Wiverton Hall and the Civil War
Go back to The Stuarts. See also Lords of the Manor in Stuart times.
Wiverton Hall -
You wouldn't know it was there - if you didn't know it was there!
Wiverton Hall is only 2 miles north of Langar on the Bingham Road, but it's half a mile up a private road, so you wouldn't know it was there if you didn't know it was there!
The Middle Ages
The story of Wiverton started in the Middle Ages. The Wiverton family, who took their name from the village, built a house here with a moat round it. The house has gone but the moat is still there, although there there is no water in it now.
There was once a small village and a church here - both are long gone. The name of the village used to be said as 'Wireton'.
The hall and estate passed down through the family coming to Sir William Chaworth in 1352.
His son Sir Thomas Chaworth became a very wealthy man when his rich wife Alice died in 1416 - he then owned the manors of Wiverton and East Bridgford, the Lincolnshire villages of Allington, Thoresby, Timberland and Toynton and also the vast estates of Lord Bassett of Drayton who died childless in 1390.
Sent to the Tower
Thomas was imprisoned in the Tower of London twice.
● The first time was when he said that the ailing King Henry IV should abdicate in favour of his son.
● The second time was in 1414 when he supported Lollard beliefs that the Christian Church should not be concerned with wealth and position but should use its money to help the poor and needy. He believed that religious leaders should not be involved in politics and that priests did not have the power to forgive sins only God could do that. The Church should be totally reformed. Lollard followers were seen as heretics and some were burned at the stake. Sir Thomas was imprisoned in chains in the Tower of London under sentence of death, but his powerful friends rallied round and he was pardoned by the king.
In 1416 Thomas married his second wife, Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury who died two years later. Aylesbury's son and grandson also died shortly afterwards and Isabel was left a fortune. The couple spent their money on rebuilding Wiverton Hall: a new house fit for royal visitors was built with a deer park. When Sir Thomas died at 80 years of age in 1459, he owned land in Barnstone, Clifton, Colston Bassett, Cropwell Bishop, Cropwell Butler, East Bridgford, Edwalton, Granby, Langar, Marnham, Shelford, Tithby and Whatton as well as Wiverton. He was the richest man in Nottinghamshire .
Tudor times
Some of the Chaworth family are buried in Langar church:
- The oldest tomb commemorates George Chaworth of Wiverton Hall who died in 1521 and his wife Katherine who died in 1517.
- A marble tomb with two recumbent (lying down) effigies (statues) of John Chaworth, wearing Tudor armour, who died in 1558, and his wife Mary Chaworth with their 15 children mourning around the base.
- A white alabaster recumbent effigy of Sir George Chaworth, also wearing armour, who died in 1587. Effigies were brightly painted in the Middle Ages. Although the paint faded long ago, traces of colour can sometimes still be seen.
The photographs of the Chaworth tombs at Langar church below are from the Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project website.
In 1510 Sir George Chaworth decided to remove the village of Wiverton and to make it into more parkland so Wiverton village ceased to exist and is there no longer. There were only five families there but not much fun if you were one of them.
Stuart times
and the English Civil War
(For more on the English Civil War,
see Lords of the Manor in Stuart times.)
In the war between Parliament and King Charles I, Sir John Chaworth was a strong royalist and Wiverton became a fortified stronghold.
King Charles' wife, Queen Henrietta Maria stayed here on 27 June 1643 on her way from Yorkshire to join the King at Oxford. In October 1645 the King's nephews, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice quarrelled with King Charles at Newark and retreated to Wiverton with 800 followers who camped in the grounds.
Prince Rupert wrote to Parliament asking for a safe passage for himself and his brother if they agreed to leave England. It was agreed and Rupert left Wiverton.
A few days later on 9 November 1645, the Parliamentary army led by Colonel-General Sydenham Poyntz surrounded Wiverton Hall and demanded their surrender. The siege ended after only one day. Sir John marched out with his men who had to leave behind their weapons and provisions. The hall was then destroyed by the Parliamentarians to prevent it being reoccupied by the Royalists. Only the gatehouse was left standing. (It's still there.)
Archaeological evidence
Earthworks still survive at Wiverton from the Civil War.
There are the remains of a Civil War gun battery constructed by the Royalist garrison defending Wiverton Hall, and a covered way to protect the defenders.
In 1677 the Nottinghamshire historian, Robert Thoroton wrote that most of Wiverton Hall had been pulled down and removed, except for the old gatehouse,
"which yet remains a solitary memorial of departed grandeur and ancient hospitality."
The old gatehouse was still owned by the Chaworth family and was let and used as a farmhouse for many years until the beginning of the 19th
century.
The Georgian era
Mary Chaworth was the last of the Chaworth family. She married John (Jack) Musters of Colwick Hall in 1805 and the couple built a new house in a sort-of Tudor style on the back of the old gatehouse. That house is still there.
Compare 1899 with 2019:
The house was let to tenants by the Chaworth-Misters family from 1923 and sold in 1938. Since then outhouses at the back of the hall have been converted to separate dwellings.
↑ Above left to right: Wiverton Hall (south face); Gamekeeper's Cottage; Cromwell Cottage.