Surplus to requirement. A country house that was stripped of its interiors and subsequently demolished. Chipstead Place was once part of the demesne and lands of the manor of the de Chepsted family. It was first mentioned in the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was in the possession of Robert … Continue reading CHIPSTEAD PLACE→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
One of the finest specimens of an old English Manor House that has played host to Kings and Queens. The Manor House of Ockwells, or Ockholt, as it was called when Sir John Norreys, High Sheriff of Berkshire, and a courtier of Henry VI, started to build it between 1440 and 1450, is one of … Continue reading OCKWELLS MANOR→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
“It was impossible to save when nobody had heard of Bonomi.” In 1961, Kitty Cruft, the leading officer of the Scottish National Buildings Record, visited Rosneath Castle to record its last dying days. Shortly afterwards, an unsafe ruin, this grand old country house, a ghost of its past, was blown up with 200 LBs of … Continue reading ROSNEATH CASTLE→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
Hunton Court, near Maidstone, dates to the thirteenth century and the traditional framed farmhouse dating to the fourteenth century, with a large roof structure and three crown posts can still be found in the attic rooms. The house has long been associated with the Bannerman family, starting with Henry Bannerman (1798-1871), descended from a Perthshire … Continue reading HUNTON COURT→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
Sixty years ago, Chevening was bequeathed to the nation to ensure that the estate would not be broken up, but would instead retain a significant role as a private house in public life. In May 1959, the Chevening Estate Bill, published details about Lord Stanhope’s gift of Chevening, Kent, to the nation. Lord Stanhope, the … Continue reading CHEVENING→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
Like many country houses Adlington had a purpose during wartime. However, the cost of upkeep meant it had to open its doors to the public afterwards. In August 1942, Adlington Hall the historic home of the Leghs, had been in the possession of the family since 1352, when they first acquired it in the reign of … Continue reading ADLINGTON HALL→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
A house that has changed significantly as the result of two fires within five years and the need to downsize. Hainton Hall stands on the Lincolnshire Wolds between Lincoln and Louth, and about seven miles south-west of Market Rasen. The mansion we see today looks very different to the one that stood here one hundred … Continue reading HAINTON HALL→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
This country house, described as “one of the finest houses in the South of England” was Anthony Salvin’s first major commission. Mamhead House, in the Haldon Hills, Devon, is one of those country houses that hasn’t been able to find its identity in recent times. For many years we have known this Grade I-listed Tudor-Gothic property … Continue reading MAMHEAD HOUSE→| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
One hundred years ago. The mid-Gloucester correspondent for the Cheltenham Chronicle reported that the whole of the Lypiatt Estate had been sold by private treaty and that the new owner intended to…| HOUSE AND HERITAGE
On this day, one hundred years ago, the Daily Express reported that Lord Swansea had decided to sell his ancestral home, Singleton Abbey, Swansea, owing to rates, taxes and the general increase of …| HOUSE AND HERITAGE