of Tanworth-inarden in 1716.
Even today, the elegant half-timbered manor house has lost neither status nor charm, despite being extended, refurbished and variously altered over the years. Of special interest is the fine oak panelling added in 1939 to the reception hall, the dining room and the deep, oak-framed leaded
light windows. The large panelled oak door in the hall opens into an under-stairs store, used as a priest hole during the Reformation, from where an underground passage is said to have led to the mysterious Stone Building in Claverdon village, thought to be all that remains of a grand country house built for the Spencer family.
Claverdon Hall boasts 5,845sq ft of living space, including an array of well laid out reception rooms—among them a drawing room, sitting room, dining room, study, music room, breakfast room and a newly fitted kitchen. Two staircases lead from the ground floor to six double bedrooms, two with en-suite facilities; there is also a family bathroom. The Hall stands in some 9½ acres of formal gardens and paddock on the edge of the village, with views over the rolling Warwickshire countryside. Amenities include garaging, a games room, stabling, a tennis court and various outbuildings with full planning and listed permission for conversion to up to three dwellings.
Mr Way is also handling the sale—at a guide price of £2.2 million—of Georgian, Grade Ii-listed The Old Rectory at Birdingbury, 10 miles from Leamington Spa and seven miles from Rugby, from where fast trains to London take 48 minutes. According to village historians, ‘Birdingbury has had a quiet life. As a small village in east Warwickshire some forty generations have lived here while great events largely passed them by. The villagers put up with the weather, tilled the land, paid their rents and got on with their lives.’
At the time of Domesday, most of the land was owned by the Benedictine monastery founded in Coventry by Leofric, husband of Godiva, the rest by Thorkil, one of few Saxon landowners to keep his property after the Norman Conquest. The village was sold many times until, in 1687, it was bought by the Biddulph family from Staffordshire and inherited, in 1743, by the first of five Sir Theophilus Biddulphs of Birdingbury Hall.
Built by them in about 1760, The Old Rectory stands in some 11 acres of landscaped gardens, grounds and parkland meadow, with frontage to the River Leam and views back to the rectory, the church and Birdingbury Hall. One incumbent of note was the scholar and writer Henry Homer, who, while up at Cambridge, met the then Sir Theophilus Biddulph, who later installed him as rector. Homer proceeded to have 17 children, ‘thus ensuring his own congregation’, as Mee slyly observed.
Extensively refurbished by the current owners, the gracious former rectory has 5,415sq ft of stylish, well-proportioned accommodation on three floors, including an impressive reception hall, four reception rooms, an orangery, a Christopher Peters kitchen, six bedrooms and three bathrooms.