(636) Birch and Wyrley-Birch of Harborne House, Hamstead Hall, Wretham Hall and Armitage Lodge.

Birch of Wretham Hall

This family were settled as farmers and nailmakers in the villages north of Birmingham by the 16th and early 17th centuries. They were kin to the Birch family of Birch Hall, Manchester (who, although an ancient family, will not be the subject of a post as they never owned a country house), although the precise connection between the two is obscure. The genealogy below begins with George Birch (1616-60), who leased Harborne House (Staffs) in the late 17th century, and was the father of at least two sons. The elder, George Birch (1652-1722), was heir to his father's property at Harborne, while the younger, Thomas Birch (1654-1724?), was the ancestor of the Birches of Armitage Lodge, also considered in this post. George Birch (1652-1722) bought the freehold of Harborne House in about 1710, and also purchased an estate at Birchfield in Handsworth (Staffs) in about 1700. His eldest son, George Birch (b. 1689) evidently died in the lifetime of his father, so it was his second son, Sir Thomas Birch (1690-1757), kt., who inherited his father's estate. Sir Thomas was educated at the Inner Temple and became a successful lawyer, ending up as a judge in the court of common pleas, while two of his younger brothers went to university and became clergymen. Another brother, James Birch (1698-1772) was the ancestor of the Birch-Reynardson family and will be considered in my next post.

Although Sir Thomas inherited his father's property and was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1715-16, his legal duties kept him in London a good deal, and he lived chiefly in chambers there, and at Southgate in Edmonton (Middx). He had three sons, none of whom followed him into the law. His heir was George Birch (1739-1807), who inherited Hamstead Hall in Handsworth from his first cousin once removed, John Wyrley Birch (1707-75), and subsequently sold Harborne House. He rebuilt Hamstead Hall in the late 18th century as a comfortably elegant classical country house. George's brother Thomas inherited some lands at Harborne from his father and also in 1776 an estate at Erdington (Warks) from his uncle, the Rev. John Birch, but died without issue in 1795. George himself had only one son, Wyrley Birch (1781-1866), who was named for the family which had long held the manor of Hamstead and from whom it had passed by marriage to the (Manchester) Birches. 

As a result of his marriage settlement and the fortuitous accumulation of legacies, Wyrley Birch (1781-1866) became much wealthier than his forebears had been. This allowed him to sell the small Hamstead Hall estate and purchase Wretham Hall in Norfolk, which was a relatively new house of similar size, but set on a much larger estate. He also expanded the estate so that by the time of his death it ran to over 6,400 acres. He and his wife had an exceptionally large family of fifteen children, but rather than share his property out among them, he insisted that his sons should all follow professions and make their own way in the world. His eldest son, George Wyrley Birch (1805-55), who farmed in Lincolnshire and later on the Wretham estate, having died in his lifetime, he handed on his estate intact to the latter's eldest son, Wyrley Birch (later Wyrley-Birch) (1837-1901). The younger Wyrley, who as an army officer had served in the Crimea and the Indian mutiny, seems to have run into some financial difficulties, for although at first he occupied Wretham Hall, he sold it in 1879 and moved to Cromer on the Norfolk coast. The house at Wretham burnt down in 1906 and was subsequently rebuilt, but finally demolished in 1948.

Thomas Birch (1654-1724?), the younger son of George Birch (1616-60), seems to have settled at Brereton in Rugeley (Staffs), where he was succeeded by his only recorded son, Thomas Birch (1697-1771). The latter's only surviving son, Andrew Birch (1728-98) also lived at Brereton, and several of his children became nonconformists in religion. His two daughters occupied Brereton House after his death and endowed a Methodist school and almshouses at Brereton in the mid 19th century. His younger son, Edmund John Birch (1776-1829) was set up in business as a pottery manufacturer by his father, but in about 1810 he gave this up and put his capital into a bank at Stafford. He continued to be closely associated with the pottery industry, however, for in 1821 his second marriage was to Mary, daughter of Josiah Spode II (1754-1827). Andrew's eldest son, Thomas Birch (1774-1837), inherited his lands Brereton but added to them additional lands in the adjoining parish of Armitage. These probably included an existing house, which he greatly enlarged and remodelled to form a new seat called Armitage Lodge, which was complete by 1808, and in the grounds of which he built an independent chapel. His only son, Thomas John Birch (1808-95), was educated at Glasgow University and became a solicitor. He also became a major shareholder in a local colliery company, of which he was chairman for the last fifteen years of his life. He married the daughter of a London and Devonshire banker, and had one son and four daughters. He seems to have fallen out with his son, Lightwood Thomas Birch (1851-1903), perhaps on account of the latter's separation from his wife in about 1891. At all events, Lightwood was cut out oof his will, and the Armitage Lodge estate was left jointly to the four daughters, who sold it in 1896. Until the 1890s, Lightwood had pursued an unremarkable career, serving as an officer in the Staffordshire militia and becoming a JP, but after splitting from his wife - who kept their house in Lichfield - he dropped out of local society and went to live at Hastings (Sussex). Here, in 1901, he was cohabiting with a much younger German woman - claiming at the time of the census to be her uncle, though that seems improbable. Starved of resources by his father's testamentary dispositions, he left a paltry estate of £72 at his death in 1903.

Harborne House (now Bishops Croft), Harborne, Staffordshire

Nothing is known of the manor house occupied by the Birch family, which was replaced in about 1780 by a new house that was probably built for Thomas Green, a Birmingham manufacturer who acquired the manor of Harborne. His house is a three-storey brick cube, with an entrance front of three widely-spaced bays, with a plain dentil cornice and parapet. The Adam-style doorcase has half columns and plaster garlands in the frieze. To either side are pedimented wings which are co-eval with the house, although the connecting links between the house and the wings were enlarged as part of alterations by A.S. Dixon of 1902-03 for Archibald Kenrick. On the garden front, the centre is of five bays with a Doric porch in front of the central bay. The symmetry of the facade is disturbed by a one-and-a-half storey extension to the right of the central block that accommodates Dixon's dining room. The tall chimneys which tower above the wings are also Dixon's work. 

Harborne House (now Bishop's Croft): entrance front in 2001. Image: J.J. Sheridan/Historic England

Harborne House (now Bishop's Croft): garden front. 

Inside, the off-centre entrance hall has an Adam-style ceiling with delicate flowers, circular and diamond-shaped panels, and a frieze of lyres and garlands. The axial corridor has a similar frieze, and there is more 18th century plasterwork on the first-floor landing. Dixon provided a new open-well timber staircase to the right of the hall, with alternating octagonal and twisted balusters, but the most important interior is the dining room,which has full-height panelling and an excellent deep plaster frieze by G.P. Bankart decorated with garlands of roses, berries and other fruit, and a metalwork fireplace designed by the Birmingham Guild. Dixon also created the billiard room (now the bishop's study) in the west wing, with further plasterwork decoration by Bankart.

The house was acquired in 1921 as a residence for the Bishop of Birmingham, and in 1923 Dixon added a chapel in red-blue brick at the south-west corner of the house. Inside, the chapel is wainscoted to above head height, and has a plain groined vault. A fine screen divides a lobby from the chapel proper, which is arranged with plain stalls against the walls, like a college chapel.

Descent: Crown granted 1553 to Edward, Lord Dudley (d. 1586); to son, who sold 1604 to Sir Charles Cornwallis (d. 1629); to grandson, Charles Cornwallis, who sold 1661 to Thomas Foley... Philip Foley sold c.1710 to George Birch (1652-1722); to son, Sir Thomas Birch (1690-1757), kt.; to son, George Birch (1739-1807), who leased 1781 and sold 1785 to Thomas Green (1731-1803); to nephew, Thomas Green Simcox (d. 1828); to son, Rev. Thomas Green Simcox (1810-76); sold to Harry Heaton (d. c.1900); sold to John Archibald Kenrick (1869-1933); sold with 17 acres in 1921 for £10,000 to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as a residence for the bishops of Birmingham.

Hamstead Hall, Handsworth, Staffordshire

The original Hamstead Hall, which may have been the manor house of Handsworth, stood in a small park close to Hamstead Mill on the River Tame, but was replaced by a house on a new site further west in about 1775, by which time the park had disappeared. Pipe-laying works in 1933 revealed some of the foundations of the old house and suggested a tentative dating to the 15th century. 

Hamstead Hall: view of the house in about 1799, from Stebbing Shaw's History of Staffordshire.

The new house, built for George Birch after he inherited the house in 1775, was a two-storey block of five by nine bays, with the main entrance under a pedimental gable containing a Diocletian window in the short elevation, which faced slightly west of south. The longer east elevation had a slightly recessed three-bay centre, with the three bays at either end crowned by similar pedimental gables to the south front. Irregular extensions and service accommodation lay to the north and west. Inside, the house was tastefully decorated in the Adam manner, and the drawing room was hung with a Chinese wallpaper. In 1884, when it was advertised to let, the house contained a spacious entrance hall, morning, dining, and drawing rooms, a library, billiard room, and twenty bedrooms. The partly wooded grounds sloped down to the River Tame, and a walled garden with a large greenhouse stood between the house and the river to its north.

Hamstead Hall: the house shortly before demolition in 1936. Image: Library of Birmingham.

Hamstead Hall: the drawing room chimneypiece in the Adam style. Image: Library of Birmingham

After the estate was sold to the Earls of Dartmouth in the early 19th century, it was rented out to a succession of local industrialists, who kept it in fairly good repair, although the proximity of the Hamstead Hall Colliery did not improve the amenities of the property. In 1935, however, the house was in the way of the relentless suburban expansion of Birmingham, and it was advertised for sale with a view to demolition. It was pulled down shortly afterwards, as a press reporter observed the process of dismantling in January 1936 and a demolition sale was held in June that year. By 1939 a housing estate had been laid out on the site.

