Uncovering a Warwick landmark one section at a time

One patch of ground at a time, a mythical, tumbledown mansion is being freed from the grip of the weeds that have choked it for several decades.

Once or twice a week, volunteers lay tentative paths and clear Japanese bamboo from the water’s edge under the imposing, jutting ruins of Guy’s Cliffe house and grounds, which lie by the River Avon.

As the foliage and rubble are rolled back, the survival of Guy’s Cliffe as a self-sustaining venue edges closer – along with the prospect of uncovering long-rumoured tunnels and the remains of a legendary knight.

It’s a crisp Saturday morning when I meet Adrian King, custodian at Guy’s Cliffe.

Owned by the Freemasons, the core site is now the focus of the Bring Back Guy’s Cliffe campaign, an effort to involve the wider community in the regeneration work, saving a heritage asset that rivals nearby castles and stately homes in legend, if not grandeur.

Looming over us are the Grade II-listed ruins, standing on a site that has scientific interest dating back to the Triassic period – which witnessed the first dinosaurs.

“When I first came here it was like the land that time forgot, it had this mysterious aura about it,” Adrian says. “You have the links with legendary figures such as Guy of Warwick and when I first came here I didn’t know much about him as he had drifted into obscurity, but then you realise Guy of Warwick is up there with King Arthur.

“Then you have other characters such as John Rouse, a famous antiquarian who lived here and was writing the Guy’s Cliffe story in the fifteenth century.”

Used as a meeting place by the Freemasons, the Guy’s Cliffe’s history is every bit as labyrinthine as its physical layout.

The charted history dates back to Roman times, when the secluded cliffs and water were a place of tranquillity and reflection.

Guy of Warwick, a knight and pilgrim, spent his final years living as a hermit in a cave which can be seen at the foot of the cliffs.

Fortunes dipped after World War Two, with the house and grounds entangled in development and ownership wrangles.

The core buildings returned to regular use in the 1970s, with the Freemasons becoming tenants and carrying out renovation work. In 1981 they took ownership from the then split estate of Aldwyn Porter, Guy’s Cliffe’s former owner.

A blow came when flames tore through the main house in 1992 while Granada Television was filming an episode of Sherlock Holmes. In the aftermath, great slumps of debris further obscured the rear of the house.

Bring Back Guy’s Cliffe, born out of a ‘friends’ group which still supports the site, is inviting the community to take help make the new chapter a reality.

“There’s a misconception that Friends of Guy’s Cliffe is made up of Masons, which it isn’t, it’s open to everyone,” Adrian says.