Huddington Court

Huddington Court is an early 16th-century house, altered around 1584, set on an ancient fortified site within what was formerly Feckenham Forest. The building is timber-framed with painted brick and rendered infill on a stone plinth, with plain tiled roofs. It is planned as a T-shape, with a main range of four framed bays aligned east to west and a rear wing of two framed bays probably added in the early 17th century.

The most striking external feature is the early 16th-century sandstone chimney at the rear of the east bay, positioned in the angle with the 17th-century wing. This chimney has a chamfered plinth and paired circular brick shafts, each set upon an octagonal base with blind trefoiled panels. The upper and lower parts of the shafts carry spiral mouldings, while the central section has vertical mouldings; both sections are topped with octagonal concave-sided caps. There is also an external handmade brick chimney with off-sets to the rear of the west bay and another at the rear wing gable end, enclosed by a lean-to addition.

The building rises to two storeys with an attic containing dormers. The framing throughout features close-set studding, with some large swept braces across lower corners at first-floor level. Roof trusses employ collar and tie-beams with closely-set studs and two collars.

The north front elevation is particularly elaborate. The ground floor contains a 4-light oriel window on consoles with a lean-to tiled weathering, a 3-light window, a 4-light window with plank weathering, and a cross-casement. The first floor has two 5-light transomed oriel windows—one supported on two large consoles, the other on carved brackets with plastered coving—along with a 2-light window with plank weathering. One gabled dormer contains a 2-light window. The main entrance occupies the lower hall bay and comprises a late 16th-century gabled timber-framed porch with Ionic half-columns on panelled pedestals. The wide entrance door is also late 16th-century, retaining all its original fittings. At the right side of the porch stands a leaded rainwater pipe dated 1715 with a large decoratively-moulded lead trough at its base. Attic lights pierce both gable ends. The east gable end features a two-storey gabled bay window with 5-light transomed windows on both floors and 3-light side windows, all transomed. The gable has scalloped bargeboards and a moulded pendant finial. Windows throughout are mainly late 16th-century with wood mullions and leaded lights, several containing heraldic stained glass.

The interior is richly appointed with moulded ceiling beams, arched doorheads, and panelling throughout. The first-floor ceiling beams are slightly cambered to a central ridge rib, with subsidiary ribs subdividing the ceiling on either side. The Great Parlour on the first floor of the east bay contains a moulded stone fireplace with a 14th-century stone frieze above it. This frieze consists of four quatrefoils containing shields and is enriched with ball flowers; it is probably re-used from an earlier house on the site. A late 16th-century open-well staircase to the west of the hall features turned balusters. The newel posts are surmounted by the Wintour falcon alighting on a turret (ascending to first-floor level) and by lions (ascending to attic level). The attic storey of the east bay was used as a chapel and contains an ingenious priest-hole concealed in the panelling. A second priest-hole is hidden behind a fake stud and infill panel in the adjacent attic room above the hall. The ground-floor fireplace in the west bay incorporates a salt-drying cupboard with all its former cooking apparatus intact.

The house stands on an ancient fortified site that retains the inner moat of a former double-moated arrangement. A survey of 1650 suggests the building was once considerably larger. It was the seat of the Wintours, a Catholic family closely associated with the Gunpowder Plot conspiracy. The house retains much of its original furnishings and fittings.