Willow Court Farmhouse, Droitwich
Safe as Houses
Willow Court Farmhouse will be ‘Safe as Houses’ thanks for a £2.3 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded in Spring 2024. Working in partnership with Wychavon District Council the farmhouse will be sympathetically restored and converted into six affordable flats for rent.
Previously in March 2020 The Worcestershire Building Preservation Trust was awarded development funding of £259,400 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help secure the future of the Willow Court Farmhouse and progress our plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant in 2023. We are working together in a new partnership with Wychavon District Council and Platform Housing Group to rescue this empty Grade II listed building. The farmhouse, which has not been lived in for decades, is in a very poor condition, so the first stage of the project was to make the site secure and develop detailed plans to save the building.
As part of the project we are offering carpentry apprenticeships to ex-military veterans to help them acquire new skills. We will be holding a series of community events and activities which will help unlock the lost history of the farm and surrounding land. We will also be creating a digital legacy for the building so that future generations can see a creation of what the building would have looked like.
History of Willow Court Farmhouse
Willow Court farmhouse was historically know as Boycott Farm and this name first appears in documents as early as 1456. A farmhouse on the current site appears to have been built in the later 16th century, represented by a surviving timber framed element tucked away at the rear of the house complete with star shaped brick chimney stacks. We hope to discover more about this early structure during the project. In the 18th century the old farmhouse was enlarged with the addition of a new brick extension which forms the main frontage of the house we can see today.
We shall be exploring the history of the farm and the people who lived and worked there as the restoration work proceeds.
Willow Court Farmhouse Memories Project
Our aim is to create a picture of Willow Court (formerly Boycot) Farm and the surrounding area (Westlands and Chawson) before and after the building of the bypass and housing estates on the surrounding farmland land.
We want to gather stories from different perspectives:
- Those who lived in, visited, played near or recall in anyway Boycot and Chawson farms
- Those involved in decision-making around the creation of the estates
- Those involved in the construction of the roads, houses, community buildings and the school
- Those who were the first to move to the estates from Birmingham and elsewhere
- Those who have lived or worked on either estate for many years, including second or third generation families
If you or anyone you know might be interested in sharing their stories of Boycot and Westlands, please get in touch by emailing us at:
poppy@wmhbt.org.uk
Progress reports
Thanks to Tim Cornah and Professor Bob Stone, who captured the drone footage to create the model.