Descent: Humphrey Wyrley (fl. 1615); to son, Sir John Wyrley (c.1607-87), kt.; to brother, Humfrey Wyrley (d. 1689); to son, Humfrey Wyrley (b. 1648; fl. 1705); to daughter Sibyll, wife of Rev. Dr. Peter Birch, prebendary of Westminster; to son, John Wyrley Birch (1707-75); to kinsman, George Birch (1739-1807); to son, Wyrley Birch (1781-1866), who sold about 1813 to William Legge (1784-1853), 4th Earl of Dartmouth... sold for demoliton, 1935. After the sale to Lord Dartmouth, the house was generally let, and tenants included William Wallis (d. 1825), merchant; John Lewis Moilliet (1770-1845), a Swiss banker, later of Abberley Hall (Worcs); Charles Smith Forster (1786-1850), banker and MP; William Bagnall (d. 1863) and his son, William Henry Bagnall; Charles Kirkham (fl. 1881-84), who opened the grounds as a short-lived commercial pleasure park; George Kynoch MP (d. 1891), ammunition manufacturer; and Joseph Boston (fl. 1900-09). 

Wretham Hall, Norfolk

The Wretham estate belonged to King's College, Cambridge from the 15th century to the early 19th century. In 1790 the college leased the estate to William Colhoun, who built the first country house here. It is marked on Faden's map of Norfolk in 1797 as 'New House' and was probably still under construction at the time of his survey. Wyrley Birch, who became tenant in 1812, subsequently purchased the freehold and expanded the estate to some 6,400 acres. It was no doubt he who laid out the park, which incorporated several natural meres and the ruins of the former parish church. Creating the park required the diversion of several roads and the removal of some houses. During the later 19th century the property was noted for the excellence of its shooting.

Wretham Hall: the south front of the house built in the 1790s, before the fire of 1906.

A surviving photograph and map evidence show that the Georgian house was a rectangular block with two semi-circular bows on the short east elevation, while the entrance was on the six-bay south front and a service wing extended to the west. The north front was pedimented and had a more elegant seven-bay facade, and may have been the original entrance front. Rather curiously, while the house was generally of two storeys, on the south front there were three storeys, with the two lower floors corresponding to the tall ground floor on the other elevations; the south windows of the room behind the bow were blind. This suggests that a small earlier house - perhaps the 'Pretyman's Farm' marked on a map of 1759 - was incorporated into the building. The fourth bay of the south front was stepped forward and was evidently altered in the 19th century, when banded rustication was applied to the angles of the breakfront and a balustraded single-storey porch was built in front of the projecting bay. Little seems to be known of the layout or decoration of the interior, but when the house was advertised for sale in 1910 it was said to comprise three good reception rooms and fourteen bedrooms; the two main reception rooms were probably behind the bow windows, which commanded views over the park.

Wretham Hall: the north front after the fire of 1906, showing how the house was completely gutted.

Wretham Hall: the temporary residence on the estate in 1910.
Image: Country Life.

A fire in 1900, occasioned by a beam being ignited in the kitchen chimney, was put out with only moderate damage, but on the night of Boxing Day 1906 a second fire, apparently from the same cause, largely destroyed the house and all its contents, with only the drawing room furniture being saved. No effort seems to have been made to repair or replace the lost mansion, but a building on the estate called 'the manor house' in 1910 was evidently fitted up as a temporary residence. In 1910 the Wretham estate was sold to the engineer, Sir Saxton Noble (1863-1942) for £42,750. He at once set about clearing the site and building a new house to the designs of Sir Reginald Blomfield. This was at first intended to be a small shooting box, but it grew prodigiously during the design process. It also went through considerable stylistic changes, with one drawing showing it with high hipped roofs of almost French proportions, while in the end it was a more traditional two-and-a-half storey H-shaped red brick building with Portland stone doorcases, in the 'Wrenaissance' tradition, symmetrical about two axes. The new house stood on approximately the same site as the old one, but was differently aligned.

Wretham Hall: the new house in 1917. Image: Historic England.

Wretham Hall: aerial view of the house in the 1930s.

The long east and west elevations were of nine bays and eleven bays respectively, with the two bays at either end of both fronts projecting; the short elevations were of seven bays, with the central three bays articulated by giant pilasters and slightly stepped forward. A service wing projected at the north end. A cornice ran round the building above the two main storeys, and in the attic above the windows were circular above the wings and doorcase on the entrance front, and between the wings on the garden front. Inside, the main entrance on the west led into a passage, flanked by a cloakroom and the owner's business room, to a large hall on the east front. The south end of the house was occupied by the drawing room and library, while the north end contained the dining room, billiard room, staircase, and a card room. In accordance with Victorian tradition, the layout was designed to maximise the distance from drawing room to dining room to facilitate a stately progression between the two. The interior was extensively panelled, but had murals in the dining room painted in 1918-19 by the Spanish artist, J.M. Sert, who also decorated the music room at Sir Saxton's London home, Kent House, Knightsbridge.

The magnificence of Sir Reginald Blomfield's new hall was short-lived, for the property changed hands several times in the early 20th century. On the death of Sir John Dewrance in 1938, the estate was put up for sale in lots, and some 3,347 acres were sold to the Forestry Commission, but the house and park remained with his daughter. In 1939 the house was used to house evacuated children from Dr Bernardo's Homes, but following the construction of an airfield at East Wretham in 1940, it became an officers' mess for the RAF (and for the USAAF from 1943-45). With no resident representative of the owners to exert control, the building had been badly damaged by military occupation, and in 1948 it was advertised for sale with just four acres of land. When it failed to find a buyer the owners held a demolition sale in October 1948 and the house was pulled down soon afterwards, after an existence of less than thirty-five years.

Descent: King's College, Cambridge leased 1790 to William Colhoun and later to Lord Paget and Wyrley Birch (1781-1866), who bought the freehold; to grandson, Wyrley Wyrley-Birch (1837-1901), who sold 1879 to William Morris (d. 1890); to nephew, Sydney Morris (c.1851-1924); burnt 1906 and sold 1910 to Sir Saxton William Armstrong Noble (1863-1942), 1st bt., who rebuilt the house; sold 1926 to Sir John Dewrance (1858-1937), kt.; to daughter, Claire (1887-1942), widow of Maj. Ernest Evelyn Rich (d. 1917); sold 1943 after her death to William Spruce, William Seamon and Anthony Seaman, Norwich grain merchants; demolished c.1948.

Armitage Lodge, Staffordshire

The history of this house is unusually obscure, but there may have been a building on the site before the elevations illustrated here were built, as the roofing plan suggests that the house had quite a complicated development history. The elevations that existed in the 20th century appear to date largely from the early 19th century, and it seems possible that they date from after the estate was acquired by Thomas Birch, who obtained a mortgage on the property in 1813 but was already resident by 1808. Alterations and improvements are also said to have been made for the Rev. Edward Sansom after he retired to the house in 1896.

Armitage Lodge: an aerial view of the house from the north in the mid 20th century.

Armitage Lodge: west front (though labelled south), from an early 20th century postcard.

When the house was advertised for sale in 1921 it was said to contain four reception rooms and nineteen bedrooms. Thereafter, it changed hands fairly frequently, and in the 1950s became first a club or hostel and then was partially converted to flats. In 1974 it began to be affected by mining subsidence, which progressed quickly to the point where the house became uninhabitable and it was vacated. Vandalism of the empty property followed, and it was demolished in 1975. Outline planning permission for a replacement dwelling on the site was obtained soon afterwards, but a succession of detailed schemes were rejected by the local authority, partly because of the subsidence risk, and partly for other reasons. Not until 1991 were plans approved on appeal for a new two-storey house.

Armitage Lodge: north front after the partial collapse of a retaining wall, 1974.

Descent: built or remodelled for Thomas Birch (1774-1837); to son, Thomas John Birch (1808-95); to daughters, who sold 1896 to Rev. Edward Samson (d. 1921); to daughter, Mrs Fowler Butler (d. 1949), who sold c.1925 to R.E. Moore; sold 1931 to Cuthbert Bailey, Managing Director of Doulton, pottery manufacturers, who established a poultry farm in the grounds; sold 1951 to Mr & Mrs E.A. Wooldridge as a hostel called Five Estates Club; sold 1956 to Mr & Mrs Lury, who occupied part of it and divided the rest into seven flats; demolished 1975.

Birch family of Harborne House, Hamstead Hall and Wretham Hall

Birch, George (1616-60?). Son of Thomas Birch and his wife, born 1616. He married Catherine [surname unknown] and had issue, perhaps among others:

(1) George Birch (1652-1722) (q.v.);

(2) Thomas Birch (1654-1724?) [for whom see below, Birch family of Armitage Lodge]

He became tenant of Harborne House in the late 17th century.

He is said to have died 4 December 1660. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Birch, George (1652-1722). Son of George Birch (1616-60?) and his wife Catherine, baptised 22 May 1652. He married, 4 February 1688/9 at Castle Bromwich (Warks), Mary (1662-1747?), daughter of Thomas Forrester of Castle Bromwich, and had issue:

(1) George Birch (b. 1689), born 14 November and baptised at Harborne, 26 November 1689; educated at Inner Temple (admitted 1707); died unmarried, probably in the lifetime of his father;

(2) Sir Thomas Birch (1690-1757), kt. (q.v.);

(3) Rev. John Birch (1692-1776), born 20 February and baptised at Harborne, 8 March 1692/3; educated at Pembroke College, Oxford (matriculated 1708; BA 1712*); rector of Binfield (Berks), 1721-67; lived at Henley-on-Thames (Oxon), where he was a schoolmaster; inherited his father's lands at Erdington (Warks); married, 13/23 January 1731 at Kinver (Staffs), Elizabeth Wood, but had no issue; died 28 June 1776; will proved in the PCC, 20 July 1776;

(4) Mary Birch (1694-1784), born 27 January and baptised at Harborne, 8 February 1694/5; married, 8 January 1719/20 at Harborne, William Greene, and had issue; died aged 90 on 29 March, and was buried at Harborne, 4 April 1784;

(5) James Birch (1698-1772) [for whom see my forthcoming post on the Birch-Reynardson family]

(6) Rev. Samuel Birch (b. 1700), born 4 August and baptised at Harborne, 19 August 1700; educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (matriculated 1716; BA 1719; MA 1722); said to have married and had issue; death not traced;

(7) Elizabeth Birch (1703-32), born 4 August and baptised 17 August 1703; married, 27 March 1722, as his first wife, Abraham Spooner (1691-1788), iron merchant, of Rookery Hall, Erdington and Elmdon Hall (Warks), and had issue one daughter; buried at Harborne, 6 May 1732.

