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A History of Ettington Park

The History of Ettington Park

Early Origins and Development

The outstanding wedding venue, Ettington Park is a spectacular neo-Gothic mansion situated six miles from Stratford upon Avon in the picturesque Stour Valley. The river Stour weaves through the estate.

Behind the impressive mid-Victorian Gothic exterior of the house that wedding couples and their guests see today lies a very complex building and family history of the Shirley family. They are one Warwickshires oldest families whose lineage by uninterrupted male descent descent cancan be traced back over a thousand years to the Domesday Book of 1086 and beyond.

Archaeological evidence also indicates that the site has been a centre of human habitation for at least 2000 years. Roman coins brass ornaments and large quantities of pottery have been unearthed and it is quite possible that a Roman villa existed on the site. The fact that the great Roman road, The Fosse Way passes through the neighboring village of Halford make it very probable.

The Name Ettington is derived from the old English or Anglo Saxon words "Ea" meaning water and "Don" meaning ascending ground or meadow. The name itself gives a very precise description of the site where today, wedding couples and there guests often pose for photos on the "ascending ground or meadow near a river" Eatendon became Eatington and later, the present day spelling of Ettington.

The church mentioned in the Domesday record was founded and endowed by the Sewallis and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. His son Henry extended the foundation by the addition of a chantry and chapel dedicated to St Nicholas. The chapel served as the family mausoleum. The church was rebuilt at the end of the 12th century in the norman style and incorporated the remains of the earlier Saxon Church. Today candle lit wedding blessings for the bride and groom take place in the charming south transept chapel.

In 1795 the estate was inclosed by an Act of Parliament. The village was demolished and the inhabitants removed to a site two miles away at Upper Ettington where the new village and church was built. `The church dating from 1198 was partly demolished, leaving only the tower, the walls of the nave and the south transept chapel.

In 1820 the Entrance hall was gothicised and converted into a library. Overhead a new storey was was added. A new chimney was was installed in the library ( now a spot favored by wedding photographers for bridal portraits )a copy of one at Windsor Castle and surmounted by a Gothic stain-glass window retrieved from a redundant chapel near Chipping Campden. At the same time a new conservatory was built.

In 1858 Evelyn Philip Shirley decided to carry out a major rebuilding program. The work lasted from 1858 to 1862 and involved taking down the external walls and rebuilding around the core or interior of the old house.

The house was completed with the heightening of the roofline and the addition of tall chimneys contrasting round and square turret. A long gallery, venue for many marriage civil ceremonies, was built on the second floor and features a carved star window. The gallery staircase in the square tower is made from teak and acacia wood grown on the Ettington Estate. A carved Saracens head forms the end-piece of the banister rails.

The entrance hall was also enhanced by the building of a new glass vaulted cloistered conservatory of a classic 13th century design, as well as a vaulted carriage-porch leading into the cloister from outside. All these features can be seen today and the French and Italian Gothic style of architecture serves to make fantastic backdrops for the wedding photos.

In 1935 Ettington Park became a nursing home and during the Second World War a prisoner of war camp for Italian prisoners. For a brief period Ettington Park was the venue for a night club. Unfortunately, in 1979 a fire did severe damage to the house. It remained locked up and left to deteriorate for three years. However in 1983 the house and forty acres of land were leased to to the Isis Hotel Company and after a multimillion-pound restoration program Ettington Park opened as a luxury hotel.

Today it is managed and operated Hand Picked Hotels Ltd.., a company that specialises in the running of unique country house hotels. The quiet opulence and beautiful surroundings of Ettington Park offer visitors and wedding parties the opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves while enjoying and experiencing at the same time a very unique piece of English cultural heritage and history.

In 1959, workmen dismantling an outer wall overlooking the garden made an unusual discovery. They found a live toad in a cavity within the wall. They were mystified by their find as there appeared to be now access from the outside, or anyway air could penetrate through to the cavity. It was concluded that the toad must have gained access to the cavity during previous building work in 1740! An incarceration of 119 years! The incident was commemorated at the time by a carving of the toad in stone. The carved stone was then placed in the new outer wall close to the spot where he was found. Is the "Toad of Ettington" the original toad in the hole.

The Automobile Association has named Ettington Park the "Most Haunted Hotel in Britain" It has featured in a number of ghost, mystery and horror films. "The Haunting" was filmed there in 1963. Walt Disney also filmed "The Watchers in the Wood" there. Carol Vorderman featured in a television documentary on the Ghosts of Ettington Park.

Many of the features of the amazing gothic building have been incorporated in the wedding albums and photography of Warwickshire Wedding Photographer, Kevin Smith.