History of Welton Manor (previously known as Churchill House), Welton Lane

Welton has had several properties bearing the name Manor House or Welton Manor at different points in its history. 

The building now known as Welton Manor almost certainly occupies the site of an early manor at the foot of the village, though another manorial residence likely stood higher up Churchill Road when the first settlement clustered around the hilltop.

The lower site—variously named Welton Manor, Church Hill House, and Churchill Manor—has a long, complex history stretching back nearly a millennium. Its shifting names have caused understandable confusion, especially because Welton Manor Court was also, at times, referred to as Welton Manor.

Early history

The story begins in the 1070s, when Osbern de Neufmarche arrived in Welton shortly after the Norman Conquest. He and his soldiers are said to have “violently seized” the local chapel. Osbern was granted land in Welton and established his principal residence there. The earliest manor house was probably located at the top of the hill, where the recreation ground now stands. This first building was likely a fortified manor house, possibly resembling a small castle, reflecting the unsettled nature of the period.

Welton passed to Osbern’s granddaughter Agnes when she married Richard Mallory of Kirby Mallory in Leicestershire, the estate forming part of her dowry. The Mallory family would retain connections to Welton for several centuries.

During the 13th century, the manor house appears to have been relocated from the hilltop to the bottom of the hill, possibly becoming a moated site. This move coincided with the growing fashion among wealthy landowners for moated manor houses set slightly apart from the homes of ordinary villagers, symbolising both status and security. 

The Mallory family had remained Lords of the Manor until the 15th century. In 1427, John Mallory held the estate. It later passed through his daughter Eleanor and granddaughter Margaret, who married Thomas Peyton. Around 1484, their son Thomas sold Welton Manor to William Catesby of Ashby St Ledger. Catesby was a prominent supporter of Richard III, and following the king’s death in 1485, Catesby was captured and executed. The estate was subsequently seized by Henry VII, who granted it to his relative David Owen. Owen and his successors were largely absentee landlords.

By the reign of Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603) the manor was owned by Richard Knightley of Norton and Fawsley. The Knightley family sold the estate to the Adams family in the 1650s. By this time the early medieval manor of the 1200s had long fallen into disrepair and had been abandoned. The remains of this silted up moated structure have been recorded on archaeological maps of the site.

The start of the current building

The Adams family built a new house on the site, the older predecessor of the current building which was significantly remodelled in the 1800s.

It is believed that Edward Adams (1623-1653), the son of William Adams (1595-1664 and born in Welton, but later moved to Charlwelton, (who built the original Churchill House), was responsible for the building of an additional stone Manor House, now part of Old Manor Court, on part of the estate at the bottom of Churchill Road, across what is now Welton Lane.

This building has a date stone of 1650 and 1667 with the initials EA (a reference to Edward Adams), indicating construction in 1650 and extension after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1667 following the Civil War and “Commonwealth” of Oliver Cromwell. 

A 1770 map of the Daventry and Welton area below shows that at that time John Clarke was living at Welton Place and a John Adams Esquire at Churchill House. 

John may have been a descendent of Edward Adams, securing the Esquire through Edward’s marriage to Ann Berkeley, whose father was Henry Berkeley Esq. of Daventry and her Uncle, Robert, who in 1637 ruled in favour of Charles I’s Ship Tax. This lead to his eventual impeachment and imprisonment by the Long Parliament, in events leading up to the Civil war.  

The location of the second property made sense. During the late medieval period the route between Daventry and Welton still broadly followed the high ground of Ryehill and Monksmoor, and though there was evidently a trackway between the old and new manor sites, the land was still broadly one site. (For more information see History of The Manor House / Old Manor Court). 

So, for Edward Adams to build a new manor / farmhouse in 1650 north of the older moated manor and recent build on the Churchill House, probably to accommodate his own anticipated family, close to woodland and water, was wholly plausible.

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the Clarke family was rising in prominence locally, acquiring over time substantial property holdings including Drayton Manor in Daventry, several farms, and building Welton Place, halfway up what is now Churchill Road, as the map above indicates. 

Rev Simon Adams (1693-1731), son of John Adams and also Vicar of Welton, married Ann Clarke (daughter of John Clarke) – thus it is likely that Welton Manor passed into the Clarke family through marriage. The Clarke family may however have purchased the wider Churchill Manor from the Adams family as they also purchased Micklewell Farm, which was the name given to The Manor built by Adams, now Old Manor Court, during later years. 

19^th Century 

During  the 19^th century, the Clarkes faced mounting debts, leading to partial auctions in the 1820s. A burial record for 3^rd January 1817 records the burial of Mary Clarke of Churchill House, aged 73, indicating that may have been the start of the century that members of the Clarke family were in residence there. But that was soon to change!