He purchased the Birchfield estate in Handsworth from his cousin, John Birch, in about 1700. He inherited the lease of Harborne Hall from his father and purchased the freehold c.1710.

He was buried at Harborne, 12 February 1721/2. His widow is said to have died in 1747.

* Although his name is given in the graduation records as Richard.

Sir Thomas Birch (1690-1757) 

Birch, Sir Thomas (1690-1757), kt. Second, but probably eldest surviving, son of George Birch (1652-1722) and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Forrester, said to have been born 1690 and baptised 25 February 1690/1. Educated at Inner Temple (admitted 1709; called 1715). High Sheriff of Staffordshire, 1715-16. Barrister-at-law; Serjeant-at-Law, 1730-45; King's Serjeant, 1745-46; Judge of the Common Pleas, 1746-57. He became a member of the court of the New England Company, 1722. He was knighted in 1745. He married, 9 October 1733 at Edmonton (Middx), Sarah (1705-54), daughter and co-heir of John William Teshmaker of Edmonton, and had issue:

(1) Mary Birch (1734-86?), born 4 October and baptised at St Clement Danes, 22 October 1734; lived at Southgate (Middx); died unmarried and was probably the woman of this name buried in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection graveyard at Spa Fields, London, 7 November 1786;

(2) Esther Barbara Birch (1736-1812), baptised at St Clement Danes, London, 23 November 1736; married, 18 May 1779 at St Marylebone (Middx), Rev. Thomas Lane (1746-1802), rector of Handsworth 1776-1802, son of Thomas Lane of Bentley (Staffs), but had no issue; buried at St Marylebone, 4 May 1812;

(3) George Birch (1739-1807) (q.v.);

(4) Thomas Birch (1742-95), baptised at St Clement Danes, London, 15 December 1742; educated at Queens' College, Cambridge (matriculated 1761) and Inner Temple (admitted 1761); farmer at Redhall, Harborne and inherited his uncle's lands at Erdington (Warks) in 1776; died without issue, 11 March, and was buried at Harborne, 14 March 1795;

(5) John William Birch (1744-95), baptised at St Clement Danes, London, 5 September 1744; an officer in the Royal Horse Guards (Cornet, 1761; Lt., 1764; Capt., 1771; retired 1777); died unmarried, 20 April, and was buried at St Marylebone, 25 April 1795.

He inherited Harborne House from his father in 1721, but lived chiefly at Southgate, Edmonton (Middx).

He died 14 March and was buried at Edmonton, 22 March 1757. His wife died 16 June, and was buried at Edmonton, 22 June 1754.

Birch, George (1739-1807). Eldest son of Sir Thomas Birch (1690-1757), kt., and his wife Sarah, daughter of John William Teshmaker, baptised at St Clement Danes, London, 26 July 1739. Educated at Queens' College, Cambridge (matriculated 1757) and Inner Temple (admitted 1755). High Sheriff of Staffordshire, 1803-04. In 1789 he purchased a steam engine from his neighbour, James Watt, the engineer, 'to wash his house [Hamstead Hall] with'. He married, 5 February 1776 at Handsworth, Anne (1751-1806), third daughter of Thomas Lane of Bentley and granddaughter of John Lane by his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Humphrey Wyrley, and had issue:

(1) Mary Ann Birch (1776-1820), born 24 November 1776; married, 8 December 1801, Richard Congreve (1778-1857) of Burton (Ches.) and had issue five sons and five daughters; died 5 August and was buried 12 August 1820 at Burton, where she is commemorated by a fine marble monument;

(2) Esther Barbara Birch (1778-91), baptised at Handsworth, 28 February 1778; died young and was buried at Handsworth, 2 May 1791;

(3) Sarah Birch (1780-1836?), baptised at Handsworth, 15 January 1780; died unmarried and was probably the woman of this name buried at Handsworth, 12 June 1836;

(4) Wyrley Birch (1781-1866) (q.v.);

(5) Ann Birch (1785-1848), baptised 21 September 1785; married, 15 September 1812 at Handsworth, Joseph Jeanes Durbin (1774-1848), an officer in the 2nd Somerset Militia (Maj.), son of Sir John Durbin (1734-1814), 1st bt., of Walton Manor House, Walton-in-Gordano (Som.), mayor of Bristol in 1778, and had issue four sons and six daughters; died 3 April and was buried at Holy Trinity, Cheltenham, 8 April 1848.

He inherited Harborne House from his father in 1757 but leased it from 1781 and sold it in 1785. He inherited Hamstead House in 1775 from his first cousin once removed, John Wyrley Birch (1707-75), and rebuilt the house.

He died 7 February, and was buried at Handsworth, 14 February 1807; his will was proved in the PCC, 4 May 1807. His wife died 12 February and was buried at Handsworth, 20 February 1806.

Birch, Wyrley (1781-1866). Only son of George Birch (1739-1807) and his wife Anne, third daughter of Thomas Lane of Bentley, baptised at Handsworth (Staffs), 11 September 1781. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1800). JP for Norfolk; High Sheriff of Norfolk, 1848. A Liberal in politics. His obituarist described him as a man with an inflexible sense of duty who was a strict disciplinarian in his own home, but possessed of a natural bonhomie. He married, 19 July 1804 at St Marylebone (Middx), Katharine Sarah (1780-1861), third daughter and co-heiress of Jacob Reynardson of Holywell Hall (Lincs), and had issue:

(1) George Wyrley Birch (1805-55) (q.v.);

(2) Thomas Jacob Birch (1806-68), born 15 October 1806; educated at Eton, Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1823; BA 1828; MA 1831) and Inner Temple (admitted 1828; called 1831); barrister-at-law on the Norfolk circuit; Recorder of Thetford (Norfk), 1847-68; JP for Norfolk (where he was joint chairman of Quarter Sessions) and County Mayo; with his next brother, purchased a farm at Ballycroy, Ballina (Co. Mayo) about 1850, to which he intended to retire; he was unmarried and died unexpectedly at Ballycroy, 24 April 1868 and was buried at Wretham; will proved 1 July 1868 (effects under £20,000);

(3) Katherine Mary Anne Birch (1808-68), born 1 January and baptised at Handsworth, 6 February 1808; died unmarried, 3 January 1868, and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome (Italy); will proved 17 April 1868 (effects under £45,000);

(4) Henry William Birch (1809-78), born 26 September and baptised at Handsworth, 20 October 1809; educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1829; BA 1833; MA 1836); solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London; with his next elder brother, purchased a farm at Ballycroy, Ballina (Co. Mayo); died unmarried, 8 April, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 12 April 1878; will proved 3 June 1878 (effects under £40,000);

(5) Jemima Lucy Birch (1811-92), baptised at Handsworth, 18 August 1811; married, 31 August 1841 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), as his second wife, Richard Longfield (1802-89) of Longueville (Co. Cork), MP for County Cork, 1835-37, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 15 January 1892; will proved in Dublin, 1 June 1892 (effects £8,441);

(6) Rev. Frederick Lane Birch (1812-50), baptised at Handsworth, 15 November 1812; educated at Charterhouse and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1831; BA 1836; MA 1840); ordained deacon, 1835, and priest, 1836; rector of East and West Wretham (Norfk), 1836-50; died unmarried, 30 May, and was buried at Wretham, 3 June 1850; his rather remarkable will, which left sealed instructions to his executors which were not to be opened or acted upon until after his father's death, was proved in the PCC, 19 August 1850;

(7) twin, Frances Augusta Birch (1813-97), born 1 July and baptised at Handsworth, 24 July 1813; married, 23 July 1833 at Wretham, William Peere Williams-Freeman (1811-73) of Arniston (Midl.), Fawley Court (Bucks) and Pylewell Park (Hants), and had issue five sons and two daughters; died at Walliscote (Oxon), 15 January 1897, and was buried at South Baddesley (Hants), where she and her husband are commemorated on a gravestone in the churchyard;

(8) twin, Charlotte Etheldred Birch (1813-58), born 1 July and baptised at Handsworth, 24 July 1813; died unmarried and was buried at Wretham, 14 September 1858;

(9) Juliana Maria Birch (1815-98), born 31 May and baptised at Wretham, 13 July 1815; married, 3 November 1840 at Wretham, Henry Fowler Broadwood (1811-93), piano manufacturer, of Lyne House, Newdigate (Surrey) (which he rebuilt c.1865), son of James Shudi Broadwood, piano maker, and had issue two sons and five daughters; died 2 April 1898 and was buried at Rusper (Sussex); will proved 6 June 1898 (effects £7,128);

(10) John Charles Birch (1816-18), born 22 August and baptised at Wretham, 22 September 1816; died young, 25 October, and was buried at Wretham, 30 October 1818;

(11) Peregrine Birch (1817-98), born 21 December 1817 and baptised at Wretham, 23 February 1818; educated at Rugby; a committee clerk in the House of Lords, 1836-78; married, 5 September 1843 at Hayes (Middx), Anna Charlotte (c.1823-1901), daughter of Gen. James Grant of Hayes Park, and had issue six sons and five daughters; died 26 June and was buried at Forest Row (Sussex), 30 June 1898; his will was proved 25 July 1898 (effects £43,123);

(12) Elizabeth Caroline Birch (1819-1906), born 11 December and baptised at Wretham, 24 December 1819; married, 20 August 1844 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Robert Pryor (1812-89) of Weston Park and High Elms (Herts), barrister-at-law, son of Thomas Marlborough Pryor, and had issue at least three sons; died 15 March and was buried at Leavesden (Herts), 17 March 1906; administration of goods granted 14 June 1906 (estate £13,279);

(13) Anna Sophia Birch (b. & d. 1821), born 12 March and baptised at Wretham, 15 April 1821; died in infancy and was buried at Wretham, 18 April 1821;

(14) Laurence Birch (1823-95), born 16 November 1823 and baptised at Wretham, 19 February 1824; educated at Rugby and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1842); a committee clerk in the House of Lords (Clerk of the Journals, 1873-84); JP for Wiltshire; lived in retirement at Fisherton Delamere House (Wilts), which he leased from 1871 and purchased in 1881, but which was sold after his death; married, 13 November 1855 at St John, Hampstead (Middx), Elizabeth Gertrude (1832-77), daughter of David Powell of Heath Lodge, Hampstead, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 28 March 1895; will proved 1 June 1895 (effects £30,497);

(15) Agnes Ellen Birch (1824-1910), born 21 December 1824 and baptised at Wretham, 2 January 1825; married, 12 September 1850 at the Episcopal Chapel, Melrose (Roxb.), Rev. James Park Whalley (c.1818-1911), rector of Illington (Norfk) and later of Wretham, second son of Frederick Whalley of Westminster, and had issue five sons and two daughters; buried at Westhampnett (Sussex), 28 January 1910; administration of goods granted 18 February 1910 (estate £3,277).

