Hindlip Hall
Hindlip Hall | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Stately home |
Location | Hindlip |
Coordinates | 52°13′19″N 2°10′12″W / 52.222065°N 2.170056°W |
Completed | 1575 (rebuilt c. 1820) |
Owner | In the care of the West Mercia Police |
Website | |
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/article/4406/Hindlip-Hall-Police-Headquarters |
Hindlip Hall is a stately home in
It was later owned by a poet and was for a while a girls' school before being rebuilt by Lord Southwell in 1820. The Hall was designated as a potential home for the war cabinet in 1940. It is now home to the
Early history
The house was originally built before 1575 to replace an earlier timber framed manor house
During her visit to Worcester, Queen Elizabeth dined at Hindlip Hall on 16 August 1575.[5]
Priest holes
After imprisonment, Thomas Habington and his wife, Mary, retired to Hindlip Hall, which they had adapted as a refuge with priest holes constructed for Catholic priests including some built by Nicholas Owen. Mary was the sister-in-law of Lord Monteagle.
When the Gunpowder plot was discovered, as a result of
In December, Oldcorne was joined by Nicholas Owen, Henry Garnet and Ralph Ashley who were hiding because they were also under suspicion of involvement. The hall was searched on 20 January 1606 but no one was discovered and Abington denied that there was anyone hiding.[8] The four were not discovered even though Garnet and Oldcorne were in one hiding place whilst the two lay brothers were in another. However the house continued to be searched for the next twelve days. A document written at the time records they "found two cunning and very artificial conveyances in the main brick-wall, so ingeniously framed, and with such art, as it cost much labour ere they could be found. Three other secret places, contrived with no less skill and industry, were found in and about the chimneys, in one whereof two of the traitors were close concealed. These chimney-conveyances being so strangely formed, having the entrances into them so curiously covered over with brick, mortared and made fast to planks of wood, and coloured black, like the other parts of the chimney, that very diligent inquisition might well have passed by, without throwing the least suspicion upon such unsuspicious places."[8]
There were in fact eleven hiding places discovered.
Oldcorne and Garnet
Thomas Habington was again arrested, and sentenced, but spared. He spent the rest of his life writing. It is said in several sources that he was not allowed outside the county, but there is evidence that this is unlikely.[4]
After the plot
Thomas's son, William Habington, was a minor poet and his son, Thomas, died without a natural heir and left the hall to Sir William Compton.
Later history
The old hall was destroyed by fire and was demolished in 1820.[2][3]
The new hall was built by
1940
During the
Today
Since 1967 the Hall has been the West Mercia Police police headquarters.[3] It is close to junction six of the M5 motorway.[2] The church of St. James is no longer supported by the Church of England (since 1997), but is now the church for the constabulary.[13] In 2018, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service relocated its headquarters to Hindlip Park, co-locating with West Mercia Police.[14]
In 1985 the Hall was designated a
References
- ^ Humphrey Littleton Archived 2008-08-07 at the Wayback Machine, gunpowder-plot.org, accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ a b c West Mercia Police Archived 2006-04-28 at the Wayback Machine accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h Heritage Gateway; architectural description of listed building
- ^ a b Hindlip's Gunpowder Plot secrets, BBC, About worcestershire
- ^ John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1823), p. 540.
- ^ ISBN 0-86012-253-0
- ^ Criminal Trials by David Jardine, 1846, accessed 6 July 2008
- ^ a b c Allan Fea, Secret Chambers and Hiding Places
- ^ Venerable Edward Oldcorne in the Catholic Encyclopedia, in Wikisource, accessed 4 July 2008
- ^ Lord Hindlip's new lake, New York Times, 9 September 1887 accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ A Brideshead hideaway for princesses at war, Ben Fenton, Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2006 accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ West Mercia Police - History of Hindlip Hall Archived 2010-10-14 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 21 April 2010
- ^ Genealogy and Heraldry Archived 2009-09-30 at the Wayback Machine accessed 7 July 2008
- ^ "Fire service and police now sharing headquarters at Hindlip Hall". Worcester News. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ISBN 9781364234751.