Ufton Court

Ufton Court
View of the house from the main drive
Location within Berkshire
General information
Architectural style	Elizabethan mansion
Location	Ufton Nervet
Town or city	Berkshire
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°23′46″N 1°06′06″W / 51.3962°N 1.1016°W / 51.3962; -1.1016
Construction started	1474
Completed	1474 / 1576 & 1616 (modifications)

Ufton Court is an Elizabethan manor house at Ufton Nervet in the English county of Berkshire. Today it is an active home to an educational charity, the Ufton Court Educational Trust. As well as historical and environmental education, the site hosts creative projects including theatre and music courses. It is also a wedding and corporate events venue.

Parts of the house date from 1474, including the basis of the great hall and the screens passage complete with the original 'pantry and buttery' doors, although, at Ufton, there was a proper kitchen beyond. From 1568, the place was modified and extended by Elizabeth, Lady Marvyn, a prominent Roman Catholic, including the installation of a magnificent pendant ceiling in the great hall. Two carved beams which she had installed in the Green Room are thought to be older and may have been brought from her former residence nearby. The house is notable for its priest holes where Recusant Catholics could hide priests, their vestments and plate used in the mass. An east wing and Catholic devotional panelling were added in 1616. Further embellishments, including updated panelling, were added in the early 18th century.

The house was originally a small medieval manor called Ufton Pole and was one of the minor manors belonging to Lord Lovell. He was made a Viscount by Edward IV and later became part of Richard III's inner circle. With the death of King Richard in 1485, Lovell rebelled against the new king, Henry VII and had all his lands, including Ufton Pole, confiscated by the Crown.

In 1510, Henry VIII granted Pole Manor to Sir Richard Weston, a Groom of the Chamber.

In 1568, the house was bought by Lady Marvyn, the widow of Richard Perkins of Ufton Robert Manor at Ufton Green. She considerably altered and enlarged the house over the next eight years and renamed it 'Ufton Court'. She eventually left the house to her first husband's nephew, Francis Perkins. It remained in this family until 1769.