He inherited Hamstead Hall from his father in 1807, but sold it about 1813. He leased Wretham Hall (Norfk) from 1812 and purchased the freehold soon afterwards. In 1825 he obtained an Act of Parliament allowing him to exchange an estate at Shipdham (Norfk) for additional lands in East and West Wretham. He also owned property at Somerby (Lincs).

He died 24 December 1866 and was buried at Wretham; his will was proved 27 April 1867 (effects under £80,000). His wife died 11 October 1861.

Birch, George Wyrley (1805-55). Eldest son of Wyrley Birch (1781-1866) and his wife Katharine Sarah, third daughter of Jacob Reynardson of Holywell Hall (Lincs), born 8 April and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 15 May 1805. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1824). An officer in the army (Ensign, 1825; Lt., 1826; retired 1830). Farmer at Roxholm Hall, near Leasingham (Lincs) and later at Wretham. He married, 17 January 1833 at Burton (Ches.), his first cousin, Jane (1810-77), third daughter of Richard Congreve of Burton, and had issue:

(1) Katherine Sarah Wyrley Birch (1833-71), born 19 October and baptised at Rauceby (Lincs), 5 November 1833; died unmarried, and was buried at Great Yarmouth (Norfk), 16 March 1871;

(2) Jane Marianne Wyrley Birch (1834-87), born 18 December 1834 and baptised at Rauceby, 25 January 1835; died unmarried, 6 October, and was buried at Great Yarmouth, 7 October 1887;

(3) Wyrley Birch (later Wyrley-Birch) (1837-1901) (q.v.);

(4) Richard Jacob Wyrley Birch (1838-1901), born 8 September and baptised at Leasingham, 18 November 1838; educated at Marlborough; an officer in the army (Cornet, 1858; Lt., 1859; Capt., 1861); married, 31 October 1867 at Montreal (Canada), Catherine Leonora Margaret (b. 1843), second daughter of Alexander Home Vass of Montreal, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died at Quebec (Canada), 1 September 1901; administration of goods granted 31 July 1911 (estate in England, £281);

(5) Henry William Wyrley Birch (1840-58), born 17 March and baptised at Leasingham, 7 May 1840; educated at Marlborough; midshipman in Royal Navy; presumed drowned in the loss with all hands of HMS Sappho between South Africa and Australia, 31 January 1858;

(6) Ethel(dred) Louisa Wyrley Birch (1841-87), born 2 December 1841 and baptised at Wretham, 12 June 1843; lived with her sister Eleanor at Great Yarmouth and later Bournemouth (Hants); died unmarried, 28 May 1887; will proved 28 June 1887 (effects £3,283);

(7) George Anthony Wyrley Birch (c.1842-66), baptised at Wretham, 12 June 1843; educated at Marlborough; an officer in the Royal Navy (Cadet, 1856; Midshipman, 1859; Lt., 1865); died unmarried and was buried at Great Yarmouth, 17 July 1866;

(8) Eleanor Frederica Wyrley Birch (1845-1908), baptised at Wretham, 28 October 1845; lived with her elder sister, Etheldred, at Great Yarmouth and later Bournemouth; died unmarried at Christchurch (Hants), 18 October 1908; will proved 4 December 1908 (estate £692);

(9) John Philip Wyrley Birch (1848-1910), born 15 May and baptised at Wretham, 12 June 1848; educated at Marlborough; rancher and landowner at Pampa (Argentina); married and is said to have had issue in Argentina; died 18 October 1910; administration of goods granted 23 November 1910 (estate £384);

(10) Frances Elizabeth Birch (1851-99), baptised at Wretham, 10 March 1851; married, 18 July 1894 at Whitchurch (Oxon), Edward Ferdinand Melly (b. c.1857), mining engineer, son of Charles Pierre Melly, but had no issue; died 20 September 1899; will proved 23 December 1899 (estate £536);

(11) Thomas Samuel Wyrley Birch (1853-1919), born 8 April and baptised at Wretham, 20 June 1853; lived at Llangarren (Herefs) and Buenos Aires (Argentina); married, 6 October 1888 at St Anne, Highgate Rise (Middx), Elizabeth (1865-1939), daughter of John Williams, and had issue three sons; died 27 July and was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery (Surrey), 30 July 1919; will proved 18 October 1919 (estate £17,781).

He lived at Roxholm Hall near Leasingham (Lincs) until about 1842 and later at Forest Lodge, Wretham (Norfk) on his father's estate.

He died in the lifetime of his father, 5 April 1855, and was buried at Wretham, where he is commemorated by a monument. His widow died at Telegraph House, Great Yarmouth, 18 February 1877; her will was proved 17 April 1877 (effects under £1,000).

Birch (later Wyrley-Birch), Wyrley (1837-1901). Eldest son of George Wyrley Birch (1805-55) and his wife Jane, third daughter of Richard Congreve of Burton (Ches.), born 3 June and baptised at Leasingham (Lincs), 9 July 1837. Educated at Marlborough. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1855; Lt., 1855), who served in the Crimean War (fighting at Sebastopol and the Redan) and in the Indian Mutiny. JP and DL for Norfolk. He took the additional surname Wyrley by deed poll, 1888. He married, 27 November 1862 at St Anne, Dublin, Rebecca Katharine (c.1840-1914), eldest daughter of Ven. Samuel Moore Kyle (1801-90), archdeacon of Cork, and had issue:

(1) Henrietta Katherine Jane Wyrley-Birch (1863-93), born 26 October 1863; lived latterly at Cromer (Norfk); died unmarried, 30 January 1893; administration of goods granted to her brother, 19 June 1902 (effects £2,500);

(2) Amy Louise Wyrley-Birch (1865-1954), baptised at Watton (Norfk), 5 August 1865; volunteer social worker in Suffolk and Hoxton (Middx); died unmarried, 28 October 1954; will proved 25 January 1955 (estate £3,451);

(3) Emmeline Gertrude Wyrley-Birch (1866-1929), baptised at Watton (Norfk), 5 August 1866; married, 14 January 1891 at Great Witchingham (Norfk) (sep. 1909), Cecil Edward Bourchier (1866-1919) of Great Plumstead Hall (Norfk), son of Maj. James Johnes Bourchier, and had issue one daughter; died 27 April 1929;

(4) Wyrley Edwin George Wyrley-Birch (1867-1920), born 12 November 1867 and baptised at Wretham, 1 January 1868; educated at Hove (Sussex); lived at Harpsden (Oxon); married, 3 July 1899 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Muriel Alberta (1878-1932), daughter of Richard Edmund Longfield of Longueville (Co. Cork), and had issue two sons; died 1 June 1920 and was buried at Harpsden; his will was proved 13 July 1920;

(5) Sibyll Agatha Wyrley Wyrley-Birch (1869-1930), baptised at Wretham, 15 April 1869; married, 5 August 1909 at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), as his second wife, William Meath Baker (1857-1935) of Hasfield Court (Glos), but had no issue; died 10 July 1930; will proved 30 December 1930 (estate £3,470);

(6) A daughter (b. & d. 1870), born prematurely, 5 November 1870, and died a few hours after her birth.

He inherited Wretham Hall from his grandfather in 1866, but sold it in 1879. He lived latterly at Cromer (Norfk).

He died 10 October 1901; his will was proved 15 November 1901 (estate £27,087). His widow died 18 June and was buried at Wretham, 23 June 1914; her will was proved 24 July 1914 (estate £691).

Birch family of Armitage Lodge

Birch, Thomas (1654-1724?). Second son of George Birch (1616-60?) [for whom see above] and his wife Catherine, baptised at Stafford, 3 August 1654. He married, 19 June 1687 at Harborne, Mary Guest (d. 1731?), and had issue, perhaps among others:

(1) Anne Birch (b. 1694), baptised at Rugeley, 10 October 1694;

(2) Thomas Birch (1697-1771) (q.v.);

(3) Lydia Birch (b. 1699), baptised at Rugeley, 20 August 1699.

He probably settled at Brereton in Rugeley (Staffs).

He was probably the man of this name buried at Rugeley, 20 October 1724. His wife was probably the woman of this name buried at Rugeley, 14 June 1731.

Birch, Thomas (1697-1771). Son of Thomas Birch and his wife Mary, born 29 January and baptised at Rugeley, 8 February 1696/7.  He probably married, c.1714 (licence 18 November), Ann Hughes (c.1693-1733). and had issue including:

(1) Thomas Birch (1721-43); died unmarried, 20 May 1743, and was buried at Rugeley;

(2) Mary Birch (b. 1724), baptised at Rugeley, 29 May 1724;

(3) Andrew Birch (1728-98) (q.v.).

He lived at Brereton (Staffs).

He died 15 August 1771 and was buried at Rugeley; administration of his goods was granted 1772. His wife died 15 July 1733 was buried at Rugeley, 18 July 1733.

