Distance: Around 7 miles

Difficulty of the Terrain: Medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Walk in north west Worcestershire from the historic river port of Stourport-on-Severn across the countryside to the dramatic ruin of the 19th Century Witley Court.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Witley Court: North Worcestershire’s Palatial Modern Ruin

There are plenty of walks written up on this site which explore industrial ruins and relics and which enable walkers to explore and wonder about the people who spent their lives creating and toiling amidst them.

There is generally less, however, about how those who owned those sites sought to spend the profits that they extracted from the knowledge, skills and exertion of the workers. This is largely a personal preference as I care little for bosses and they are usually quite boring people. However, besides industrial age civic splendour, certain kinds of ecclesiastical and low church protestant pomp, and surviving pieces of infrastructure, which were generally various kinds of collective collective as opposed to individual endeavours, what remains in the British landscape of the private culture of early industrial capitalists?

Of course organisations like the National Trust, some local authority owned museums and the occasional private foundation preserve on public display something of their interior domestic life: all of the bad sentimental paintings, dead wild animals and dark heavy ugly furniture. But what of the buildings that they created to live in? Is it worth going for a wander to see some of them?

When it comes in the form of the palatial sized modern ruin Witley Court, which has been tended back into a slightly eerie working order over the last 50 years by English Heritage, who (jn their then incarnation as part of the Department of the Environment) took it on in 1972 I would contend that it definitely was.

Witley Court – which lies in a remote corner of north west Worcestershire roughly equidistant between Kidderminster and Worcester – began life as a Jacobean manor house constructed by the Russell family. It was in their possession for a relatively short time before they sold it to Thomas Foley, an ironmaster and politician who gained national prominence following the restoration of Charles II. An early example of someone who made their money through controlling industrial capital raising to a position of national power and significance.

As is the way of the members of rising classes throughout time, the Foley family sought to enter the upper echelons of the landowning social order that dominated society at the time. Thomas Foley’s grandson, in classic style also named Thomas Foley, was made the 1st Baron Foley. He and his son and grandson, (both of whom were also called Thomas Foley) over the course of the 18th Century proceeded to behave like quintessential minor rural English aristocrats, constantly extending and remodelling their house, building an incredibly fancy Italianate church into the side of it and forcing the removal of the village of Great Witley several miles away from their house, so that the grounds could be remodelled by John Nash.

This was prior to the 1830s when in perhaps the most quintessentially English aristocratic move of them all, the 4th Baron Foley found that he could no longer service the massive debts he and his ancestors had run up, meaning he had to put Witley Court up for sale. The estate was purchased by the Earls of Dudley, bigger time aristocrats than the Foley’s and also much more substantial industrialists. Their wealth had been swollen by the development of the coal and iron industries in what became the Black Country. The creation of the Dudley Canals – including the ill starred route through the Lapal Tunnel – were critical to underpinning the industrial growth that their family’s ability to extract profit was predicated upon.
It was the Dudley family who remodelled Witely Court over the course of the 19th Century into a massive ostensibly Italian looking palazzo. Tens of thousands toiled 30 miles north of the estate hewing iron and coal out of the ground in the Black Country in exchange for wages worth less than the rocks that were hauled out the ground and put onto barges and railway wagons. The difference between what was paid for extracting the coal and what it was sold for, ended up in part, at Witley Court where it was spent on ashlar stone to clad the house’s unfashionable red brickwork, yards and yards of glass to glaze a gigantic new orangery and the bills of the garden designer William Andrews Nesfield who designed a series of spectacular fountains. Sites which it is doubtful even the most skilled of the iron founders and steelworkers at the family’s Round Oak Works would have ever set eyes on, apart from when they cast the girders and other parts which made it all possible.

