This weekly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.
Witley Court in Worcestershire was once a grand Victorian country house, developed over several centuries, but it’s heyday was in the 19th century when the 1st Earl of Dudley invested heavily in the refurbishment of the house spending the equivalent of £100 million. His fortune came from the coal mines of the Black Country together with iron works, chemical factories and the railways.
After the First World War the family’s fortunes declined and the second Earl decided to sell it to a carpet manufacturer from Kidderminster. In 1937 the main part of the house was destroyed by fire, believed to have started in one of the kitchens. Now you see the shell of the house, without any glazing in the stone mullion window frames.
The main attraction to the site is a restored working fountain which represents Perseus and Andromeda and reaches the original high cascades when fired on the hour between 11 am and 4 pm.
There are also lovely woodland walks and restored parterre gardens and the ruins of a gorgeous conservatory which once housed exotic plants and had an enormous cast-iron, plate glass roof.
Source: English Heritage and Information plaques on site.
TRAVEL WORDS 
Windows without glass. This reminds me of the bricked up windows in some London houses. A hangover from the days of the window tax!
Regards as always, Pete. x
🙂
Now there’s a thought for another windows post…
😉
Lovely post about Witley Court, Jude. I think windows without glass makes a perfect frame photos. There are lots of them at various church entries in North Norfolk and the ones in Cley are especially pretty. 🙂
Have a lovely evening!
Love, Dina
Oh, yes, I do like using empty windows or doors to frame a view. You have a lot of lovely churches and ruins in Norfolk. A place I definitely must return to in the future.
xx
Wow, what a wonderful post! Love the images.
Thank you! There is something very appealing about a ruined building.
Wouldn’t it make a wonderful film set or a venue for an open air performance? I’d love to visit this place – I bet there are ghosts around every turn.
It would! I don’t know if they hold any events there, will keep my eye open.
Sad to see such a grand house in this state, but your photos are wonderful.
Thank you LD 🙂 There are some lovely architectural details still, it must have been some house in its heyday!
Never heard of this place, looks fascinating though as told by your lovely photos as always Jude 🙂 xx
Well it is sort of out of the way (as much of Herefordshire and Worcestershire is) but we drive past on our way to the M5 (only takes us 1 hr 15 mins to reach a motorway 🙂 ) and one day I decided it was time we went and had a look at the place. It is quite extraordinary and the fountain is very impressive!
You made a good decision Jude 🙂 xx
Oooh and the tea room is delightful – I must go back there and take some more photos of it (as well as have some cake) 👿
🙂
What an amazing place Jude, so huge, imagine the number of staff needed to run it when it was the home of the 1st Earl of Dudley and of course they wouldn’t have any labour saving devices. My mind runs away with images of grand balls and lots of upstairs, downstairs intrigue.
Ah those were the days PP when the rich benefited from the poor. Made their wealth out of the poor buggers down the mines etc. and spent it on huge flash mansions that their ancestors now can not afford to keep!
You’ve introduced me to another place I want to see! Being a sucker for a good ruin….will have to see if I can make this a detour on a future journey West!
How is it that ‘The List’ never actually gets any shorter?
Because if we are curious, we are always eager to see/experience more! And I am curious, it’s what keeps me going, and I’m quite sure you are too! 🙂
True. And there are so many interesting and beautiful places / buildings / landscapes in the world. It is a good job that people like you take me to places I shall never have time to visit myself.
Fab, we are mutually beneficial!
Tragic, Jude! Can we take it on as a ‘do-er upper’? We can live on cake in the meantime 🙂
It’s really fabulous.
I like the idea of living on cake – if only it didn’t make you fat
😦
I just thought if the tea shoppe was there we might as well make use! We’ll work hard to burn those calories off! 🙂
This stately home must have been so magnificent when it was built. Sad to see it in ruins, but your photos show that ruins can also be very beautiful. 🙂