In July 1828, following an Order from The High Court of Chancery in relation to a case identified as Phillips V Clarke, in relation to the estate of the recently deceased John Plomer Clarke, the Manor of Welton had to be sold. 

This sale included Churchill House, other cottages and houses and 550 acres of land, so clearly Churchill House was at this time just a small part of the Clarke’s extensive holdings.

In 1828, Edmund Burton from his offices at the Moot Hall in Daventry managed the letting of Welton Place on behalf of the Clarke family. Perhaps he then took on the lease or purchased the property, as by 1844, the property was owned by Edmund Singer Burton, the same Daventry solicitor.  

That year, newspapers reported an attempted arson attack on the house. Burton’s wife, Anna Maria, spotted flames and an intruder who had entered, it seems, through a larder window. 

The family, which included ten children and ten servants, escaped unharmed.  The 1851 census records that Church Hill House was occupied by: Edmund Burton (59), a solicitor, his wife Anna Maria, their 14 children, Burton’s brother-in-law Clarke Grey Watkins as well as 5 servants. 

The Burtons remained in residence for many years and ultimately had twenty children, eighteen of whom survived to adulthood. Several achieved distinctions in their lifetimes including:

Edmund Burton the elder is also reputed to have been responsible for the planting of many Cypress trees on London Road. It is said that he had one tree planted for each of his children, but now only two remain. He was also, reportedly, a good steeplechase rider and raced at Aintree. 

A sales brochure for 1863 confirms that the house was to be sold by auction in London.

By 1871, the manor was occupied by Richard Throckmorton and his family of two sons, Courtenay and Basil, his mother-in-law, Sophia Moore and 6 servants, although other documentation, specifically press cuttings, suggest that the Burton family were resident on the site still beyond this date. But by 1883 it would again be up for sale!

In September 1883 Churchill House was advertised for sale, the advert detailing the estate at that time:

• 40 acres of land including carriage drive and pleasure grounds

• A good hall, 3 reception rooms, bathrooms and a servants’ hall

• 17 bed and dressing rooms including servants’ rooms

• Coach house for 5 coaches and stabling, with coachman and grooms’ rooms and 10 loose boxes

• Small lake, walled kitchen garden

• Wharf with double cottage adjoining the Grand Union Canal (still visible at bridge on Daventry Road) 

20^th Century

The 1901 census records the following occupants at Churchill House:

• Alice Gifford – aged 29, wife – born in Edinburgh
• Violet M Gifford – 3 – daughter – born Mayfair
• Lydia Saunders – 29 – servant: cook – born Bedfordshire
• Annie Trim – 28 – nurse – born Lambeth
• Carolina Woods – 23 – housemaid – born Daventry
• Ellen M Webb – 18 – kitchen maid – born Althorp
• William H Rouse – 31 – Butler – born Leamington

We know that Violet Margaret had been born in Mayfair, London in 1897, but other than that we currently have no further knowledge of the family or what brought them to Welton. 

In the 1901 census Churchill House stables (now Churchill Court) was separately listed as it provided accommodation for servants linked to the house, in this case William Taylor (16) a groom, born in Daventry and Thomas Surridge (16) – a stable helper born in Welton. Records also exist for a sale in 1902 of 3 lots, to Isabella Seymour, Robert Marston and Robert Francis Burton, which would explain why in 1914 the Burtons are again listed as residents, as Kelley’s Directory for 1914 records that Mrs R.F. Burton (wife of Robert Francis above) and Mr R.W Westbrooke Burton are living at Churchill House, so clearly early 20^th century occupancy is challenging to establish! 

The 1911 census details tell us that the residents of Churchill House at this time were: 

• Fredericka Caroline Burton – Head – aged 55, widow, born Tunbridge Wells
• Robert Wiliam W Burton – her son, aged 29, single, born Weeting, Norfolk
• Elizabeth Collard – Housekeeper, aged 42, single, born Swansea
• Ellen Frost – Housemaid, aged 23, single, born Battersea
• Adie Grey – Parlourmaid, aged 22, single, born Wye, Kent
• Gertrude Horace – Kitchen maid, aged 16, single, born Burford, Oxfordshire

Also, in 1911 we read in the Birmingham Evening Mail on Wednesday March 15^th that Robert Burton is up in front of the Rugby Magistrates for dangerous driving. 

The Police subsequently tracked the car (Reg No BD 1046) and went to defendant’s house but the car was not there, but “they found it at a garage at Daventry. It was damaged and on the bracket, there were horsehairs and a piece of skin.”