Birch, Andrew (1728-98). Second but only surviving son of Thomas Birch (1697-1771) and his wife, born 11 July and baptised at Rugeley, 9 August 1728. He was a founder member of the Rugeley and district Association for the Prosecution of Felons, 1771. He married, 15 February 1770 at Colton (Staffs), Mary (1751-1817), daughter of John Pegg of Newlands (Staffs), and had issue:

(1) Anne Birch (1771-1834), baptised at Rugeley, 10 May 1771; a Methodist in religion, she lived at Brereton House; died unmarried, 16 October, and was buried at Rugeley, 20 October 1834;

(2) Elizabeth Birch (1772-1842), baptised at Rugeley, 16 October 1772; a Methodist in religion, she lived at Brereton House; she endowed a Methodist school at Brereton in 1838 and built six almshouses; died unmarried, 2 January 1842 and was buried in the grounds of Brereton Methodist Chapel;

(3) Thomas Birch (1774-1837) (q.v.);

(4) Edmund John Birch (1776-1829), born 31 August and baptised at Rugeley, 27 December 1776; set up by his father as a pottery manufacturer at Hanley (Staffs), and was noted for his production of black basalt ware; gave up this business about 1810 and became a banker at Stafford in partnership with Charles Yates; lived at Fradswell Hall (Staffs), which he leased; married 1st, 19 July 1800 at Stoke-on-Trent (Staffs), Anna Maria (1780-1810), daughter of John Yates of Shelton, and had issue four sons and two daughters; married 2nd, 11 June 1821 at Stoke-on-Trent, Mary (1781-1850), daughter of Josiah Spode II (1754-1827), potter; died 29 December 1829.

He lived at Brereton (Staffs).

He died 15 January and was buried at Rugeley, 19 January 1798; his will was proved in the PCC, 31 July 1798. His widow died 24 December 1817.

Birch, Thomas (1774-1837). Elder son of Andrew Birch (1728-98) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Pegg of Newlands (Staffs), born 6 November and baptised at Rugeley (Staffs), 30 November 1774. He became a nonconformist (Congregationalist) in religion by 1811, and built a small chapel in the grounds of his house c.1820, which he transferred to trustees as a place of public worship in 1831. He married, 18 December 1806 at Yoxall (Staffs), Mary (1785-1842), daughter of William Smith of Longdon (Staffs) and granddaughter and heiress of Edward Lightwood of Yoxall (Staffs), and had issue:

(1) Mary Smith Birch (1807-78), born 16 November 1807 and baptised at Armitage, 9 September 1808; married, 18 June 1843, William Taylor Smith (1808-49) of Hill Ridware (Staffs), son of Edward Smith of Rugeley (Staffs), but had no issue; died at Rugeley, 1 April 1878; will proved 23 April 1878 (estate under £7,000);

(2) Thomas John Birch (1808-95) (q.v.);

(3) Frances (k/a Fanny) Birch (1810-64), born 25 March 1810 and baptised at Armitage, 11 July 1819; died unmarried and was buried at Rugeley, 10 September 1864;

(4) Jane Birch (1812-76), born 12 April 1812 and baptised at Armitage, 11 July 1819; died unmarried, 8 July 1876; will proved 5 September 1876 (estate under £7,000);

(5) Anne Barbara Birch (1817-1909), born 2 December 1817 and baptised at Armitage, 11 July 1819; married, 10 March 1841 at Lichfield (Staffs), as his second wife, Richard Dutton (d. 1880) of Stanthorne Hall (Ches.), and had issue six sons and three daughters; died 14 November 1909; will proved 10 December 1909 (estate £10,658);

(6) Harriet Elizabeth Birch (1821-79), born 10 June and baptised at Armitage Independent Chapel, 3 July 1821; died unmarried, 18 December, and was buried at Brereton (Staffs), 23 December 1879.

He lived at Brereton until he purchased property at Armitage (Staffs), where he built or remodelled Armitage Lodge before 1808.

He died 10 January 1837 and was buried in the Congregational Chapel at Armitage; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 February 1837. His widow died 3 October 1842 and was also buried in the Congregational Chapel at Armitage.

Birch, Thomas John (1808-95). Only son of Thomas Birch (1774-1837) of Armitage Lodge, and his wife Mary, daughter of William Smith of Longdon (Staffs), born 4 October 1808 and baptised at Armitage, 20 June 1809. Educated at Lichfield Grammar School and Glasgow University. Solicitor. Master Extraordinary in Chancery, 1832. JP for Staffordshire (from 1852). He became a major shareholder in the Cannock and Rugeley Colliery Co., and was its Chairman, 1880-95. A Liberal (later Liberal Unionist) in politics. He married, 27 August 1842 at St John, Lambeth (Surrey), Julia Elizabeth (1814-90), only daughter of John Chanter of Bideford (Devon) and London, banker, and had issue:

(1) Louisa Julia Birch (1844-1923), born 17 March and baptised at Armitage, 16 April 1844; lived with her parents and later at Stoborough (Dorset); died unmarried, 25 August, and was buried at Wareham (Dorset), 29 August 1923; will proved 4 October 1923 (estate £10,464);

(2) Alice Mary Birch (1847-1931), born 19 May and baptised at Armitage, 21 July 1847; married, 6 August 1889 at Armitage, Arthur Claude Arnold (1864-1909), barrister-at-law, but had no issue; lived latterly at Hermitage House, Chieveley (Berks); died 22 December and was buried at Chieveley, 24 December 1931; will proved 5 March 1932 (estate £26,162);

(3) Ada Elizabeth Birch (1848-1932), baptised at Armitage, 21 September 1848; lived latterly with her brother-in-law, Maj. Foster, at Shenley House, Redhill (Surrey); died unmarried at Bournemouth (Hants), 25 March 1932; will proved 13 January 1933 (estate £32,584); 

(4) Lightwood Thomas Birch (1851-1903), born 12 February and baptised at Armitage, 31 March 1851; educated at Rugby, Malvern College and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1870); an officer in the 1st Staffordshire Militia (Lt., 1875; Capt., 1877; retired 1880); JP for Staffordshire from 1878; married, 19 October 1876 at Colton (Staffs) (but separated about 1891*), Mary Cox (1848-1925) (who m2, 28 February 1905 at Christ Church, Broadway, Westminster (Middx), Maj. Reginald Campbell (1858-1941)), daughter of Thomas Berry Horsfall MP of Bellamour Hall (Staffs), but had no issue; lived at Quarry Lodge, Lichfield (Staffs) and later at Hastings (Sussex); died 6 September 1903; will proved 20 March 1905 (estate £72);

(5) Constance Jemima Birch (1855-1937), baptised at Armitage, 22 November 1855; married, 17 April 1879 at Armitage, Maj. Kingsley Osbern Foster (1848-1922) of Shenley House, Redhill (Surrey), and had issue three sons and four daughters; died 18 August 1937; will proved 5 November 1937 (estate £35,784).

He lived at Brereton until he inherited Armitage Lodge from his father in 1837. After his death the property passed to his daughters, who sold it in 1896.

He died 4 May and was buried at Armitage, 8 May 1895; his will was proved 25 June 1895 (effects £132,862). His wife died 2 February and was buried at Armitage, 6 February 1890; her will was proved 10 March 1890 (effects £7,309).

* They were not resident at the same address in 1881, 1891 or 1901, and by the latter year he was living in the household of a much younger German lady (Annie Schmidt) in Hastings; he then claimed to be a widower and her uncle, neither statement being true. It was perhaps the scandal of his separation and/or this liaison (if it began before his father's death) which led his father to exclude him from his will.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, vol. 1, p. 118; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, p. 141; VCH Warwickshire, vol. 7, 1964, pp. 58-72; Rugeley Times, 16 February 1974, p. 1; T. Williamson, I. Ringwood & S. Spooner, Lost country houses of Norfolk, 2015, pp. 282-84; A. Foster, Sir N. Pevsner & A. Wedgwood, The buildings of England: Birmingham and the Black Country, 2022, pp. 397-98;

https://armitageops.com/armitage-lodge/.

Location of archives

Birch of Armitage Lodge: deeds, estate and family papers, 1680-1910 [Staffordshire Record Office, D(W) 1752]

Birch of Hamstead Hall and Wretham Hall: no significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Azure, three fleurs-de-lis argent, a canton of the last.

Can you help?

• Can anyone demonstrate the descent of this family from the Birch family of Manchester?
• Does anyone know more about the circumstances in which Lightwood Thomas Birch fell out with his father, or his relationship with Annie Schmidt?
• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 25 May and updated 4 June 2026.

(616) Biddulph of Ledbury and Rodmarton, Barons Biddulph - part 1

Biddulph, Barons Biddulph 

This post has been divided into two parts. This first part provides an introduction to the family and a description of the houses they have occupied at different times. Part 2 provides the detailed genealogical information.

The Biddulphs of Ledbury descend ultimately from the Biddulphs of Biddulph Old Hall and Burton Park, the subject of my previous article, and are in fact a junior branch of the Biddulphs of Elmhurst Hall and Westcombe Park, baronets, who will be the subject of a future post. By achieving a peerage and through the wealth provided by banking they eventually surpassed the achievements of both these more senior lines. The genealogy in part two of this post begins with Anthony Biddulph (1585-1651), who was the fifth son of Simon Biddulph (d. 1632) of Elmhurst Hall (Staffs). Anthony was a London merchant who took the Parliamentarian side in the Civil War and appears to have held moderate Puritan views in religion. His children married well, either into the city élite (two of his daughters married Lord Mayors), or into the county gentry. His elder son, Robert Biddulph (c.1618-78) followed in his father's footsteps as a city merchant, but also acquired land at Essendon (Herts), although he seems to have remained resident in London. Many of his children died young, and he was succeeded by his son Anthony Biddulph (1659-1718), who made the decisive step into the county gentry when he bought his father-in-law's seat of New House (later Ledbury Park) at Ledbury (Herefs) in 1688, which remained the property of his descendants until the 1950s. His eldest son, the long-lived Robert Biddulph (1682-1772), married Anne Jolliffe of Cofton Hall (Worcs), and through her the family inherited that estate in the next generation. Robert and Anne lost several of their older children in infancy, and the heir apparent, Robert Biddulph (1718-49) died unmarried in the prime of his life. The ultimate heir was therefore his fifth son, Michael Biddulph (1725-1800), who had pursued a career as a barrister, while his younger brothers went into the church and banking. 

Cofton Hall, Cofton Hackett, as remodelled c.1800

Michael came into possession of Cofton Hall in 1791 and handed it over to his eldest son, Thomas Biddulph (1759-93), who died soon afterwards. In 1796, Michael commissioned designs for rebuilding Cofton Hall from George Byfield, but these were apparently shelved in favour of a simpler remodelling. He then settled Cofton on his next surviving son, Robert Biddulph (later Myddleton-Biddulph) (1761-1814), who sold it in 1812. 

