Offchurch Bury is a manor house one mile north-west of the centre of the village of Offchurch, Warwickshire, England. It is supposed to represent the site of a palace of the Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia, after which Offchurch is named, "bury" being a corruption of "burh" meaning a fortified place. William Dugdale in his Antiquities of Warwickshire stated concerning the manor of Offchurch:
The Latin word burgus signifies "small fortified position or watch-tower usually controlling a main routeway", which suits the position of Offchurch, situated almost adjacent to the Fosse Way, an important Roman road linking the large Roman camps of Cirencester and Leicester. Parts of the manor house dated from the reign of King Henry VIII and were said to be connected with Coventry Priory, but most is 19th century. In 1954 about three quarters of the house was demolished, including the entire Tudor south block comprising servants' quarters, and on the north side the 17th century dining room and morning room, to form the present smaller house, comprising the single south-facing entrance block with Strawberry Hill-Gothic style battlemented facade and Tudor-arched windows, containing the drawing room and inner hall. It is in private occupation and not open to the public, although the park is occasionaly used for equestrian events. The tranquility of the estate has been marred in recent years by the encroachment of the suburbs of Leamington Spa.
Descent
Coventry Priory
The manor is not listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the 13th century it was held by Coventry Priory in Warwickshire, situated 9 miles to the north; a confirmation of the original charter by King Henry III in 1267 implies that it was in possession of the Priory from its foundation in 1043. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the manor was acquired in 1542 by Sir EdmundKnightley.
Knightley
Mark Noble wrote of the Knightley family:
The Knightley family originated at the Staffordshire manor of Knightley, acquired by them shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. In 1415 Sir Richard Knightley purchased the manor of Fawsley in Northamptonshire, where the senior line of the family became seated. Sir Edmund Knightley of Fawsley was the third son, and eventual heir, of Sir Richard Knightley of Fawsley, who held 41 manors in the central midlands, by his wife Joan Skennard, daughter and heiress of Henry Skennard of Alderton, Northamtonshire. He was a sergeant-at-law trained in the Middle Temple who served as a Member of Parliament for Reading in 1515 and for Wilton in 1529. He married Ursula de Vere, a sister and coheiress of John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford. He acquired much land following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, including in 1538 Studley Priory in Warwickshire. In 1538 he became the heir of his elder brother Richard Knightley, of Fawsley and of Upton near Northampton, MP, who died without male issue, whose monument survives in St Michael's Church, Upton. Sir Edmund Knightley, like his elder brother, also died childless, leaving as his heir his younger brother Sir Valentine Knightley, of Fawsley, who in 1561–2 received a new grant of the manor. He bequeathed Offchurch to his fourth son Edward Knightley. The descent of Knightley of Offchurch was as follows:
Edward Knightley, fourth son of Sir Valentine Knightley, of Fawsley. The Offchurch branch of the family remained as Roman Catholics after the Reformation, which restricted their opportunities to serve in public life. Edward Knightley married three times, his second wife being Elizabeth Lenthall, a daughter of Sir William Lenthall of Latchford in Oxfordshire.
Richard Knightley, son by father's second wife, married Anne Pettus, a daughter of Sir John Pettus. In 1626 the manor was seized by the crown and was leased for 21 years to John Pecke, but subsequently reverted to the Knightley family.;
Sir John Knightley, 2nd Baronet, son, a magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant of Warwickshire, "in which shire he possessed great influence", who was the first Protestant in his family. He married but died without issue when the baronetcy expired. He had always promised faithfully to leave his property to his cousin Richard Knightley of Charwelton, but disregarding his promise, left it to his wife's grandson, by her first husband Thomas Wightwick. Sir John himself states in his will that he did this in consequence of the unkind behaviour of his Knightley male relations, who refused to go to him in his illness.
Wightwick (Knightley)
On his death in 1689 the 2nd Baronet bequeathed the manor to his 9 year-old step-grandson John Wightwick, who in accordance with the terms of the bequest adopted the surname and arms of Knightley. The senior line of Knightley was still extant at Fawsley, but the 2nd Baronet quarrelled with his male relatives whom he excluded as his heirs. In 1699, at the age of 19, in Whitehall Chapel, Middlesex, with the consent of his aunt and guardian Mary Wastaney, John Wightwick Knightley I married 22 year-old Mary Marow, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Samuel Marow, 1st Baronet of Berkswell Hall, Warwickshire. His son and heir was Thomas Wightwick Knightley of Offchurch Bury, the father of John Wightwick Knightley of Offchurch Bury , whose mural monument survives in St Gregory's Church in Offchurch. The latter's son was John Wightwick Knightley who died aged 26 at Terracina in Italy, where he had gone for the sake of his health - or possibly to avoid his creditors. His mural monument survives in Offchurch Church. Having married Jane Willes, a daughter of Rev. William Willes of Astrop House in Northamptonshire, he left a daughter and sole heiress Jane Wightwick Knightley who married Heneage Finch, 6th Earl of Aylesford.
Finch
Jane Wightwick Knightley , heiress of Offchurch, married Heneage Finch, 6th Earl of Aylesford. of Packington Hall in Warwickshire. The Countess of Aylesford died in 1911 and bequeathed Offchurch to her younger grandson Captain the Hon. Charles Daniel Finch, second son of Charles Wightwick Finch, 8th Earl of Aylesford. In 1912 in accordance with the bequest he changed his surname to Finch-Knightley. On the death of his nephew the 9th Earl in 1940, he would inherit the earldom, and become Charles Daniel Finch-Knightley, 10th Earl of Aylesford. In 1917 Charles Daniel Finch-Knightley sold the Offchurch Bury estate, with 2,610 acres including "the beautiful old Henry the Eighth mansion standing in the park of about 230 acres, 14 capital farms and residential properties".
Watson
The buyer, was Mr Joseph Watson, of Linton Spring, near Wetherby, Yorkshire, a soap manufacturer from Leeds, who also in 1921 purchased as his residence the nearby estate of Compton Verney in Warwickshire and in 1922 was created Baron Manton "of Compton Verney". Watson used the estate of Offchurch for his venture into industrialised agriculture. He died unexpectedly in 1922 of a heart attack whilst hunting with the Warwickshire Foxhounds near Compton Verney and was buried at Offchurch. His son and heir Miles Watson, 2nd Baron Manton, resided for a while at Compton Verney, which he sold in 1929, whilst Joseph's widow Claire, Baroness Manton, lived at Offchurch Bury until her death in 1936, the surrounding estate having been sold in 1923.
Johnson
The manor of Offchurch Bury was purchased in 1923, with the reversion of the house, by Henry Johnson, a textile manufacturer from Coventry and Macclesfield and managing director of a successful racing stables. In 1951 it was the seat of his son Henry Leslie Johnson and his wife Mabel Caroline Johnson, who in 1954 demolished about three quarters of the house, including the entire Tudor south block comprising servants' quarters, and on the north side the 17th century dining room and morning room, to leave the present smaller house. In 1998 the house and 1,000 acre estate was jointly owned by the purchaser's grandson Henry Edward Johnson, with his mother Mrs Carol Johnson and two sisters. Harry Johnson served as chairman of the Warwickshire branch of the National Farmers in 2010. Harry's wife Diana, formerly captain of the English Ladies' Elephant Polo team in Nepal in the 1980s, founded the Offchurch Bury Polo Club after having visited the notable polo coach Col. Raghvir Singh at Dundlod in India. The estate remains today in the ownership of the Johnson family.
