Hermitage Manor
Encyclopedia
Hermitage Manor is a small manor house in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

 (UK) with a trihedral moat, associated land and farm. A manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

). The term is sometimes applied to relatively small country houses which belonged to gentry families, as well as to grand stately homes, particularly as a technical term for minor late medieval castles more intended for show than for defence.

History

Hermitage manor was in the old Hemlingford
Hemlingford
Hemlingford was one of the four hundreds that the English county of Warwickshire was divided into, along with Kington, Knightlow and Barlichway. It was recorded in the Domesday Book under the name of Coleshill....

 Hundred in the county of Warwickshire. Hemlingford was one of the four hundreds that the English county of Warwickshire was divided into, along with Kington
Kington (hundred)
Kington or Kineton was a historic hundred of the county of Warwickshire in England. The hundred covered the southern part of the county, and lay south of Warwick, between the River Avon on the west and the River Itchen on the east...

, Knightlow
Knightlow
Knightlow was a hundred of the county of Warwickshire in England. It covered the eastern part of the county, including Coventry, Bedworth, Rugby, and Leamington....

 and Barlichway
Barlichway
Barlichway or Barlinchway was a historic hundred of the county of Warwickshire in England. It covered the west of the county, including Stratford-upon-Avon, Alcester, Henley in Arden, Bidford on Avon and Honiley....

. It was recorded in the Domesday Book under the name of Coleshill
Coleshill, Warwickshire
Coleshill is a market town in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole. It has a population of 6,343 and is situated east of Birmingham.-Location:...

. The hundred covered northern Warwickshire, including Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, Solihull
Solihull
Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...

 and Tamworth
Tamworth
Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...

. A hundred was under a lord/lords, becoming hereditary, a steward
Steward (office)
A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent him or her in a country, and may have a mandate to govern it in his or her name; in the latter case, it roughly corresponds with the position of governor or deputy...

 was appointed in place of a sheriff.

The importance of the hundred courts declined from the seventeenth century, and most of the powers were extinguished with the establishment of county court
County Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...

s in 1867. The remaining duty of the inhabitants of a hundred to make good damages caused by riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...

 was ended in 1886, when the cost was transferred to the county police rate. Although hundreds had no administrative or legal role after this date, they have never been formally abolished, nor have their hereditary peers.

The Manor was first recorded in the court of King Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

 (1100–1135). It was recorded in Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester...

. Huge Del Ermytage was permitted a fortification of a trihedral moat (moat of three sides). It is said to have been built in this parish by Hemeric, incumbent at the time when Robert de Ceraso was the local lord. It was given by Gilbert Picot to the Prior and Convent of Worcester; his son William increased the estate and it was valued at £1 14s. in 1291. At the Dissolution it was transferred to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. In 1650 the manors' estate consisted of 74 acres (299,467.6 m²) valued at £46. Thereafter it was passed to Samuel Jewkes Esquire of Wolverley
Wolverley
Wolverley is a village, and with Cookley together, a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is located a few miles to the north west of Kidderminster, near the town of Bewdley, and the villages of Kinver and Cookley...

 in the county of Worcester. Samuel Jewkes heir; Talbot Jewkes (Sergeant at Arms) sold and surrendered the manor under the court of Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...

 (1702–1714) to John Adcock, Yeoman of Meriden in the county of Warwickshire.

John Adcock’s heir, Mary Adcock in the year 1770 surrendered the manor in her last will and testament at the Prerogative Court at Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

 to John Cooper-Royle, citizen, to alienate to him and his for ever. In accordance with this, the right and title of the Manor of the Hermitage shall not be sold or any have the power to sell it until no lawfully begotten seed is living.

Present day

In modern day, Hermitage Manor is situated near Little Packington
Little Packington
Little Packington is a hamlet in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England. It is situated just to the north west of Great Packington and outside the boundaries of Packington Park....

, Great Packington
Great Packington
Great Packington is a hamlet near Meriden, Warwickshire. It is the home of the Packington estate, including Packington Hall, Packington Old Hall and St James' Church, Great Packington.To the east of the park lies the hamlet of Outwoods....

 and Maxstoke
Maxstoke
Maxstoke is a hamlet in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, England.-Maxstoke:Maxstoke is a small residential area.In the fields around the priory can be seen traces of medieval earthworks for fish farming and water control....

 – An area affiliated with the more modern Packington Hall
Packington Hall
Packington Hall is a 17th century mansion situated at Great Packington, near Meriden, Warwickshire, England the seat of the Earl of Aylesford. It is a Grade II* listed building....

. It is 1½ miles north-east of St Bartholomews church in Little Packington. The current hereditary Peer is Lord Matthew Jenkins of Lichfield, having had the title passed to him from his late grandfather – Charles William Denis Cooper-Royle in 2005. The current incarnation of the manor is as a Golf Course Hotel; Part of the Forest of Arden Golf course. It still owns a farm – Hermitage Farm and associated outbuildings. The moat still remains though has mostly run dry.
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