Offchurch Bury

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 (1656) stated concerning the manor of Offchurch:[1] The Latin word burgus signifies "small fortified position or watch-tower usually controlling a main routeway",[2] which suits the position of Offchurch, situated almost adjacent to the Fosse Way (now the B4455 Road), an important Roman road linking (on this stretch) the large Roman camps of Cirencester and Leicester.

Parts of the manor house (surviving pre-1954 demolition) dated from the reign of King Henry VIII and were said to be connected with Coventry Priory, but most is 19th century.

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.

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.

[20] The buyer (via his company the Olympia Agricultural and Pure Stock Farms Ltd, based at Selby in Yorkshire),[20] 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 (with others at Barlby in Yorkshire, Thorney in Cambridgeshire and Sudbourne in Suffolk[21]) for his venture into industrialised agriculture.

The manor of Offchurch Bury was purchased in 1923,[24] with the reversion of the house, by Henry ("Harry") Johnson, a textile manufacturer[25] and managing director of Courtaulds Ltd at Coventry in Warwickshire, the son of a silk throwster at Macclesfield.

[27] Following his death it became the seat of his son Henry Leslie Johnson,[14] educated at Rugby, also a director of Courtaulds,[27] and his wife Mabel Caroline (Carol) (née Hawkins).

"Offchurch Bury, the seat of J.W. Knightley, Esq", 1829 engraving. View from south-east with River Leam in foreground, which flows on 2 miles westward to Leamington Spa and then into the River Avon at Warwick 2 miles further south-west
Offchurch Bury in 1904, view from east. In 1954 the two northernmost (right) 17th century gable end blocks were demolished, together with the entire 16th century south block (left) comprising the servants' quarters, and the corner tower (centre) linking the two main blocks was reduced in height to one storey
Offchurch Bury today, viewed from south-west
Arms of Knightley: Quarterly ermine and paly of six or and gules
Chest tomb monument and effigies in Fawsley Church of Sir Richard Knightley (d.1534) and his wife Joan Skennard, parents of Sir Edmund Knightley (d.1542) who purchased Offchurch
Master John Wightwick Knightley , portrait by Robert Byng (1666-1720). He inherited the estate aged 9 from his step-grandfather
Jane Wightwick Knightley (1827-1911) (Countess of Aylesford), heiress of Offchurch Bury. She married Heneage Finch, 6th Earl of Aylesford (d.1871)
Arms of Finch, Earl of Aylesford: Argent, a chevron between three griffins passant sable
Arms of Watson, Baron Manton: Argent, on a chevron azure between four martlets three in-chief and one in-base sable a crescent between two roses of the field