The entry in the Domesday Book, 1086, relating to Blithfield, where it appears as BLIDEVELT, mentions 2 plough-teams, 4 serfs and 7 villeins, with a priest.
Roger de Lacy held Blithfield then, under Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury but, before 1136, Heremann, or Herman, ancestor of the de Blithfields, was living there. A village of Blithfield is said to have existed close to the church at one time but no trace remains today.
Blithfield became the home of the Bagots in 1360, when Ralph married the "girl next door", who happened to be the Blithfield heiress, Elizabeth. Before then the Bagots lived about two miles away at Bagot's Bromley and all that remains to remind us of this early home is a stone monument marking the spot where it once stood.
Ralph and Elizabeth's son, Sir John, must have rebuilt the house at Blithfield because in 1398 he brought an action against a carpenter for having done the work "so negligently and unskilfully" that it had fallen into ruin.
Over the years the house has grown from its medieval origins. The Elizabethan south front, with its tall chimneys, is quite different from the west front with its five gables. Apart from a bow window, added to make a Conservatory in Victorian times, this front has not changed much since 1686. The Orangery and the New Drawing Room were added by the first Lord Bagot and built by Samuel Wyatt, from the designs and under the direction of 'Anthenian' Stuart. There is a coming exhibition on Stuart in New York from Nov 16 to Feb 11 2007, see www.bgc.bard.edu upcoming exhibitions page. The second Lord Bagot gave the house its romantic gothic appearance that we see today, and his alterations included the magnificent plaster work in the Great Hall, by Bernasconi in 1822.
In 1945 Gerald, fifth lord, sold the house to the South Staffordshire Water Works, who were to make a reservoir in the Park. He had permission to live at Blithfield for his life and and this was thought to be a wise move. However, on his death Caryl, sixth Lord and his wife, Nancy
bought it back and set about the formidable task of restoration, which was chronicled in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday 19 May 2001.Blithfield opened to daily visitors in 1956, and closed in 1977 before subsequent conversion into four houses.