In 1757, Michael's brother, Francis Biddulph (1733-1800), who was only twenty-four but apparently already in business as a banker in London, asked Sir Charles Cocks of Eastnor (Herefs), to send someone to help him. Sir Charles sent his sons, James and Thomas Somers Cocks, and a new partnership was formed. The name of the new firm - Cocks, Cocks and Biddulph - may imply that Sir Charles also contributed capital. In 1759 the firm relocated to premises at 43 Charing Cross (later 16 Whitehall), which remained its home for over 150 years. Changes in the partnership saw the firm become Biddulph, Cocks, Eliot and Praed in 1776 and Biddulph, Cocks and Ridge in 1792. As Francis was unmarried and without issue, he brought into the firm two of the sons of his brother Michael (1725-1800): Robert Biddulph (later Myddleton-Biddulph) (1761-1814) and John Biddulph (1768-1845). From this time onwards the busi­ness remained in the Cocks and Biddulph families, although the style of the firm was altered from time to time, finally settling on Cocks, Biddulph & Co. in 1865. The bank did well to navigate the treacherous financial waters of the 19th century, when so many private banks failed, and they gradually began to expand, buying the assets of Codd & Co. of Westminster in 1886, who had many army clients, and taking over a good deal of the business of Hallett & Co., navy agents, in 1893. The bank had many wealthy and socially prominent customers, and acted for both the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother); King Edward VII kept his private account with them.

When Francis Biddulph died in 1800, many of his assets passed to his elder brother, Michael Biddulph (1725-1800), who was himself in the last few weeks of his life. Michael at once wrote a codicil to his will, in which his excitement at this 'great access of fortune' is palpable. The principal beneficiary was his second surviving son, John Biddulph (1768-1845), for the eldest, Robert, had already made 'a fortune' in India before returning home in 1795 and becoming an MP as well as a partner in the bank. In  1801 he married the heiress to the Chirk Castle estate in Denbighshire, which his descendants inherited; his story will be told more fully in a future post on the Myddleton family. John Biddulph had a large family, of whom his son Robert Biddulph (1801-64) became a partner in Cocks, Biddulph & Co but also founded a separate bank with his brothers John junior (1806-81) and Francis Thomas Biddulph (1812-76) at Pembroke in west Wales. This was evidently not a success and was perhaps eventually taken over by Cocks, Biddulph & Co. in about 1838, after which John junior had a second career as an iron and tinplate manufacturer in Swansea.

Robert Biddulph (1801-64) belonged to the early Victorian generation which took the responsibilities attaching to their position in society very seriously. He was MP for Hereford for five years in the 1830s and after inheriting the Ledbury estate was an enthusiastic promoter of agricultural improvement. He combined his partnership in the bank with other commercial activities, and - perhaps because of his Canadian business interests - became a Fellow (and eventually Vice-President) of the Royal Geographical Society. Like his father, he had a large family, and two of his sons went into the army: General Sir Robert Biddulph (1835-1918) and Col. John Biddulph (1840-1921). Sir Robert held various senior roles in the army and took the step of abolishing the purchase of commissions, a measure which significantly increased the professionalism of the army over time.

The head office building of Cocks, Biddulph & Co.,
designed by Richard Coad, 1874. 

The oldest and youngest sons went into the family bank: Michael Biddulph (1834-1923) and George Tournay Biddulph (1844-1929). Michael, who also inherited the Ledbury estate, served as a Liberal MP for thirty-five years, and was raised to a peerage, as 1st Baron Biddulph, soon after retiring from the House of Commons. He brought his elder son, John Michael Gordon Biddulph (1869-1949), 2nd Baron Biddulph, into the bank, but in 1919 the partners decided to sell the firm to the Bank of Liverpool and Martins Bank. At that date the partners' capital and reserves totalled £200,000 and the current and deposit balances £1,124,911. The 2nd Lord Biddulph joined the board of Martin's Bank, and held this position until his death.

In 1884, Michael Biddulph inherited the Kemble estate on the Gloucestershire-Wiltshire border from a distant kinswoman, Anna Gordon. With the estate came Kemble House, which had been remodelled in neo-Tudor style in the 1850s, but which he appears to have altered again. He may perhaps have used the same architects (James MacLaren and Richard Coad) as he employed to remodel Ledbury Park at much the same time; Coad had earlier been responsible for rebuilding the headquarters of the family bank at Charing Cross. The Kemble estate also included 600 acres in the parish of Rodmarton, which Lord Biddulph made over to his second son, the Hon. Claud Biddulph (1871-1954), a stockbroker. In 1906, Claud married, and soon afterwards he and his wife began building a large new mansion on the Rodmarton estate. The couple set aside £5,000 a year for work on the project, and chose to fully embrace Arts & Crafts principles in the design, for both aesthetic and social reasons: the project was designed to provide meaningful and rewarding work for as many local craftsmen as possible at a time of high unemployment. Work continued for some 20 years and was only finally finished in 1929. The result is one of the most thoroughgoing Arts and Crafts ensembles in Britain, and both an important and a delightful house. It has been passed from father to son through Claud's descendants, and is now the property of John Biddulph (b. 1971).

The 2nd Baron Biddulph inherited Ledbury Park and Kemble House from his father in 1923, but preferred to live at the smaller Underdown House, just south of Ledbury, which his great-grandfather had added to the estate when it came on the market in about 1818. In 1941 he let Ledbury Park to a stationery manufacturing company from Coventry which wished to relocate its workforce away from the wartime blitz, and in 1948 he sold the Kemble estate to a farmer, S.J. Phillips, who restored and modernised the house. At his death in 1949, the estate passed to his son, Michael William John Biddulph (1898-1972), 3rd Baron Biddulph, who sold the freehold of Ledbury Park to the tenant in 1952, but retained the rest of the Ledbury estate. When he died, his home at Underdown passed to his widow for life, while the rest of the estate went to his younger son, Hon. Edward Sidney Biddulph (1934-2001), who made his home at Much Marcle (Herefs). Tragically, in 1983 Lady Biddulph died in a fire at Underdown which left the house in ruins, and it was eventually sold and restored, but converted into apartments.

The 3rd Baron left the Ledbury estate as he did because his elder son, Robert Michael Christian Biddulph (1931-88), 4th Baron Biddulph, had married in 1958 Lady Mary Helena Maitland (1938-2023), one of the co-heirs of the Scottish estates of the Earls of Lauderdale, and settled at Makerstoun House in Roxburghshire. Makerstoun also suffered a disastrous fire in 1970, but was reconstructed to a modified version of the original plans by William Adam, of 1725, and this rebuilt house is now the centre of the estate owned by (Anthony) Nicholas Colin Maitland-Biddulph (b. 1959), 5th Baron Biddulph, who has two sons to succeed him in the title and estates.

Ledbury Park, Herefordshire

The historic town of Ledbury is formed of four streets (High St., New St., Worcester St., and The Southend) which meet at a crossroads. Ledbury Park occupies the south-east corner of the crossroads, with its two main wings fronting the east side of The Southend and the south side of Worcester St. It thus appears at first as a relatively modest town house, and only from the rear, where the rambling later additions are apparent and where it can be seen that the grounds and deer park occupy the whole south-east quadrant of the town, does its alternative character as a substantial country house become apparent.

Ledbury Park: the house at the crossroads, with Worcester St. to the left and The Southend to the right. Image: Crown Copyright.

Ledbury Park is indeed the grandest semi-timbered house in Herefordshire. It was built by a clothier, Edward Skynner, in the late 16th century, probably on the site of a palace of the bishops of Hereford. The ground and first floors of the close-studded west front seem to have been built first, with the oversailing top floor with its array of five gables with moulded bargeboards and finials, added in the early 17th century. The gable-end to the north matches the west front. The windows below, on both floors, have projecting sills placed between stop-chamfered posts, but while those on the ground floor are mullioned and transomed windows, those above were replaced with double-hung sashes with side-lights in the 18th century. The fenestration is now more regular than it was at the time of the bird's eye view below in 1733, and was presumably altered in the 19th century. Inside, the north room has panelling dated 1590, while the south room has some 17th century details. The principal staircase seems to have been replaced in the early 18th century, and is a massively engineered dog-leg with vase-shaped balusters and a moulded string.

Ledbury Park: vignette of the house from an estate map of 1733. Note the differences in fenestration from the later view above.

In 1818-20, H.H. Seward designed a new four-bay range fronting onto Worcester Street and attached to the north end of the west range for John Biddulph; this was evidently a replacement for an earlier building on the site shown on a 1733 estate map. The new wing was very obviously designed to keep in keeping with the main block of the house, for it has square-panelled timber-framing on the first floor, with six pedimented oriel windows, although the ground floor is a plain roughcast wall with four simple windows. 

Ledbury Park: view of the additions to the house by MacLaren and Coad in 1886, from The Builder.

A further extension to the house was made by James MacLaren (1853-90) and Richard Coad (1825-1900) (who had designed a new head office building for the family bank, Cocks Biddulph & Co. at Charing Cross in 1874) in 1886 and illustrated in The Builder. It continues Seward's range to the east, starting with an octagonal turret with an ogee lead dome, and terminating in a pair of richly decorated gables above oriel windows. The rear of this extension faces onto a courtyard and has a similar turret. Beyond the McLaren range is an entrance to the courtyard, marked by gatepiers with heraldic beasts, and an early 18th century brick lodge with a pyramidal roof, which was first built as a dovecote. The L-shaped brick stable block in the courtyard behind was built in 1818-20 and altered c.1886, when a shaped gable with a Venetian window as added to the north-east corner. 

Ledbury Park: south front of the house in the early 20th century, from an old postcard.

Finally, a larger range joins the south end of the main block to the stables. This is again fully semi-timbered, and it has gables of different sizes and steps forward irregularly as it runs east. It is dated 1897, and was presumably again by Richard Coad, although it may incorporate some earlier work, as a bird's eye view of 1733 shows an earlier range on this site. 

In 1941 the house was leased to a stationery manufacturer who moved his business from war-torn Coventry to the quieter surroundings of Ledbury, and it remained in commercial use until the 1990s, when it was converted into eleven dwellings, with six further new houses being built on the site as 'enabling development'; it remains in multiple occupation.