Incredibly Burton denied the charge saying the damage to his car was caused by a milk float in Leicester. However, he did not escape justice but was fined £5 and his licence endorsed!

The Russian boy

Between 1923 and 1927 Churchill House/Welton Manor House was owned by Dame Sybil Edith Mary Romilly Nicolson (8 Oct 1880-14 July 1965). According to the deeds she held the property in her own name, rather than it being in her husband’s name as was customary. He was Admiral Sir Douglas Romilly Lothian Nicholson, who commanded the naval reserve Fleet until he retired in 1926. She extremely wealthy in her own right. 

Dame Sybil took over lease of Bude Castle in 1930.  She was related through her marriage to both Clementine Churchill and Lord Wimborne (Ivor Churchill Guest), Winston Churchill’s cousin and political ally. Lord Wimborne owned Ashby St Ledger Manor, becoming Baron Ashby St Ledger in 1910, which may explain her move to this area. The family were known supporters of white Russian emigres fleeing the revolution. Bude Castle’s records mention visits from Russian princes and members of the Tolstoy family.

Though she had no children she adopted Maria Pavlovna Tolstaya-Miloslavskyaya, a member of the Tolstoy family, whose father had been Chamberlain to Tsar Nicholas II. She and Maria are listed together on the 1921 census, staying at the Balmer Lawn Hotel near Brockenhurst in the New Forest, a prestigious, privately owned country house hotel frequented by George V and Winston Churchill, which exists to this day! 

It seems likely that Lady Nicholson’s connections both with senior government officers, Royalty and the Russian Royal Family may explain the story long held by Weltonians that a Russian boy, rumoured to have been a Romanov, spent time at Churchill House / Welton Manor. It seems likely that the young boy seen in several photographs taken in the grounds of Churchill House was not a Romanov boy, as local stories suggested, but a child of the Tolstoy family.

The archivist at Bude Castle confirmed that Count Dmitri Tolstoy, Maria’s nephew, had definitely lived with the Nicholsons between 1920 and 1926. We know also that for three of those years the Nicholsons were resident in Welton at Churchill House / Welton Manor. 

Dmitri’s early life had been disrupted by danger and displacement, fleeing Russia with his English nanny, Lucy Stark, for fear of being murdered had he not left the country. Dmitri’s father had been missing for two years, and his mother had died in childbirth in 1916. 

Lucy managed to convince an English chaplain in Moscow to write a false birth certificate for Dmitri, identifying him as her “illegitimate son”. 

They boarded a train to Finland where Lucy warned her charge that, when interrogated, it was vital that he did not reveal his true name. Despite being only seven years of age, Dmitri played his part and they miraculously got past border guards and into Finland from where they took a boat to England. 

It is astonishing to realise that a descendent of the man who wrote Anna Karenina as well as War and Peace amongst other great works, spent several of his formative years in Welton!

Read our blog on how we uncovered this story here.

The current owner holds a 1936 Sale booklet for Welton Manor – click the image below to see the details:

The house was advertised to be sold by auction on Thursday 28^th May 1936 and is promoted as a William and Mary House which would date its build to approximately 1689-1702.  This may be the right date for the core of the building which was heavily “restored” during the early Victorian period. Certainly, the stone built stabling and coach houses, now Churchill Court, from local stone and including a fine 17^th century stone triple lancet window, would reinforce an earlier build from this period.

The sale booklet promotes Welton Manor as follows:

• Entrance Hall, Billiard Room, 3 reception rooms, usual offices, 12 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
• Fine 16^th century staircase [as removed from Moot Hall, possibly in lieu of a gambling debt]
• Excellent range of stabling, garages for 4 cars, Grom’s flat
• Magnificent timbered gardens with tennis lawn, Monk’s Walk, walled kitchen garden and small park 
• 33 acres of land

In the details of the house, we learn that the Italian Wrought Iron gates were excluded from the sale and that the vendor reserved the right to remove them from the property prior to completion, replacing them with a “substantial oak gate”. As there is currently no wooden gate but wrought iron gates in place, could it be that these are the originals and that either the auction did not result in a sale or that the decision was taken to leave them in place? 

The house is described as being on the site of an “old Monastery” which is not yet evident on maps of the area and will require further future investigation to determine.  

The house also had 2 access drives at this point. Interior photographs show some fine wood carved panels around a hall door frame. The normal “offices” included a Servants’ Hall (16ft 6in x 13ft 6in), kitchen, scullery, Butler’s pantry, serving room, larder and a covered way leading to the Servants’ Bathroom and separate WC. There were also wine cellars, a paved yard, coal and wood stores, an oil house, boot hole, woodshed. We also learn there were three wells on the property, central heating and the telephone number was Daventry 75!

