In his will of 1619 Robert Pratt left to his wife ‘all that capital messuage and farm called Welland Court or Dansies Farm’. It has long been known that Welland Court was once called Dansies or Dauncies, but this is the first document we have come across that gives both names.

To date we have not been able to trace Robert’s origins, but parish records record his marriage to Anne Allen at Pull Court, Bushley, in 1593. (Pull Court or Poole Court was on the site of what is now Bredon School.)

Robert seems to have settled in Hanley Castle, as six of his children were baptised there, and a document exists recording his purchase of a house and land there. The children baptised at Hanley Castle were: Appoline, 1594; Elizabeth, 1596; Anne, 1597; Mary, 1598; Katherine, 1599; William, 1601. A further two children are recorded amongst Welland baptisms: Barbara, 1608; Grace, 1609. The baptisms of the other children referred to in the will of 1619 are missing: Robert (the heir), Thomas, Jane, and Margaret.

Welland Court seems to have been rebuilt around 1600, which would fit with the Pratt family’s apparent move to Welland.

The parish records for Welland in the 17th century are very patchy and only a few references to the Pratt family survive after Robert’s death in 1620. They did not own Welland Court for very long as it was sold to John Bentall in 1640.