Descent: built for Edward Skynner (c.1544-1631); to son, John Skynner; to daughter, Constance, wife of Francis Hall, who sold 1688 to his son-in-law, Anthony Biddulph (1659-1718); to son, Robert Biddulph (1682-1772); to son, Michael Biddulph (1725-1800); to son, John Biddulph (1768-1845); to son, Robert Bidduloh (1801-64); to son, Michael Biddulph (1834-1923), 1st Baron Biddulph; to son, John Michael Gordon Biddulph (1869-1949), 2nd Baron Biddulph, leased 1941 to H.J. Chapman, stationery manufacturer, who bought the freehold in 1952; sold 1972 to Inveresk Paper Co.; sold 1984 to Georgia Pacific; sold 1989 to W.H. Smith plc.

Ledbury Park and Underdown: the relative locations of the two houses from the 1st edn. 6" Ordnance Survey map of 1886.

Underdown, Ledbury, Herefordshire

A property just south of the little deer park attached to Ledbury Park, which - like Ledbury Park - belonged in the 17th century to the Skinner family. Nothing is known about the house they presumably had here, and in 1765 they sold the estate to John Miles of Bristol, whose wife was the granddaughter of a previous Skinner owner. The Miles family became rich in Bristol's notorious 'triangular trade', taking metalwares to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Carribean and America, and bringing sugar from the plantations in those places back to England. In the next generation they built Leigh Court at Abbots Leigh (Somerset) with gardens by Humphry Repton, and bought and altered Kings Weston House (Glos). Underdown was the Miles' first country house, and modest enough by comparison with what came later. It is one of a group of late 18th century houses with paired full-height bow windows, tripartite doorcases, and a common repertoire of decorative details including feathered capitals which I have identified as being by Anthony Keck (1726-97). There is no documentary evidence but the architect's style is so distinctive that my attribution has been generally accepted.

Underdown, Ledbury: the original entrance front in 1979. Image: Peter Reid/Historic England

From the 1760s Anthony Keck built up a large practice across the whole of the south west Midlands and south Wales. He lived at Kings Stanley near Stroud, and seems to have been a joiner by his original trade. He was born at Prestbury near Cheltenham to a family of yeomen farmers with land both there and at Temple Guiting in the north Cotswolds, and he had a number of relatives in the building trades, including John Keck of Moreton-in-Marsh, carpenter. He first appears in the historical record in about 1764, when he was living in Gloucestershire, but he also had strong connections with Worcester and may have been apprenticed there. A study of his career demonstrates the crucial importance of patronage to the 18th century architect, for almost all his clients were friends or relations of people for whom he had already worked. His practice grew, and by the time he died, in 1797, he was 'The celebrated architect, Mr Anthony Keck'. His architecture relied heavily on a small number of design formulae which, once they had proved successful, he repeated time and again with only minor variations. His houses were restrained, well finished and yet quite cheap; at their best his exteriors were handsome, and his interiors models of balanced elegance. It is a great pity that Fate has singled out so many of the houses on which he worked for fires, remodelling or demolition.

Underdown: the side elevation with the new entrance and water tower created in the late 19th century. Image: Peter Reid/Historic England.

Underdown is no exception to this. After John Miles' death the house was acquired by the Biddulph family of Ledbury Park and although they regularly let the house it was altered in the 19th century, when a four-storey water tower was added north-east of the house with triple round-arched windows in the top floor and a pyramidal roof, and a five-bay round-arched arcade was made in front of a new entrance in the side of the house. At the same time the stables were rebuilt and a new lodge constructed. The main rooms of the Keck house were not much affected by these changes, but in 1983 there was a disastrous fire which burned out the older part of the house. For some years the house stood as an empty shell, but in the late 1980s it was restored and subdivided into apartments. Unfortunately I never got to see the house before the fire, and as far as I know the pre-fire interiors are not recorded.

Descent: built c.1780 for John Miles (d. 1812) of Bristol, banker; sold after his death to John Biddulph (1768-1845); to son, Robert Biddulph (1801-64); to son, Michael Biddulph (1834-1923), 1st Baron Biddulph; to son, John Michael Gordon Biddulph (1869-1949), 2nd Baron Biddulph; to son, Michael William John Biddulph (1898-1972), 3rd Baron Biddulph; to widow (d. 1983) for life; to son, Hon. Edward Sidney Biddulph (1934-2001), who sold for restoration and conversion to flats. The house was let to tenants in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Richard Webb (fl. 1818), John Murray Aynsley (fl. 1850-78) and Spencer H. Bickham (fl. 1893-1923).

Kemble House, Gloucestershire

A large stone manor house of two storeys with gables and attics, originally built as a highly conservative double pile with two cross-wings in the late 17th century, probably for Henry Poole, who came of age in 1694. 

Kemble House: unexecuted design by P.F. Robinson for a large new mansion, c.1826, from his Designs for Ornamental Villas (1836).

In the 1820s, Robert Gordon employed P.F. Robinson, who made unexecuted designs for a new Tudor mansion. Although his designs for this house were not realised, he is known to have built a garden house c.1826, and may have done more to alter the existing building. The garden house may be the simple Tudor-style cottage with ornamental chimneys which lies to the east of the house.

Kemble House: aerial view of the house, 1928, showing it as altered by R.W. Billings in the 1850s. Image: Britain from Above.

Kemble House: sketch by R.W. Billings for the hall screen. Image: National Trust, Stourhead

In about 1850-55, R.W. Billings was responsible for loosely Tudor alterations and additions to the house for Miss Anna Gordon. He added the two bay windows on the south, and introduced octagonal glazing into the mullioned and transomed windows. A painting attributed to Billings, which is now among the National Trust's collections at Stourhead, depicts the hall screen which he installed in the house, but which does not survive. 

Further additions and alterations seem to have taken place in the late 19th century, perhaps after Miss Anna Gordon bequeathed the house in 1884 to her father’s great friend Michael Biddulph, later 1st Lord Biddulph (d.1923). He employed James MacLaren and Richard Coad to make substantial alterations and additions to Ledbury Park at this time and they may have worked here too.

Kemble House: the house as reduced and restored in the mid 20th century.

By the time the 2nd Lord Biddulph sold the estate to Mr. S.J. Phillips in 1946, Kemble House had been unoccupied for many years, but instead of suffering the fate of so many empty country houses sold to farmers, Kemble was slightly reduced in size by the truncation of the service wing, and restored in 1954. 

Descent: built for Henry Poole (1673-1726); sold on his death to Sir Robert Westley (c.1670-1745); to son John Westley (1709-48); to sister, Elizabeth, wife of Charles Coxe (fl. 1792); to son, Charles Westley Coxe MP (c.1754-1806); to daughter, Elizabeth Anne Coxe (d. 1865), wife of Robert Gordon (d. 1864); to daughter, Anna Gordon (c.1811-84); to cousin, Michael Biddulph (1834-1923), 1st Baron Biddulph; to son, John Michael Gordon Biddulph (1869-1949), 2nd Baron Biddulph, who sold 1946 to Samuel John Phillips (1887-1965); to son, Gregory James Phillips (1918-97); sold 1996 to Michael Jonathan Fish (b. 1952); sold 2011 to Martin Kingston (b. 1949) and his wife Jill.

Makerstoun House, Roxburghshire

A house in a fine position on the high north bank of the river Tweed, which has a long and complicated history, although the present building is largely the result of rebuilding after a fire in 1970. The medieval house, originally a pele tower, was destroyed in Hertford's invasion of Scotland of 1545, and eventually replaced by a new house in 1590. At the east end of the present house are two vaulted rooms on the ground floor, one of which has a segmental-arched kitchen fireplace, which are thought to date from the 16th century phase of the house.

In the early 18th century, Alexander McGill was consulted on the remodelling of the house and reported that the north-west end of the existing building 'being very Crazy is to be taken down', but it is not clear whether anything was done to his designs. In 1725 William Adam drew up a scheme for a new house, incorporating much of the fabric of its predecessor, which appears to have been carried out, although there seem to be no views of it in this form. The retention of older fabric constrained the design by giving it a low ground floor with taller upper storeys.

Makerstoun House: the house from the south in 1920, showing the building of 1725 as altered in 1828.

A press report of 1920, when the house was for sale, refers to Adam-style decoration of about 1790 in the house, but there seems to be no other record of this, and it may perhaps have been rather later, for in 1828 further additions, attributed to Archibald Elliot the younger (d. 1843), were made to give the house a castellated appearance. The main south front, overlooking the river, was of three storeys and five wide bays, with small square turrets giving the elevation a 1-3-1 rhythm. The entrance front had similar turrets, but had two windows either side of the centre and a Gothic porte-cochère. 

Makerstoun House: partial demolition after the fire, in preparation for reconstruction, 1973. Image: RCAHMS

The fire in 1970 left the external walls intact but took out the roof and did considerable damage to the internal structure, and the decision was taken to remodel it rather than simply to repair it. The reconstruction was undertaken by John H. Reid and Crichton Lang of Ian Lindsay & Partners, and was based on William Adam's original classical design of 1725. The overall proportions of the main block were not altered, but the crenellations and turrets were removed, the big pediment over the central three bays was re-created (triangular on the entrance front and curved on the south front), and the walls were given quoins at the angles and white harling.

Makerstoun House: the entrance front of the house as rebuilt in 1973-74.

Descent: Thomas Macdougall (d. c.1575); to son, James Macdowel (d. c.1585); to son, Thomas Macdowell (d. by 1604); to son, James Macdougal (d. 1613?); to brother, Sir William Macdougall (d. c.1655); to son, Henry Makdougall (d. 1671); to son, Thomas Makdougall; to son, Henry Makdougall; to daughter Barbara, wife of Sir George Hay (later Hay-Makdougall) (d. 1777), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir Henry Hay-Makdougall (1750-1825), 4th bt.; to daughter, Anna Maria (d. 1862), wife of General Sir Thomas Brisbane (later Makdougall-Brisbane) (1773-1860); to Miss Scott-Makdougall (d. 1890); to kinsman, Hugh J.E. Scott (later Scott-Makdougall); sold 1921 to James Jardine Bell-Irving; to daughter, wife of Ian Colin Maitland, 15th Earl of Lauderdale; to granddaughter, Lady Mary Helena (1938-2023), later wife of Robert Michael Christian Biddulph (1931-88), 4th Baron Biddulph; to son, Anthony Nicholas Colin Biddulph (later Maitland-Biddulph) (b. 1959), 5th Baron Biddulph.

