household, but opposed the King's break with Rome. Of the King's
divorce and pending marriage to Anne Boleyn, Sir George said that the
King had 'meddled with both the mother and the sister'. He had to bring
his aunt Elizabeth, the abbess of Denny, to live with him when her convent
was closed in 1537 under the Dissolution of the Monasteries, making 25
nuns homeless. She brought with her a dole-gate, through which help was
given to the poor, and upon which her name is carved. This can still be
seen today in the Dining-Room.
Sir George married Catherine Vaux, daughter of Nicholas, 1st Baron
Vaux of Harrowden, and became Lord of Coughton in 1519. He
consistently opposed the changes in religion, and although the vast majority
of his 19 children and 112 grandchildren were ardent Catholics, there
were some who were staunch Protestants, inHistorycluding his sons Clement,
who founded a puritan family branch, and Sir Nicholas, who was
unfortunate enough to be an avid champion of Protestantism during the
reign of Mary I (although it is written that his Protestantism was said to
wax and wane). Sir Nicholas was found not guilty on a charge of treason
in connection with Thomas Wyatt's rebellion (he was freed, but the jury
was arrested!), and went on to be a minor player in the court of Queen
Elizabeth, bringing her the ring as proof of her sister's death, and acting as
an emissary to Mary, Queen of Scots.
the family in the Catholic tradition. He married his children into the leading
Catholic families, and in these generations the increased persecution of the
Catholic spawned many relatives who became involved in plots against the
throne. The sons of his daughters Anne and Muriel, Robert Catesby and
Francis Tresham have been previously mentioned, and a third daughter
Mary was married to Edward Arden, who was also convicted of treason
and executed for his part in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth in 1583.
This daughter kept an excellent record of a woman persecuted for
recusancy, documenting the fines and searches made at Coughton Court,
that is still in the family archives. A nephew, Francis Throckmorton, was
executed in 1584 for acting as a go-between for Mary Queen of Scots
and the Spanish Ambassador in an attempt to invade England and place
Mary on the throne. A niece Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Nicholas and
lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, also got into trouble by secretly
marrying Sir Walter Ralegh.
In the time of Sir Robert Throckmorton, and his son and heir Thomas
(1533-1614), Coughton became a centre for Catholic recusants. The
Tower Room of Coughton Court with its panoramic view for monitoring
any approach to the house made it an ideal location for the secret
celebration of the Mass, and there was also an ingenious double hiding
place built by Nicholas Owen in one of the turrets for the priests in the
event of a raid. The Throckmortons not only provided a relatively safe
place for people to worship; they also assisted in the underground
movements of the priests and established colleges abroad for training
English clergy. They were a crucial part of the network of families that
enabled Catholicism to remain alive throughout the reformation.
Thomas Throckmorton, along with his brothers-in-law Sir William
Catesby and Sir Thomas Tresham, were amongst the leading recusants of
their time. He was frequently fined and spent sixteen years in prison for his
non-attendance at church. In the Tower Room you can see a painted
tapestry called the Tabula Eliensis, dated 1596, that notes his coat of arms
and the arms of all the Catholic gentry who were imprisoned for recusancy
during Elizabeth I's reign, grouped by their places of imprisonment.
His grandson Robert was made a baronet by Charles I in 1642 and was
a Royalist, as were succeeding generations. Coughton Court was
occupied by the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War, and was
bombarded by the Royalist armies in order to drive the Parliamentarians
out. As they were being driven out, they set the house on fire. Robert died
during the war and left a son of nine and Coughton Court under
sequestration. Many years of neglect passed before young Francis could
start to repair the damage. The restoration continued with his son Sir
Robert, 3rd Baronet, who unfortunately met with a setback in 1688 when
a Protestant mob destroyed a 'newly erected Catholic Church', taking the
east wing of the house with it. The ruins remained for 100 years.
Subsequent generations of the Throckmortons maintained their Catholic
faith, with many of the daughters becoming nuns. The family continued to
marry only into other prominent Catholic families, and continued to hear
mass at Coughton Court, although with time their situation became easier
than those of their ancestors. The recusancy laws were repealed in 1792,
and members of the family were accepted into the command ranks of the
armed forces in 1819. The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 allowed
them into national office for the first time in almost three hundred years,
which Sir Robert George Throckmorton, 8th Baronet, took quick
advantage of, becoming one of the first Catholic MPs in 1831. He also
built the new Catholic church at the end of the south drive, alongside the
ruin of the church built by the earlier Sir Robert in the 15th century and
confiscated from the family during the Reformation.
During the Second World War the family fortunes ebbed, and although the
house was spared being sold, unlike much of the estate, it was occupied
by a Convent School for a while. Lady Lillian Throckmorton, widow of
Courtney Throckmorton and mother of Sir Robert, the 11th Baronet, was
given power of attorney while her son was in the Fleet Air Arm, and she
decided to turn Coughton Court over to the National Trust. Under special
arrangement, the National Trust leased Coughton Court back to Sir
Robert and his heirs for a 300 year term.
Sir Robert died in 1989, passing the lease of Coughton Court to his
cousin, Sir Anthony Throckmorton, the last male heir. Sir Anthony died in
1994 and the title died with him. However, Sir Robert's niece Clare
bought Sir Anthony's life interest in the lease and she manages the estate
today with her husband and three children.
Coughton Court Today
As you would expect from a family and a house with such a long and
interesting past, the house has many fascinating items and features from all
periods that are extremely well presented.
There are too many to list here, but the most interesting to me were a
collection of family documents on display many dealing with recusant
issues the family had to face, and other reminders of their catholic history,
such as a 17th century veneered cabinet that reveals a secret recess for the
Host during Mass, a chemise which has stitched upon it 'of the holy
martyr, Mary, Queen of Scots' (later tests prove that the linen was woven
in the year of Mary's death), a garter ribbon of Prince Charles Edward, a
glove of the Old Pretender, James III as well as locks of their hair, and a
perfectly preserved and beautiful velvet cope embroidered in gold by
Queen Catherine of Aragon and her ladies-in-waiting, as well as several
hiding places throughout the house.
In addition you will find the famous Newbury Coat, the original abdication
letter of King Edward VIII, a chair reputed to be made of the wood of
the bed where Richard III spent his last night before the Battle of
Bosworth, a tremendous collection of portraits and furnishings, and above
all the glorious gardens, which have recently been restored.
Reproduced by kind permission of the Gunpowder Plot Society