Possession of such a house enabled the family to hobnob and become key players in national politics. William Ward The Second Earl of Dudley who came into possession of the estate in 1885 upon the death of his father, was a prominent member of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords, and connected to the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) who came to visit. As a politico William Ward was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, achieving in the process a degree of immorality with a cameo in James Joyce’s Ulysses. After Ireland, despite the Tories having been displaced by the Liberals at the 1905-6 General Election, he was sent to be Governor General of Australia, a role in which he was generally considered pompous and ineffectual.

Following the First World War a downturn in the fortunes of coal, iron and steel left the Dudley family relatively hard-up. In a move that was perhaps symbolic of the shift from heavy to lighter more consumer focused industry, William Ward sold Witley Court to Sir Herbert Smith (a mere baron) who owned carpet factories in Kidderminster.

Having purchased the property, Herbert Smith often lived elsewhere leaving only a skeleton staff to keep the vast house and grounds in order. In September 1937 a fire broke out in the house’s basement bakery and quickly tore through one wing of the building. The rest of the house was largely undamaged, but the insurance company did not want to pay out the claim, leading Herbert Smith to decide to sell.

The house and it’s grounds were bought by scrap merchants, who in a move akin to the most primitive forms of accumulation, stripped out everything of value leaving a shell clad in expensive stone, supported by some increasingly rusty looking girders. This evocatively moody looking structure, the perfect symbolic connotation of national decay and decline, provided staging for the band Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale in 1967.

Five years later the spectacular ruin of Witley Court was “saved for the nation”, and since then the gardens and grounds have been slowly restored, whilst the house itself remains pleasingly slighted in appearance. Today we can do what the generations who toiled to make it could not, and it can be visited for a small fee, or on presentation of an English Heritage membership card.

The Walk

he route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

I began my walk to Witley Court at Kidderminster Railway Station, from where I walked through the town centre to the River Stour and continued along the towpath to Stourport-on-Severn.

I need not have done this however, and it added 4 miles and roughly an hour and a half of walking time to the journey. I could instead have caught one of the regular buses from Kidderminster to Stourport and begun the walk from there. Or alternatively I could have caught the hourly Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester train to Hartlebury and had a much, much shorter walk to Stourport. It is worth noting though, that bus frequency reduces dramatically in north western Worcestershire at the weekends. Indeed on Sundays there isn’t really a bus service, so if you were walking on that day, then the train to Kidderminster and then walking is the only real option, as Hartlebury is only served by one very early morning train on Sundays.

To begin the walk from Stourport-on-Severn walk from the town centre across the main bridge spanning the Severn.

Once you are on the other side of the river you will see a blue painted flight of metal steps on your right hand side.

Walk down these steps. Be careful in wet weather as I imagine that they get slippery.

Once at the bottom you will find yourself standing next to the arches of the bridge.

Walk through these – I found the arch nearest the river the most readily navigable – and you will find a fairly well trodden, and waymarked path leading along the banks of the River Severn.

Continue walking along this path for the best part of a mile.

The way is pretty steady going, albeit the grass in places doesn’t make it the quickest. On both sides of the river you get a great sense of Stourport-on-Severn as a place.

Both its historical importance as a well-preserved node in the late 18th and early 19th Century canal and river transportation network.

And it’s unusual contemporary existence as a relatively affluent suburb of the West Midlands conurbation on the one hand, and a kind of weird inland seaside resort cum post industrial town on the other.

After 10 to 15 minutes walking, having passed the boarded up remains of the town’s sports centre, and the rugby club, you walk past a vast static caravan park. This roughly marks the edge of the town.

A little way after this, the town largely vanished on both sides of the river, you enter a more wooded section.

At this point an impressive sandstone cliff looms above you. Here the river section of the path ends, with the bank of the river petering out until it is completely replaced by the cliff face.

This is a pretty impressive geological feature and it has an intriguing past. Famously Kinver Edge, a similar sandstone formation a bit further north near the southernmost tip of Staffordshire, has caves carved into it that were inhabited up until the mid-20th Century. Here at Stourport however, it is known that the caves were used prior to the reformation as a hermitage where holy people would devote themselves to a life of isolated contemplation and prayer.

