Good Things Come In Threes

A trio of superb country houses, one belonging to the Huntington-Whiteley family, has come to the market in Worcestershire and its environs

AS a country-house agent of 40 years’ standing and a former High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Andrew Grant has crossed the threshold of almost every important house in the county and, in his time, has also sold quite a few of them. Every house has a story to tell, none more so than gracious Ripple Hall in Ripple, near Upton-upon-Severn, on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border, which comes to the market for the first time in almost 60 years at a guide price of £2.25 million through Andrew Grant Country Homes (01905 734735).

Ripple Hall, listed Grade II, stands next to Ripple’s Grade I-listed, 12th-century St Mary’s Church, surrounded by more than 13 acres of gardens, grounds and ancient parkland. The oldest, rear part of the house is believed to date from the 1400s, with the main south front added in 1780–90. The whole is rearranged in a style similar to several prominent houses in Upton-upon-Severn, including The Rectory, built by Ralph Sheward for the Rev J. E. Martin in 1787.

The remodelling of Ripple Hall was carried out for Fleetwood Parkhurst, a descendant of John Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich from 1560, who is renowned in academic circles for his Hebrew and English Lexicon. On his death in 1801, Ripple Hall passed to his son, also named Fleetwood—a clergyman who appears to have combined a number of ecclesiastical roles, including vicar of Epsom and curate of Penzance, with a successful career in the world of property. He retired to Ripple Hall, but died suddenly in 1844, apparently while out walking in Cheltenham.

Although not loved by all, the Rev Fleetwood’s passing was noted by his Rugby an Oxford contemporary, the writer Walter Savage Landor, who wrote in a letter: ‘Little as Parkhurst is to be respected, I am shocked and grieved at his death. A happier one, however, there could not be. I shall often think of our early friendship and our happier days.’