Country house with 13th century timber beams

In my latest blog for Country Life I’ve been writing about a lovely old house that has been traced back to the 17th century, although it is thought it could even date back to the 16th century.

The Hollies

The Hollies is a country house in the village of Bathley in Nottinghamshire. It has seen many generations of famillies come and go, including the Scrimshaw’s, believed to be the first owners, and the Capps’s. Early documents show the house in the hands of the Capps family in the early 1700s and it continued to pass from generation to generation throughout the 18th century.

By the early 19th century, the house was owned by John Capps. The 1841 census shows John Capps, 70 years old, living in the house with his wife, Mary, only 30 years old (!) and their young son, Andrew, only eight months old. John Capps died a few years later and his widow and surviving children continued to live in the house (apart from a short stint when Mary moved back with her parents in the 1850s).

John’s son, Andrew was the last member of the Capps family to own the house, as by the late 19th century he had sold the house and the 20th century bought great change.

Timber beams inside the Hollies

A timber study was also conducted on the house a few years ago and it was confirmed that some of the timber beams used in the construction of the Hollies date back to the 13th century!

Read the full history of the house – The history of The Hollies

For more details of the house today – visit Chesterton Humberts