Even in the middle of the day it is quite an eerie spot. To continue with the walk you go past the cave system in its entirety heading up a path on your right hand side away from the river.

Eventually, just after the last of the caves and grottos you reach a flight of steep steps which takes you up onto the top of the cliffs themselves.

At the top of the steps turn left.

Then after a couple of dozen paces turn right and head out into an open field.

On the far side of the large field stands a cluster of old abandoned factory buildings behind a stand of trees and a bank.

Follow the path across the field towards these structures and the trees, then follow the path that runs along the same course as the fenced off bank of earth around the side of the field.

Presently after about 5 minutes walking in this direction you will reach a pathway straight in front of you which leads through a thicket.

Having walked along this for a couple of minutes you encounter a large concrete block which has been placed where the path joins a tarmacked country lane. The purpose of the concrete block is presumably to stop vehicles coming off the road onto the field.

Having reached the side of the lane turn left and walk a short distance along it. I found that the relatively light traffic on the road travels quite fast so do take care.

After a short way following the course of the road it dips down towards a large wooden clad building, behind which is a small lake seemingly used either for boating or fishing, or perhaps a bit of both.

Continue following the road past the building and along the perimeter fence of the lake.

After several minutes you come to the head of the lake. Near this point there is a footpath sign in front of a style leading out into a field.

Head across the style and begin walking along the side of the field.

Presently a tangled thicket leading towards a copse begins to form on your left hand side.

Keep a careful eye on this thicket, because it contains a waymarker which points towards a largely obscured path.

Once you have located the path, which is fairly close to where the thicket start in earnest, walk a short way along the path inside the thicket.

After a couple of minutes walking you come to another waymarker and some tumbled down fencing.

At this point, broadly following the way markings, head left down a short but quite steep bank, through some light undergrowth into the field beyond.

Once into the field follow the line of the hedgerow on your left for around a minute.

Presently you come to a cut through on your right which leads through the hedgerow.

Once you have passed through this there is a fairly obvious pathway on your right, which hugs close to the footprint of the copse.

Follow this footpath for about 5 to 10 minutes passing through several fields.

On your left hand side the River Severn steadily begins to hove back into view, whilst straight ahead of you a line of houses appears.

Presently you reach a gate which leads out through a thicket onto a wharf type structure by the river.

On the other side of the gate runs a tarmacked road. Walk down the road towards the Hampstall Riverside Inn. This is pretty much the final stop on the walk for refreshments prior to Witley Court, so if you are walking past here around about lunchtime it might be worth stopping.

Continuing past the pub, you head down a narrow road ringed by bungalow houses.

Presently you reach the village’s wide main road.

Turn right here and walk up in the direction of the interesting steep hill with a single tree on top which stands behind a large 18th Century vintage house.

Having nearly reached the large house and the hill, you walk past a 1990s style BT phone box which has now become home to a defibrillator. This besides the pub and a dog grooming salon appear to be the only amenities in the village.

On your left immediately after the phone box, on the left beside the telephone box housing a defibrillator is a footpath sign.

Turn down the paved path waymarked by the sign.

After 5 – 10 minutes walking down this path, having passed several bungalows, you reach Astley Wood.

At this point you are walking along the well used, well marked Geopark Way which runs across western Worcestershire, going as far as the Malverns.

The section walking through the woods is one of the most attractive sections of the route and it is pretty easy to follow.

The path runs straight until you enter a clearing.

Having crossed the clearing you come to a small brook and the path forks.

Take the right hand path which leads slightly up a hill alongside a fence, heading further into the woods.

Walking along this path you have the deep channel of Dick Brook as it runs down to the Severn on your left hand side, on your right Astley Wood rises up a steep bank beside you.

The path continues to slope and undulates slightly, but is fairly level and well made so its possible to continue to make good time.

