Heritage - Royalty and Gentry
The land in North Warwickshire was once owned by the crown and was passed to favoured royal subjects as a reward for their services and loyalty. These Lords of the Manor built fine houses, which we find dotted around the rural landscape today.
Many are now private houses such as Packington, Merevale, Whitacre, Kingsbury and Mancetter. Some, such as Grendon and Hams Hall, have disappeared altogether. Nevertheless, these were the estates of the rich and privileged, who farmed the land and provided the employment for the local community.
It was along the lanes and avenues of these estates that you would hear the carriage wheels pulled along by the power of horses. The finest examples of these large houses are at Middleton Hall. Here you will find not one or two but three examples of the manor house, the earliest of was built in Norman times and is the oldest domestic building in the county, still in use.
The others are of the Elizabethan and Georgian period. These houses have been lovingly restored by a trust group of volunteers, who welcome visitors to see these fine buildings that tell the story of times when the rural landscape relied on the people to cultivate and maintain it. Later the Lords of the Manor began to exploit the rich seams of coal that lay beneath their estates, and so came another phase in North Warwickshire’s history with the birth of industry.
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