AS the arrow flies, it’s the best part of 90 miles from Sherwood Forest to Alcester. So Robin Hood would have been well off his patch if he came looking for Coughton Court in the 1300s.

Not only that, his journey on horseback down the A38 would have been in vain, because by general consensus the National Trust property wasn’t built until around 1530.

So how come on a stained glass window containing figures of a group of men in the Court’s St Peter’s church were inscribed the words: “This window was made and these men following, with the money that Robin Hood and his men got.”

It’s one of the intriguing mysteries of the rambling Tudor property which has been home to the Throckmorton family for around 600 years. Having inherited it in the early 15th century, the Throckmortons owned Coughton continuously until passing it to the Nation Trust in 1946, but thanks to a leaseback agreement, they are still there.

Few people know more about Coughton Court than Vic Avis, who has been a Trust volunteer guide for nearly 20 years following his retirement as a professional engineer. “Not being a native of the area I knew little about the history of the property, ”he said, “so I had no preconceived ideas before I started, which was probably a good thing. I became fascinated by the history stories of Coughton and the Throckmorton family and have been hooked ever since.”

This interest led to many years diligent research by Vic, which in turn led to him being asked in 2013 if he would give a presentation based on his findings to other volunteers and staff. It was so successful it was followed by many more and now, after numerous requests, comes the book.

The History of Coughton Court and the Throckmortons has been published by Vic, costs £12 and can obtained by emailing: vicoughtonbook@yahoo.com

It’s packed with information about the property’s past and includes some research never before published. Also Vic includes information about every significant Throckmorton at Coughton from 1400 to the present day.

He added: “The main thing I learnt is not to believe anything anyone says without evidence and not to believe what you read without substantiation. So often I have seen in print a statement that turns out to be incorrect. This information is then repeated in other documents or books or by word of mouth until it becomes considered fact.”

As Magnus Birch Throckmorton, the present incumbent, points out: “Vic has stayed to facts that he can substantiate and not strayed into anecdote, which means this book is a reliable history. For me to have a link with a gentleman my grandmother talked to about the house is particularly valuable.”

Researching the Throckmorton lineage, Vic has come up with some remarkable stories Take for example the one concerning the eccentric 10th Baronet Sir Richard, whose family numbered 11 children. When informed by a distraught nursery maid that one had died after falling headfirst into a full slop bucket, he simply replied: “Well, that’s very serious and if it happens again, I am afraid we will have to let you go.” And that was the end of the matter!

As a property with connections to the Gunpowder Plot, Coughton Court inevitably holds many secrets. For example, what was the purpose of the openings below the priest hole and what was the reason for “the squint”, an aperture in a wall to allow a person a clear view of the adjacent room?

Who commissioned the Tabula Eliensis, a 9ft by 7ft painted canvass, and why? And what happened to a valuable portrait of Catherine Collingwood, the second wife of Sir Robert Throckmorton 4th Baronet, which was painted by Nicholas Largilliaire in 1729. It disappeared after the National Trust took over the Court in 1946 and neither the Trust nor the family can find any record of it. Maybe some modern day Robin Hood galloped back up the A38 with it to Sherwood.