Manor House Hotel Manor House Hotel The Manor House is a 14th-century country house hotel in Castle Combe, Wiltshire in the south of England. The Manor House is noteworthy for several reasons throughout history. First of all, its land is the site of an old Norman castle settlement which has hosted a number of Lords throughout its history, the most famous of which was Sir John Oldcastle, the figure Shakespeare based his character of Sir John Falstaff upon in his play Henry IV in the late 16th century. It was also the home of English geologist and political economist George Poulett Scrope throughout
Religious views of William Shakespeare Shakespeare's portrayal; the story of Oldcastle was a popular one and telling the tale from the "Papist" perspective (while acknowledging that perhaps this was a perspective with which Shakespeare already had some affinity) was an effective and familiar way to bring it to his audience. A direct explanation, however, comes from the facts of the story in the contemporary accounts of the period; Prince Henry had left his dear friend Oldcastle to his fate after he had failed to persuade the stubborn old knight to recant when he was imprisoned for lollardry. Archdeacon Richard Davies, a 17th-century Anglican cleric, wrote