Packwood House was built at the end of the sixteenth century. It is known for its garden feature, called the Sermon on the Mount, in the form of a spiral mount planted with a magisterial yew called The Master and flanked by a dozen yews representing the Twelve Disciples. This feature was apparently initiated by a lawyer called John Fetherston. The house fell into decay until it was acquired by a metals manufacturer and racehorse-owner, Alfred Ash, in 1905, urged, reputedly, by his sixteen-year-old son, Graham, Baron Ash (1889–1981). The latter gave it to the National Trust with its contents – some of which came from Baddesley Clinton (National Trust) before its donation to the Trust – in 1941. It contains an eclectic mix of styles rescued from other houses that had fallen into disrepair, for example, the floor is from the Earl of Powis’s Lymore Park, Montgomeryshire and a fragment of Verrio’s Head of Charles II is from the ceiling of the King’s Drawing Room, Windsor Castle, which was destroyed by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville’s alterations for George IV in 1824/1825.