Rodmarton Manor, Gloucestershire

A substantial manor house was built at Rodmarton in the early 15th century, perhaps by Robert Burdon, and was known by the 18th century as Rodmarton Place. It lay south-east of the church, and was extended in the 16th and 17th centuries to occupy three sides of a quadrangle.

Rodmarton Place: the old manor house, demolished in the 19th century, from Samuel Lysons, A collection of Gloucestershire Antiquities (1804), pl. 33.

Unusually for Gloucestershire, the hall lay on the first floor, and was approached by an external staircase. The cellar underneath was apparently used as a prison. Owners of the manor were apparently non-resident from the late 16th century onwards, and by 1785 the house was clearly ruinous. In 1796 the tenant was ordered to demolish the Great Hall, chapel, and most of the rest of the house, and to repair the remaining part, but this was not done and the house was still standing in the 1820s and perhaps as late as 1872, when it was partly used as cottages which were rebuilt in the early 20th century.

Rodmarton Manor: the entrance front in 2017. Image: Trip Advisor

In the early 20th century, a new manor house was built on a different site at the west end of the village, which is a treasure house of the Cotswold Arts and Crafts with one of the finest contemporary formal gardens in England. It was built for the Hon. Claud Biddulph, in preparation for his retirement from business in London, as the new centre of the Rodmarton estate which he had been given by his father, Lord Biddulph, in 1894. Biddulph commissioned a scheme from Ernest Barnsley (1861-1926), the ‘proper’ architect member of the Sapperton Arts and Crafts group, and intended the building to be an essay in traditional Cotswold manor house design. With the Great War looming, and high rural unemployment, he also had a social aim: by constructing the house using as many labour-intensive hand-crafted methods as possible, the work would involve many estate craftsmen over a long period, thus providing them with employment. Indeed, the project succeeded as work took 20 years, from 1909 to 1929, costing £5,000 a year.

Rodmarton Manor: garden front in 2017. Image: Trip Advisor.

Rodmarton is particularly significant in the history of the Arts and Crafts movement, and especially for the Sapperton group. Never before (with the notable exception of Ernest Gimson’s work at Bedales School in Sussex, the building of which started in 1910) had a house on this scale been attempted, most previous work having been in designing and building cottages or small-scale extensions. Rodmarton gave Barnsley the opportunity to operate on a much larger scale, while retaining the principle of utilizing traditional hand craftsmanship, an approach that also allowed the design to evolve, somewhat, as building work took place. In his obituary for Barnsley in 1926, F.W. Troup likened Rodmarton to a medieval palace, in that it was “a school of art and a university of the crafts”.

The house was designed to suggest that it was the result of progressive accretion and remodelling over time. A variety of subtle stylistic devices were used to create this impression of gradual change. In particular, the character of the service wing to the left of the entrance front suggests an earlier construction date than the main range. ‘Could it be’, we are meant to ask, ‘that an earlier main house (of a medieval date) was replaced by a later construction, perhaps in the 1680s?’ The notion of implied growth, previously pioneered by George Devey in his picturesque cottages at Penshurst, Kent (c.1850), and at St Alban’s Court, Nonnington, Kent (c.1875-9), fails at one level because the house is so clamantly of its time to modern eyes.

Rodmarton Manor: ground plan.

The house consists of a series of distinct architectural units, each externally complete in themselves. To the east there is a rectangular kitchen court, the first part to be constructed. This almost belongs to the architectural scale and character of Barnsley and Gimson’s cottage designs. The linking angled family wing has the appearance of a small manor house in its own right, with a central doorway and symmetrical, three-gabled elevation. Next comes the taller main block, with the otherwise awkward junction with the family wing disguised by a polygonal bay window, this being matched at the other end at the junction with the chapel wing. The main block is again symmetrical and centred on a gabled two-storey porch. The Builder was not enthusiastic about the design of the main range, comparing its five gables to 'an upturned and magnified saw'. The internal planning is complex and occasionally ingenious, although retaining the one-room-and-a-corridor width of a cottage. While the main block is symmetrical on its entrance and garden elevations, the central axes do not match. Most curious is the sleight of hand in the planning of the chapel, where the external axis of the chapel wing is at 45 degrees to the alignment of the internal space.

Rodmarton Manor: the hall (now library).

Ever-changing hand-crafted masonry detailing, particularly on the chimneys and gable vents, the use of traditionally-decorated lead guttering, and large numbers of iron casements with leaded quarries, illustrate the range of crafts employed. Internally, there is an extensive use of hand-sawn oak beams and joists, panelling and oak floor boards. In all, it is cottage architecture writ large. Ashbee was impressed by the hand-made methods of construction used at Rodmarton. He wrote, after visiting the works in 1914, ‘I’ve seen no modern work to equal it, nothing I know of Lutyens or Baker comes up to it. And when I ask why, I find the answer in the system, the method rather than the man. It is a house built on the basis not of contract but of confidence, and Barnsley has been allowed a free hand to put all his personal knowledge and technique into the work. The Eng[lish] Arts and Crafts Movement at its best is here – so are the vanishing traditions of the Cotswolds’. Work was not complete when Ernest Barnsley died in 1926. Initially, the project was taken over by his brother Sidney until his death later the same year, after which Norman Jewson saw work through to a conclusion in 1929.

Rodmarton Manor: the drawing room. Image: Andrew Tierney/Daily Telegraph.

Perhaps it is at Rodmarton that the handicraft philosophy was taken to its limits, with the idea of a house being built from estate-produced materials. Stone was quarried nearby, the timber had been grown at Rodmarton, and everything was hand-fashioned, all of the floor joists and roof rafters being sawn in a saw-pit, a method which had long since been superseded by mechanised equipment. The logic of hand-crafted work, developed for furniture and the decorative arts, (and well exhibited in the extensive collection of contemporary furniture in the house, mostly made in the Daneway workshops) was extended here to building, but this, inevitably, could not provide a way forward for architecture in general. In some ways, architecturally, the Arts and Crafts movement died in the back-breaking labour of the saw-pits at Rodmarton.

Rodmarton Manor: 'The Troughery' in the garden. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The fine gardens represent another strand of Arts and Crafts design. Ernest Barnsley convinced Mrs. Biddulph to lay out the gardens at the same time as work was carried out on the house. William Scrubey was responsible for the design and planting. He is credited, together with the foreman, in a Latin inscription over a doorway through a wall into the garden. It follows the compartment form, made fashionable at this time by the influential books by J.D. Sedding, Reginald Blomfield and H. Inigo Triggs; Barnsley himself trained in J.D. Sedding’s office. The garden compartments are to the south of the main range of the manor, arranged axially on the elevation, with an east-west cross axis. To the west of this is the ‘Long Garden’, flanked by yew hedges and leading to a hipped roofed garden pavilion. The garden has developed somewhat in the 20th century, with some replanting and new paving to reduce the workload, and the creation of a tennis court, swimming pool and croquet lawn. One of the most successful areas is now ‘The Troughery’ where three generations of the family have accumulated ancient stone farm troughs set on staddle stones, and the adjacent topiary garden. Generally, due to the confining nature of the garden rooms, it is almost impossible to appreciate the extent of the house, unlike the full unfolding available from the entrance court. From the south west there is, however, a well-contrived picturesque view of the loggias at the chapel end of the house.

Today, the masonry has mellowed, and Rodmarton almost appears, at a casual glance, to be the 17th-century manor house Biddulph and Barnsley intended. Both house and garden are well maintained by their present owners, and the gardens are regularly open to the public. By arrangement, the house interior, with its fine collection of furniture, can also be seen.

Descent: Michael Biddulph (1834-1923), 1st Baron Biddulph; to son, Hon. Claud Biddulph (1871-1954); to son, Anthony Biddulph (1910-84); to son, Simon Biddulph (b. 1942); handed over 2013 to son, John Biddulph (b. 1971).

Continue to Part 2 of the post.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 372-73; S. Lysons, A collection of Gloucestershire Antiquities, 1804, pl. 33; P.F. Robinson, Designs for ornamental villas, 1827, plates for 'design 11'; VCH Gloucestershire, vol. 11, 1976, pp. 236-37; C. Aslet, 'Rodmarton Manor', Country Life, 19-26 October 1978; N.W. Kingsley, 'The work of Anthony Keck', Country Life, 20-27 October 1988; J. Allibone, George Devey, 1991, pp. 100-03; P. Davey, Arts and Crafts Architecture, 1995, p.22; D. Ottewill, The Edwardian garden, 1989, pp. 132-34; N.W. Kingsley & M. Hill, The country houses of Gloucestershire 1830-2000, 2001, pp. 214-17; T. Mowl, Historic gardens of Gloucestershire, 2002, pp. 149-51; K. Cruft, J. Dunbar & R. Fawcett, The buildings of Scotland: Borders, 2006, pp. 512-13; S. Pinches, Ledbury: a market town and its Tudor heritage, 2009; A. Brooks & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Herefordshire, 2012, pp. 429-30, 434; B. Byrom, The country houses, castles and mansions of Roxburghshire, 2015, pp. 63-64.

Location of archives

Biddulph family, Barons Biddulph:  deeds and estate papers, 15th-20th cents; diaries and journals of John Biddulph, banker, 1787-1841 [Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre, D51, G2, D2/3]; Gloucestershire estate deeds, manorial records, estate and family papers, 16th-20th cents [Gloucestershire Archives, D1332, D1348, D5112]

Coat of arms

Biddulph (later Maitland-Biddulph), Barons Biddulph: Vert an eagle displayed argent armed and langued gules, a canton of the second. [The present baron quarters his arms with those of Maitland: or a lion rampant gules couped at all his joints of the field within a double tressure flory counterflory azure]

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs of the interiors of Ledbury Park, Underdown or Makerstoun House, in the latter cases before the fires that gutted them in the late 20th century?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 4 November 2025 and corrected 5 November 2025.