The 17th Century
Although there is no record, that we have found, naming the architect responsible for the design and build of Park Farm, we are able to say with certainty that the current building is Elizabathan in form and was built using fine materials during a time of manorial prosperity.
Majorie Thomas states in her research that in about 1630 the 'old place' was replaced by a fine brick building known as Park Farm.
It is difficult to establish the exact layout of the buildings that were present prior to the fire that is thought to have destroyed the original house. We know that the two additional storey gables were added approximately sixty years after the original three storey structure was erected. It can be supposed that following the fire the site was demolished and cleared and the reconstruction made use of the existent materials, but what is unclear is exactly how the original site was structured. Park Farm is typical of the region due to its gabled structure. In most of Hereford this building style persisted into the seventeenth century. Being a border county, Colwall draws influence from the Welsh building styles and the South. The influence of Elizabethan Monmouthshire stone wall, windows and doors is also in evidence here. The result is that the area shows great variation in building styles. M. W. Barley suggests that one of the persistent features of the local building style are the medieval plan hall and the cross passage, modified by the requirement for a stone chimney stack. In this period there was a plentiful supply of timber, consequently it was used in abundance in building projects.
Building styles
During the Tudor and into the Elizabethan period, building styles took an unprecedented turn. It was not however a transformation in style that makes this period particularly striking but rather a change in the social function of buildings. Building effort now favoured the secular rather than ecclesiastic. The reasons behind this transformation were various; generally reflecting the fluctuating value of the church in contemporary society. During the medieval period the church experienced an unprecedented period of growth, in the number of ecclesiastic buildings and in popularity amongst the people. There are a number of sources, which describe Park Farm, then the Bishop of Hereford's hunting lodge, as a thriving centre fuelled by its wealthy patrons, the church.
By the Tudor period the relationship between church and country had considerably altered. In some respects it was inevitable that this boom would come to a head once there became enough representations of the church to serve the needs of the community. Some objected to the churches superficiality and wealth and those who had once patronised the cause now withdrew and concentrated on their own private endeavours. This change in direction culminated in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, initiated in 1538 under Henry VIII. This event has evident repercussions in the village of Colwall and in the Bishopric of Hereford. The King forced the dissolution for reasons of control and power. The monasteries held large areas of land with vast resources and control over these resources would guarantee the Monarchy great wealth at their disposal.
Some of the monastic buildings were sold to wealthy gentry for use as country estates. Many others became sources of cheap building materials for local inhabitants. No record has come to light to show who built Park Farm’s present buildings but considering the state of the Church during that period it seem unlikely that the Bishopric were responsible, largely because of the chronic shortages of money available in the Church of England. This period of economic deficiency forced the clergymen to go shopping for investors in an attempt to persuade lay lords who had Church property to restore some of it. It was no time for the Bishop of Hereford to indulge in expensive building on one of his lesser manors. On the other hand, all over the country prosperous yeomen were pushing up into the ranks of the gentry and building houses to match their status. In 1646 the Bishop appears to own only part of what is referred to as ‘the old Park’, part may well have been sold to some rising man who built the house that still stands today.
Monastic intervention
In 1631 Charles I ordered the deforestation of the royal forests, the Malvern Chace was selected with the view of improving the land to sell. The Bishop protested that the Chase to the west of the hills was not royal property, and so did some of the men of Colwall, who were afraid of losing their rights of common in the forest. Following the Kings defeat and consequent death, there followed the confiscation and sale of Crown and Church lands. This gave local men a chance to buy quality land at a competitive rate. During this time of Civil War, and the Great Rebellion, the Bishopric of Hereford was ordered by Parliament on 22nd September 1647 to sell the ‘Bishop’s Moiety’ at Colwall Park for a sum of £336.19.4 to T Aldermans and John Flackett. It is difficult to discover what happened to the rest of the manorial land but we must assume much was reclaimed after 1660 with the restoration of the monarchy. During the interlude, in the year of the King's execution, driven by anxiety about their future some tenants drew up statements of their rights, these preserved records make for interesting reading. These kind of reactive recordings are extremely informative, enabling us to learn a great deal about the social climate and details about the site itself and its economic worth. Recorded accounts such as these give us invaluable insights when trying to piece together the history of a site.
The church obviously had concerns about the state of its parson’s country homes. Estate land was a valuable resource to the church and they were to be attributes could be compromised. Terriers were ordered to be drawn up from 1571 to enable the categorical examination strip by strip of the church land. These detailed reports are useful in telling us about the land and contents of the estate. There are limitations however as these reports rely upon the accuracy of the compiler, despite this these sources provide a valuable insight into land tenure.
