Birtsmorton Court is a medieval moated manor house near Malvern in Worcestershire, in the former woodlands of Malvern Chase. The English place name element birt-, which often signifies the birches such as grow in this low-lying site,[1] in this particular case may be a transformation of de Brute, holding the manor under Edward I.[2] The manor was mentioned in Domesday; the present house, partly half-timbered built on a courtyard plan, is in part of the 13th century.[3] In 1424-25 Birtsmorton became the seat of John Nanfan, who demolished most of the earlier structure before his death, ca 1447. The house was remodelled for Giles Nanfan, ca. 1572, as heraldry in the Great Hall suggests.[4] The last male heir, Bridges Nanfan, left the estate to his daughter Catherine.
The present picturesque aspect of the house is in part due to antiquarian restoration and emendation by Frederick S. Waller, 1871-72.[5] The east range, destroyed by fire in the 18th century, was in 1929-30 by A. Hill Parker and Son, in what Pevsner called a "successful pastiche".
Birtsmorton Court was the birth place of William Huskisson on 11 March 1770, although he left when he was 13. The house provided a setting for William Samuel Symonds' historical novel Malvern Chase.[6]
It is now privately owned and available for special events.