House & Family History: Ettington, as seen today, is primarily a mid-19th century turreted Venetian and High Victorian Gothic (sometimes called Ruskinian Romanesque) style house of yellow, orange, and gray banded limestone ashlar around the core of an earlier 17th century house. The entrance façade features a porte-cochere flanked by pierced screen walls, symmetrical gables, and rounded and canted bay windows. Exterior sculptural reliefs by Edward Clarke (designed by H.H. Armstead) depict the history of the Shirley family and of nearby Sherwood Forest, in which the family had held land since before the Norman Conquest. The Gothic Library of 1820 contains a chimneypiece copied from one at Windsor Castle. The dining room contains a late 15th century-early 16th century doorway and an 18th century chimneypiece. Ettington is an example writ large of the influence of John Ruskin's seminal 1849 book, "The Seven Lamps of Architecture," which argued that the Decorated Gothic style was the highest form of architecture yet achieved. The Shirley family has let the house as a hotel since the late 20th century.

Comments: The architects J.P. Seddon and John Prichard (a Welshman who was a pupil of A.W.N. Pugin) remodeled an older house, turning it into what Peter Reid, writing in "Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses, Volume II," calls "the most important High Victorian house in the county."

Garden & Outbuildings: There is a 17th century loggia in the grounds removed from Coleshill Hall, Warwickshire.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Not Listed

Past Seat / Home of: Evelyn Philip Shirley, 19th century.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Hotel

Ownership Details: House has been let by the Shirley family as the Ettington Park Hotel

House Open to Public: By Appointment

Phone: 01789-450-123

Fax: 01789-450-472

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.handpickedhotels.co.uk

Historic Houses Member: No