Great Packington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Packington is a hamlet in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, in England.
It is to the north east of the Stonebridge roundabout and flyover, where the A45 and A452 roads cross.
At Domesday Packington was a manor under Turchill of Arden, sub let to Gudmund under the Saxon name of Patitone meaning 'Pacca's Farm' or 'Settlement'. There are traces of the old medieval village as earthworks in the parkland of the present Hall, the 'New Hall'.
There are two halls in the grounds. A filled in and overgrown moat may be a third, the old home of the Fishers. In the late Tudor period the Fishers built a new timber framed house adjacent to their earlier moated site. Later in the 17th century this house was replaced by a brick built house by Sir Robert Fisher, husband of Jane Lane from Maxstoke Castle. This is the 'Old Hall', which the Aylesfords acquired by marriage in the 18th century. They then built the 'New Hall', a short distance away, in the 'Classic' tradition between 1757 and 1812. Capability Brown was employed to landscape the grounds. The 'New Hall' is still the seat of the Earl of Aylesford, who has established an active fishery and a Golf and Country Club within the estate.
It is believed that King Charles I stayed with the Fishers before the first major battle of the Civil War, and that Charles II passed through after the Battle of Worcester, escaping to Bristol.
The Italian architect Joseph Bonomi was asked to design a Chapel in the grounds. This is ususual as it is square with a tower at each corner. It is now the Parish Church of St James. It contains the organ that Handel used to compose the Messiah.
The old London to Chester road passed through Packington Park and can still be traced today at the River Blythe ford at Little Packington. This has been a favourite picnic and paddling spot. Nearby there is a Pack Horse Bridge whose centre span was swept away and has been repaired with steel and concrete. When it was decided to turnpike this road in 1753 the Earl used his influence to have the road diverted around the edge of the park. It followed what is the now the A45 to Stonebridge and then turned north as the A452 to Lichfield and the A446 to Coleshill.
Today, Great Packington consists of Packington Park, the halls and a few isolated houses and farms around the park. Deer still live in the park.
See also Little Packington, an associated village outside the park.