Presently you reach the remains of The Forge, a site where iron (including possibly by Witley Court’s post Civil War owners the Foleys) was smelted from the mid-17th Century onwards. The only remains are a few walls, some scattered bricks in the path and a moss covered plaque bearing the date “1652”. It is nonetheless a stark reminder that this sleepy, quiet chunk of Worcestershire has its own industrial past, beyond being a place where factory and mine owners from further north retreated with their extracted wealth.

After the Forge remains you continue walking for some time through the woodland. Presently it opens out into another long clearing, the path marked by the ruts of a four by four or some other vehicle, close to Woodend Farm which stands above you up the bank beyond the trees.

Having crossed the clearing following the car tyre track, you come to a gate, which stood open when I passed through.

This leads through into another smaller field. Cross this and you reach a cattle grid and a gate near a house which stands partially screened by trees on your right. I was interested to note via the well established metric of checking which district council’s logo is on the property’s wheelie bins, that at some point I’d moved from the realm of Wyre Forest District Council into that of Malvern Hills. Which made it feel like I’d gone rather further west than I thought I had.

Having crossed the cattle grid you head down a short track to where it joins the B4196 Road.

On reaching the B4196 turn left and walk a short distance. Take care as it is quite a twisty, busy, road and drivers are not always that careful or used to walkers.

Having walked less than 100 metres you head over a road bridge which crosses the Dick Brook. The bridge stands just after a sign welcoming you to the village of Shrawley.

At this point on your right a bridleway sign is visible just after the bridge.

Cross over the road and start walking up the bridleway.

Here you are once again walking along the Geopark Way.

The route is steep in places, but the path is well made, tarmacked in places even, so the going is quite easy.

Presently, after a relatively short distance you reach a fork in the road. Here you can take the left hand and walk up a narrower, steeper, path through a small wood. Or you can do as I did and keep on the Geopark Way by heading up the right fork.

I had elected to keep on up the somewhat monotonous (and still quite steep) Geopark Way, because I was intrigued by a marker for Glasshampton Monastery on my map.

On heading up the fairly steep track I presumed that this was more ruins dating back to the world of pre-Reformation religious life and dedication, much like the hermitage caves just outside Stourport.

In fact as it soon became Glasshampton is very much a working monastery. One that is housed in quite a sprawling complex recalling an enormous 18th Century stable block. As such I was walking along the driveway of an actual existing British monastic house.

Just before you reach the monastery the path forks again at a t-junction. There is a DIY looking signpost pointing towards the monastery on one hand and Wulstans Farm on the other.

Take the left hand fork heading towards Wulfstans Farm

Start walking along the track towards the farm heading towards some woodland in the distance.

After a short while you reach a fork in the track again.

There is a hedgerow here, with a large gap in it for accessing the field beyond which heads into woodland.

Continue straight ahead following the track leading into the field.

Walk towards the trees at the bottom of the field.

When you reach them you curve round slightly.

At this point you are standing by the edge of what is called Nuttnell Pool, a small lake created by damming a brook, which is evidently used for fishing.

Walk along the track which leads over the dam that holds in the lake’s water.

On the far side walk up a short track which leads into a meadow beyond.

Once in the meadow follow the path down and across the field.

As you walk along the track keep a careful eye out on your left for the pathway leading up the steep slope.

Once you reach it follow it up the slope.

Here you can follow the field boundary.

Until you find a way through onto the field beyond.

My slight misfortune at this latter stage of the walk was to find that I had arrived shortly after harvest time. This meant that many of the fields were completely churned up making where the path went very hard, if not near impossible to follow.

Initially I hugged the field line.

But presently, I came to a section where I clearly had to cross the field.

I had a hunch about where I had to get to on the other side because I thought I saw a gap in the trees with the outline of a path snaking up it.

