Berrington

Description

Nothing known of Berrington (Moore; given as Barrington, and placed in Herefordshire). (King 1983)

The hamlet of Berrington is situated in the west of the parish along Cadmore Brook. Berrington Court, the residence of Mr. A. Robinson, on the top of a precipitous cliff overlooking the Teme, about 2 miles east of Tenbury, is a square early 18th-century brick house of two stories and an attic with tiled roofs. It preserves most of its original wood window frames, but some of the windows on the north side are blocked. There is a small central hall containing an original oak staircase of the dog-legged type and communicating with the other rooms. At the north-west of the house are two panelled rooms, one on the ground floor with plain panels, and one above it with moulded panels. The panelling is of about 1650, and was probably re-used from the older building which adjoins the house on the east. This building is a half-timber two-storied house of the 16th century with an early 18th-century brick front, and is now converted into a barn, though it was doubtless the original residence.
Upper Berrington lies to the east and Lower Berrington to the west of Berrington Court. To the south are Berrington Green and Berrington Heath, which was inclosed in 1863. At Berrington Heath are some old stone cottages, probably of the 16th and 17th centuries, with later brick fronts. (VCH)

Comments

Harvey lists a castle Barrington known to have existed in Herefordshire. Moore lists this as one mile from Tenbury. There is no Barrington place-name in Herefordshire. There is C18 Berrington Hall at SO570676 (Tenbury CP) which is in Herefordshire just the other side of the county boundary from Berrington, Worcestershire, but the more likely candidate is Berrington Hall, Moreton (SO510637, Eye, Moreton and Ashton CP) called a manor house of a cadet branch of the Cornwall family. King clearly thought Moore was referring to Berrington in Worcestershire but he gave no specific site.
Berrington Court, at the reference given, is in a strong position on the end of a ridge and overlooks a river crossing. It is associated with a possible DMV. The is nothing in the brief mention of Berrington in the VCH for Worcestershire to suggest a castle here and the tenurial history suggest the manor was held by Brecknock Priory from early in the C12.
Were castle sited for mainly defensive reasons then this site would surely be a candidate for a castle. However, in reality castles, were mainly sited for complex administrative and political reasons.