Stanway House
article by: SJO
To the east of Toddington, just visible from the Stanway
viaduct, is Stanway House. Stanway is an outstandingly beautiful
example of a Jacobean manor house, owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for
800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their
descendants, the Earls of Wemyss. Stanway House is currently the
home of Lord and Lady Neidpath. Thanks to its location, at the foot
of the Cotswold escarpment, Stanway has been protected from many
changes of the 20th century, but the last decade has seen the
gradual restoration to its former glory of the 18th century
watergarden, probably designed by the greatest of British landscape
gardeners, Charles Bridgeman. The formal Canal, on a terrace above
the house, the Cascade (the longest in England), the striking
Pyramid and eight ponds have been reinstated, and a single-jet
fountain, at 300 feet the highest fountain in Britain and the
highest gravity fountain in the world, has been added.
When the present house was built during the reign of Elizabeth I
a brewery was embodied, as was not uncommon at the time. Having
lain idle for many years, the old brewery has been resurrected by
brewer Alex Pennycook with consent from Lord Neidpath. Integrated
into the brewhouse are two coppers built over log fires. Stanway is
one of only two log fired breweries in the country. The beers can
be sampled at a number of local inns, including The Pheasant which
is only 100 yds from Toddington Station and the White Hart in
Winchcombe.