In 963, Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, granted land called 'Coddanhrycce' to thegn Aelfric for three successive generations, being limited to male heirs.
The house then was a large, two-storey timber-framed dwelling with a third floor of gabled attics having carved bargeboards.
The house contained a small, panelled room known as the 'sots hole' where drunks were held in order to sleep off their drunkenness.
He was on a diplomatic mission to Turkey, travelling with His Excellency Sir Daniel Harvey from King Charles II to Sultan Mahomethan, Emperor of the Turks.
This was to provide the house with a clean view of the grazing cattle and the breath-taking, prominent Malvern Hills in the far distance.
His son Rowland, eldest brother to Herbert Bowyer Berkeley inherited the manor.
At about the mid-part of the century a delicate, ornamental stone balustrade was added to the top of the brick facing, above the sham, glazed windows.