In April 1927 the house was bought by Nellie Isabel Reid (a spinster) for £6 400. This same Nellie Reid was still resident in 1929.  She was reported in the London newspapers for her fine pigmy Shetland pony Starlight shown at Olympia in 1929.  Starlight was shorter than 10.5 hands.

She was clearly a regular at the annual horse show having also appeared in June 1928 when Starlight was celebrated under the headline “The Midget of Olympia’. Maybe he was housed in the stables! (See cutting opposite: Daily Telegraph – 20^th June 1929)

In 1939 Welton Manor came back on the market and was advertised on 9^th November 1939 in the Birmingham Post as follows: Welton Manor – 33 ½ acres, freehold, for sale for £4000. 

The BBC went on to purchase the house in 1941 to replace a hostel they had previously set up at Murcott. It provided sufficient rooms and accommodation for its shift workers employed at the communications station on Borough Hill, which was a vital part of the war effort, and as such was seen as a better alternative to sourcing numerous bed and breakfast accommodations.

The BBC retained Welton Manor throughout the war years and into the 1950s. Its closure was announced on Oct 3^rd 1953 in the press.

In 1953 the BBC sold Churchill House to the Hupfield family, who established the Rugby Plastics Company on what is now Elm’s Dyke.  Other parts of the estate had been sold off separately by the BBC. The conveyancing documents relating to the sale were signed by the then Director General of the BBC, Sir Ian Jacob.  The Hupfield family continued to own the property throughout the 1960s. During this period Churchill Court (the stables and coach house) was converted for residential use and lived in by one of the Hupfield’s sons.

After the death of Albert Hupfield in 1968, his widow, Olive, required a smaller property so part of the kitchen garden was walled off and local builder, Frank Emery Senior, built what is now Churchill House opposite the stables and coach house property. 

(For more information on the Hupfields  see details on Pear Tree Cottage.)

In 1968, Welton Manor was recorded as a mid-18^th century house that had been extended in the 19^th century, constructed of red brick, Flemish bond, with two storeys and an attic, an early 19^th century Doric entrance porch and a fine 18^th century oak staircase that had originally been in the old Moot Hall, Daventry. 

It was registered as a Grade II listed building in January 1968.

The property came on the market again on January 16^th, 1969, after Albert Hupfield died. By this time the land had reduced to 8 acres. The house was advertised as to let or lease and included 6 reception rooms, domestic offices, 8 principal bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a swimming pool!

Home for retired gentlefolk

From 1970 Churchill House operated as a residential home for the elderly under the name of Welton Manor.

A conveyance document held by the current owner confirms that on 16^th August 1975 the Hupfields (Eileen Tull, Roy, Brian and Anthony) were the vendors in the sale of the property called Welton Manor to a Welton resident.

The purchase price is listed as £3,300, however by this time the plot of land tied to the house had been reduced to 4 acres, so evidently land had been sold in lots over time. 

We do know that in 1863, a sale of 3 lots was offered: lot 1 being 50 acres, lot 2 was Green Close meadow at 11.5 acres and lot 3 was an agricultural village called Moulton. 

The press cutting below from February 1994 makes for disturbing reading, telling how all 17 elderly residents were unexpectedly moved out and all staff lost their jobs at Welton Manor as it closed down, and receivers were called in. 

Harry Harding is named as its owner in the press, which is confusing as legal documents and verbal accounts confirm that a different owner held the property between 1975 and 1996. 

Perhaps he was the tenant or care home manager. It seems that subsequent plans to convert the house into apartments had not been approved, leading to the 1996 sale.

Many wealthy elderly people spent their final years in this house, and the newspapers reported many deaths and details of the estate of those individuals.

The cutting, left, from the Northampton Herald and Post of March 14^th, 1996, shows us that the large house that had stood on the site, was developed into a large and rambling Victorian property, was no longer to function as a residential home. Having been a BBC hostel for several years and then a residential home for nearly 20 years, it is likely that the house would have needed quite a lot of work on it! 

The house was purchased by the Berry family in 1996, who sold it in 2001 to the present owners. 

The current owner, who has connections to the previous owner, confirmed that much work was needed to put the house right. Many of the larger rooms had been subdivided, so partition walls had to be removed. The old swimming pool had been filled in, so that was later replaced.

Although English Heritage has examined the site, no trace of the much earlier medieval manor has been detected. 

What stories those walls could tell us of the hundreds of people who, over a considerable period of time, called Welton Manor / Churchill House their home. 

The picture below is of the entrance of the house with the porch painted white as it is now, so is post 1936.