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Offchurch Bury

Offchurch, GB

Offchurch Bury

Offchurch Bury is a manor house one mile north-west of the centre of the village of Offchurch, Warwickshire, England. 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: In one part of the lordship is a place called "the Berry" which signifies no less than "burgus" or "curia" and accordingly 'tis said that Offa King of Mercia in the Saxon Heptarchy had here a palace. The Latin word burgus signifies "small fortified position or watch-tower usually controlling a main routeway", 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. In 1954 about three quarters of the house was demolished, including the entire Tudor south block comprising...

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