BARONY OF BURFORD - Welcome

Esteemed readers,

I greet you most warmly to the website of the Feudal Barony of Burford.

The Barony of Burford has a rich history and I'll try to convey you this story.

At the time of the Doomsday Survey of 1086, Burford was one of the larger manors in South Shropshire. Burford means the 'burg' or 'fortified place’ by the ford and indicates a pre-Norman settlement on or close to the parish church. The very way in which Burford church was mentioned in the Doomsday Book implied that it wasn't a new church even then. The old narrow arch, which used to divide the nave from the chancel, was believed by some to be of a Saxon architectural form.

In 1720 William Bowles bought the estate of Burford on the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire for £35,000.

Burford House was built in 1728 for William Bowles, M. P. for Bewdley and proprietor of London's famous Vauxhall glass works. The house, which is an excellent example of Provincial Georgian architecture, stands on one of the country's most historic sites, that of Burford Castle, which dated back to Saxon times. It is recorded that during the reign of Edward the Confessor, Richard, son of Scrob held Richards Castle together with vast lands including Burford. It then descended through the de Says, and Mortimers to Sir Geoffrey Cornwall who became the first Baron of Burford.

It remained in the Cornwall family for the next 400 years when Francis, the 16th and last Baron, sold the Castle, then in ruins, to William Bowles. Many relics of the once powerful Cornwall family may be seen in the nearby Burford Church. William Bowles MP, who proceeded to build Burford House in 1728.

Excellent regards

Peter, Baron of Burford

Count of Mparo, Viscount of Kahoora, Lord of St. Helens