History & Legacy

Spetchley was bought by Rowland Berkeley, a wool merchant and banker, in 1605. Prior to this it had been owned by the Sheldon and Lyttleton families.  The house, landscape and Gardens are now very much a legacy of one family's commitment to ensuring nature, beauty and longevity thrive at Spetchley.

Sir Robert Berkley

Rowland Berkeley’s son, Robert, was a High Court Judge in the reign of Charles 1 and a monarchist, who was lucky not to lose his head through his sympathies to Charles, however he did lose his house which was burnt down by Scottish Presbyterians on the eve of the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

He converted the stables where the family lived until John Tasker built the current, beautiful mansion house in 1811. Robert was also responsible for enlarging the estate which today amounts to 4,500 acres.

The parkland, containing red and fallow deer, was imparked in 1625 and the lake was formed in 1834 from the old moat which surrounded Rowland's original Tudor house.

Successive members of the Berkeley family lovingly created the landscape and the Gardens

The latter most notably by Rose Berkeley, sister to Ellen Willmott the renowned Gardener and RHS Gold Medal Winner, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1925 Spetchley became one of the first gardens in the country to open its gates to visitors under the National Garden Scheme.

In 2013 we embarked on the Spetchley Revival Project, designed to protect and rejuvenate the heritage of the garden. The initial stage involved the building of a new Car Park and Welcome Centre thanks to a grant from the RDPE.

Creating a lasting legacy of beauty and nature that all can enjoy

We have also been very fortunate in obtaining a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to renovate the garden lake, convert the cart sheds into a Heritage Learning and Interpretation Centre where visitors can learn about the history of the garden, family and landscape, and to conserve the 19th century Sovereign Coach. This was phase two of the project and we were delighted to officially open the Centre to visitors in June 2017.

The house, landscape and Gardens are now very much a legacy of one family's commitment to ensuring nature, beauty and longevity thrive at Spetchley.

           The Spetchley Park Archive is a private family collection and is only                partially listed. We regret that it is not possible to answer family                      history enquiries. 


                 Archive Enquiries

Enquiries relating to academic research projects may be accommodated depending on the Estate Archivist’s availability, and enquiries should be directed to her at

archivist@berkeley-castle.com. Please note that she is based at Berkeley Castle, working one day per week, and is only rarely at Spetchley Park, so please give as much notice as possible of your enquiry. It is not generally possible to accommodate researchers in person, but research may be undertaken on the estate records by the Estate Archivist for a fee of £80 to cover two hours’ research, further research being charged at £40 per hour. Photographs of documents may be supplied for a fee of £40 for the first 20 images and £2.50 per subsequent image. 

                 The Ellen Willmott Archive

            Ellen Willmott Archive is partially listed and images may be supplied of documents from the              listed portion of the collection, which comprises about half of Miss Willmott’s personal and                business correspondence, for a fee of £48 including VAT for the first 20 images and £3                        including VAT per subsequent image; please supply your postal address so that a VAT                          invoice can be issued. The unlisted portion of the collection is not accessible to researchers.

               

           Please contact the Estate Archivist at archivist@berkeley-castle.com with details of your                     enquiry, giving plenty of notice. It is not generally possible to accommodate researchers in                 person.

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