ST8377 : Castle Combe Manor House in its grounds
taken 11 years ago, near to Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England
The Manor House at Castle Combe is a Grade II listed building. It dates originally from the C17th so is somewhat younger than many of the houses in the village. It was built to replace the old Norman Castle which had fallen into complete disrepair and was situated about half a mile to the north-northwest of the current manor. One of the former owners of the barony of Castle Combe who lived in the older building was Sir John Fastolf, immortalized - and somewhat unfairly lampooned - as Sir John Falstaff, by William Shakespeare. Sir John's connection to Castle Combe came about by his marriage to Millicent the widow of Sir Stephen Scrope whose family held the barony.
The present Manor House is beautiful situated to the west of the village in 365 acres of parkland. Though this building dates originally from the 1600s, it was heavily altered and extended in the Victorian era, firstly for G.P.Scrope (of the ancient family line) and then for the new owner E.C.Lowndes. See the EH listing for more information Link
The Manor House is now a hotel and restaurant with an associated private golf course. The hotel website can be found here Link
Castle Combe is a very picturesque village about 5 miles from Chippenham in Wiltshire. It is much loved by film-makers because not only does it contain many quaint old English stone buildings, it has no modern buildings. Also (presumably by byelaw) there are no aerials or satellite dishes to be seen, nor are there any telegraph poles.
Some of the numerous films that have used Castle Combe as a location include: Dr Dolittle (1967), Stardust (2007), Wolfman (2010), Warhorse (2011) as well as episodes of TV programmes such as Poirot.
The village's population of about 350 is vastly outnumbered by the many visitors it attracts.
The history of the village dates back to at least the C14th with several existing buildings dating from this time, including the market cross. Most buildings in the village date from the C15th to C18th, and a large percentage of them are EH listed. One of the later buildings is the magnificent Manor House on the edge of the village, set in 365 acres of parkland, which is now a 4* hotel Link
The village has its own website here Link