Kentchurch is a small village in Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located some 13 miles (20.9 km) south-west of Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

 and 13 miles (20.9 km) north-east of Abergavenny

Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

, beside the River Monnow

River Monnow

The River Monnow flows through south-west Herefordshire, England and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales.- Border River :For much of its short length it marks the border between England and Wales before it joins the River Wye at Monmouth. The Wye is also half English from Monmouth until it meets the...

 and adjoining the boundary between England and Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The village name probably derives from an original dedication of the church to a 5th century nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

, Cein

Saint Keyne

Saint Keyne or Cain was a late 5th century holy woman in the West Country, between Liskeard and Looe in SE Cornwall. She is not mentioned as being a saint in the official Catholic encyclopaedia - newadvent.org, so perhaps it's disputable if she is indeed a Catholic saint...

, or her sister Ceingar, who were daughters of Brychan

Brychan

Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in South Wales.-Life:Celtic hagiography tells us that Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and his wife, Marchel, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun , which the couple later inherited...

, king of Brycheiniog

Brycheiniog

Brycheiniog was a small independent petty kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the powerful south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it...

.

Kentchurch Court

Kentchurch Court

Kentchurch Court

Kentchurch Court is a grade I listed stately home located near the village of Kentchurch in Herefordshire, England.It is the family home of the Scudamore family. Family members included Sir John Scudamore, who acted as constable and steward of a number of royal castles in south Wales at the start...

 is a historic house and Grade I listed building, dating back largely to the 14th century. It was enlarged in the late 17th or early 18th century, and was partly remodelled in the Gothic revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style by John Nash

John Nash (architect)

John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London.-Biography:Born in Lambeth, London, the son of a Welsh millwright, Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor. He established his own practice in 1777, but his career was initially unsuccessful and...

 after 1795. Further reconstruction took place in the 1820s. The estate contains a large deer park

Medieval deer park

A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...

, dating from the time when the land was owned by the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

.

It is the family home of the Scudamore family. Family members included Sir John Scudamore, who acted as constable

Constable

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...

 and steward

Steward (office)

A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent him or her in a country, and may have a mandate to govern it in his or her name; in the latter case, it roughly corresponds with the position of governor or deputy...

 of a number of royal castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

s in south Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

 at the start of the 15th century. He secretly married Alys

Alys ferch Owain Glyndwr

Alys ferch Owain Glyndŵr was one of the daughters of Margaret Hanmer and Owain Glyndŵr, the disinherited prince of the old Welsh royal house of Powys Fadog who led a major revolt in Wales between 1400 and ca...

, one of the daughters of Owain Glyndŵr

Owain Glyndwr

Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...

, in 1410, and it has been suggested that the couple may have harboured Glyndŵr himself at Kentchurch after his disappearance around 1412, until his death.

In 2004, Kentchurch Court was used as the location of a Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 TV show, Regency House Party

Regency House Party

Regency House Party is a historical reality television programme made by Wall to Wall/Channel 4 in 2004. It is the fourth in a series of historical reality series produced by Channel 4, preceded by The 1900 House, The 1940s House, and The Edwardian Country House.In the series a group of five men...

. It was the subject of another Channel 4 documentary as part of the Country House Rescue

Country House Rescue

Country House Rescue is an observational documentary series which airs on British terrestrial television channel, Channel 4. The series has also aired on BBC Canada, ABC1 in Australia and Living in New Zealand....

series in 2011.

Church of St. Mary

The parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 is dedicated to St. Mary. Parts date from the 14th century, and there are 17th and 18th century monuments to the Scudamore family, but the church was largely rebuilt by the family in the 19th century.