In the sixteenth century, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Manor of Nether Frome was purchased by Richard Harford of Bosbury, (later Sir Richard, described as a “Usurer” in parliament) and when he died, his widow Martha leased it to Michael Hopton from Ludlow whom she eventually married, and they built what was known then as the Strong House, a moated building, which event saw the beginning of some 300 years of Hopton ownership of the site. Michael Hopton himself died on 1st April 1668. Continue reading