Baddesley Clinton

I've been looking for a place to go outside Oxford to just get out and do a little walking in the countryside.  At the recommendation of Dr. Leslie (Dean of BSAO), I took myself off this morning to a little moated manor house called Baddesley Clinton.  I had never heard of it before but it is a National Trust property and it has an interested history associated with the Gunpowder Plot.  That was enough for me so I boarded a train bound for Lapworth Station and was away.  There were only 3 other people who disembarked at this little station.  It was little more than the tracks, 2 platforms and a couple of benches.  But I set out walking down a residential lane until I reached the main country road.  It was about a mile to the entrance and another 3/4 miles up the driveway but I eventually reached the house and paid my admission just in time to have lunch.  The barn restaurant serves a farm-fresh dinner.  I had the tomato-basil soup with fresh baked bread that was so delicious I returned at the end of my visit for afternoon with a fresh scone made with black currants.  So yummy!

Then it was on to the house:

Beautiful right?

When the house was first built in the early 1400s, it was surrounded by the Forest of Arden.  It got its name from a Saxon, called Baeddi, who first cleared the site in the forest, and the de Clinton family who dug the moat in the 13th century.  The Great Hall of Baddesley Clinton was gradually extended.  The oak frame remains at the heart of the structure while a small courtyard has been added, and, following the destruction of the Great Hall in the 18th century, the courtyard is now open to the moat.  When the house was offered for sale in 1940, the estate covered the same area as it had in 1699.

Courtyard side and dock

Courtyard

The Ferrers family called Baddesley Clinton home for 500 years, passing from father to son for 12 generations.  Throughout this time the family remained loyal to their Catholic faith even during difficult times, risking their lives giving refuge to Catholic priests.  The most interesting thing architecturally was the priest holes that were used on at least one occasion to hide 8 priests.

Priest Hole

A wonderful summary of the house and its history is available by clicking here.

Also on the property was a beautiful small church.  The tower was built as penance by Nicholas Brome for killing a priest in his home around 1470 for, legend has it, tickling his wife under her chin.  Strange!

St. Michaels