Witley Court is quite something: a vast ruined mansion, once the home of the Foleys, originally a Jacobean house, reconstructed in the early nineteenth century by John Nash and then again, on an even more opulent scale by Samuel Daukes for the Earl of Dudley. In the twentieth century, it was sold to Sir Herbert Smith (no relation), a Kidderminster carpet manufacturer. It was burnt out in the 1930s, the contents stripped and taken into government care in the early 1970s – an interesting decision. Now, it is beautifully maintained as a gloomy ruin by English Heritage:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
And the location for the video of Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale (best UK single of the 3rd quarter of the last century) – equally gloomy ;-).
Very sorry to hear about your torrential journey – and glad that you made it!!
Simon
Yes, I spotted that ! Charles
Also used as a location in Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Close to The Enemy’. My husband visited Witley Court in the middle 80s when he was a mature undergraduate student on a humanities degree at Wolverhampton Poly. (Those were the days when you could leave school at 16 with no qualifications but later on find a higher education access course to get you back into formal learning.) They went as part of a module linking local history with the wider story of the industrial revolution.
One connection between Witley Court and Castle Howard ..is landscape architect, William Nesfield. But, the gardens and magnificent fountain at Witley Court are probably William Nesfield’s masterwork. Thank you for posting such lovely photos, I hope to get to Witley Court one day
Yes, indeed. Very identifiable fountains and formal layout. Charles