I also figured that the owner of the field probably would not be overly fussed about me walking on it between harvest time, and ploughing and replanting. This led me to decide to just go for it.

On the other side of the field having consulted my map, it became clear that I was slightly off course. Luckily I could clearly see the path I was supposed to take off to my right, no more than 100 metres away.

I followed a track running along the edge of the field down to the bottom near a pile of some kind of farm waste heaped up into what might have been a bonfire.

Here on my right the track widened further and I followed it up a slope with two stands of trees on either side.

Once at the top of this slope.

Continue down the track.

This leads along a farm track across a very large open field.

Along the way you pass some very elderly railway goods wagons quietly rusting away.

After walking across this landscape for 10-15 minutes you come to a gate leading out onto a paved road.

If you cross over this road and stand on the far side next to the field and look across it on your right you can see in the distance the gold top dome of St. Michael and All Angels Church. This baroque structure is attached to Witley Court, signalling that you have nearly reached the end of your journey.

Now you’re at the road, turn right and walk along it for several minutes.

Presently on your left a footpath sign leading off across a large open field towards a copse comes into view, just besides a small layby type pull-in for vehicles.

Turn left off the road into the field and walk towards the edge of the copse on your left.

Again when I walked the route the harvest was recently done and the path wasn’t especially obvious.

Once at the copse walk along the side of it.

At the bottom I found a large gap in the hedgerow.

This leads down a short bank onto the quite busy A443, so take care at the next stage.

Head down the bank onto the A443 then turn left.

After walking a short while you will see a grand little Victorian era building on your right on the other side of the road. This is one of Witley Court’s former gatehouses.

Next to the gatehouse runs a lane leading into some woodland.

Cross over the road and walk along this track.

Keep on this track for several minutes passing a farm and a few other scattered houses.

Presently the path begins to slope upwards.

It is at around this point that you get the first glimpses of the remains of Witley Court on your left.

Once at Witley Court the house ruins, restored grounds and church are well worth a visit.

The Garden Tearooms just beyond the church are also worth a stop if you require lunch or refreshments. As I discovered however, they stop serving lunch at 15:00 (I arrived there at about 15:10) so this is worth factoring in.

Getting Back

To get back home I walked a mile or more to the village of Great Witley, which is a very dispersed kind of settlement, albeit home to a lot of very expensive seeming new homes. This was so as to catch the bus and also to get some sandwiches and a drink from the SPA-cum-petrol station which besides a small post office and general store is the only shop in the neighbourhood.

The countryside surrounding Great Witley is interesting and quite reminiscent to my mind of Herefordshire or Shropshire as opposed to Worcestershire, so it’s worth having a look.

If I had not wanted to visit Great Witley I could have headed back to the A443 where there are a couple of bus stops at the ends of the driveways leading to the house which buses from Tenbury Wells to Worcester call at.

As it was I got the bus which calls opposite a housing estate called “The Glebe” on the Stourport Road. To reach this stop which has a little wooden bus shelter I walked up to The Hundred House, an 18th Century building formerly an inn, now recently converted to flats, and walked a short way down the Stourport Road which leads off to the right.

From this stop I caught the 17:34 bus to Worcester so as to catch a train back to Birmingham.

A word of warning on this besides checking current bus timetables before heading out, as Great Witley is a long way out in the countryside, the bus company only accepts cash fares. As such when I presented my debit card upon boarding, the driver treated me to a little monologue on the necessity of always carrying cash with you, and was mildly angry. I promised him that I’d pay for Worcester, and having completed the 25-30 minute journey I did so, which mollified him.

I’m not normally in the habit of blagging things anyway, but it would be a real shame if our massively pruned rural bus network was pared back even further (Great Witley is served by 4 buses to Worcester a day), so I think it’s vital to try and patronage and pay for these lifeline services if possible. Not least because having got a tenner out of the cashpoint I was surprised and delighted to find that the fare for a 11 mile+ journey was only £3.50!