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Stansted Park
The area now known as Stansted Park is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was included in the ‘Hundred of Bourne’.
Did you know?
The Hundred was a unit of English local government and taxation, intermediate between village and shire, which first appeared in the laws of the Saxon King Edmund I (939-946) and survived into the 19th Century. Originally the term probably referred to a group of 100 hides (the hide was the unit of land required to support one peasant family but varied in size between 40 and 120 acres).
This early history echoes in todays’ Bourne, an electoral Division of West Sussex, with one member sitting on West Sussex County Council. Today’s Bourne electoral area covers many of the villages in The Octagon Parish, which existed at the Norman Conquest, including Compton, East Marden, Forestside, North Marden, Stoughton, Walderton and West Marden, as well as Stansted House and Stsasted Park.
Stansted House
Did you know?
Between 1066 and 1094, a hunting lodge was built in Stansted park for Norman Roger de Montgomery. He was the first Earl of Arundel and there is an old Sussex saying: “Since William rose and Harold fell, there have been Earls of Arundel.”
It is recorded that Stansted probably originated as a park within the Royal Forest of Bere. Its overlords during the early medieval period were always the Earls of Arundel, and it was used by many monarchs as a hunting ground. In 1177 King Henry II visited Stansted, then King Richard I hunted boar here in 1194 and King John visited in 1214 and 1215.
Stansted park was also used for timber production and, in 1327, a survey of buildings of the Manor of Stanstead included a hall and a chapel. In 1552 the park was also visited by King Edward VI.
Clearly Stansted has a long history associated with the aristocracy. For 500 years, since the first hunting lodge was built, it remained in the tenure of the Earls of Arundel. In 1579, on the death of Henry Fitzalan, the 14th and last of the Arundel Earls, it passed to his daughter Jane and into ownership of the House of Lumley, the surname also linked with Lumley in Southbourne.
Jane had married Lord John Lumley at the end of the sixteenth century. So, for the next 200 years, it remained in Lumley ownership. One legacy from the period is ‘Lumley Seat’ built to the right of the main house. Converted to a family home in the 20th century, it was originally conceived as a Georgian landscape folly. In 1782, it was described as a temple with ‘a handsome saloon ornamented with paintings and a front portico, framing views down to the sea’.
Architectural styles of Stansted House
This has changed dramatically over the centuries, reflecting the tastes and needs of its different owners:
The initial 12th century hunting lodge was one of the residences of the Earls of Arundel, from which they hunted and even held ‘forest courts’, brought in by the Normans to protect deer ‘for the King’s pleasure’.
Did you know?
The restrictive ‘forest laws’ were universally unpopular among local people. Grazing livestock, cutting or collecting timber, hunting game without permission and land alterations, including crop cultivation, were all forbidden.
In 1480 the small manor house associated with the hunting lodge, was rebuilt and enlarged to create a substantial castellated and turreted building near the site of present Chapel of St Paul. This was known as the ‘Old House’.
On 16 April 1644, Stansted House was attacked by Parliamentary forces. By the end of the day, the ‘Old House’ was in ruins. So, in 1688, Richard Earl of Scarborough and Viscount Lumley abandoned the ‘Old House’, which was downgraded to providing stables, stock sheds, barns and a brewery, to support the needs of a more ‘modern seat’ (house).
This was designed by architect William Talman, in the Dutch style. Built in the 1680s on the site of the present main house, it was lavishly furnished including six magnificent tapestries depicting the ‘Art of War’. Three of these can still be seen on display in today’s house, but the original ‘modern seat’ no longer exists. Today, the only legacy of this house is the vaulted basement under the current house.
However, a depiction of Stansted House by Dutch painter and draughtsman Leonard Knyff (1650-1722) was included in the ‘Nouveau Theatre de la Grand Bretagne’, first published in 1722 by Johannes Kip (1653-1722). His picture below clearly shows the new house’s upright Dutch style and its position away from the Chapel and Old House.
A century later, in 1781, Richard Barwell bought Stansted. He lavished money on the property and first employed renowned garden designer Capability Brown to draw up plans for both house and grounds. It may have been at this time that the magnificent avenues, that radiate away from the house, were cut through the forest. Unfortunately, Brown died in 1783, before his work was complete. So Barwell employed architects James Wyatt and Joseph Bonomi to finish the house.
Their design must have been a visually dramatic and stylish design, as it encased the earlier house in white brick and added double porticos to the east and west elevations. These were similar to those at nearby Goodwood House, which Wyatt also designed. Each portico had sixteen Doric and Ionic columns. The old stables and offices were replaced by two new pavilions connected to the main house by curving Doric colonnades.
In 1826, Stansted was bought by Charles Dixon, who then employed the architect Thomas Hopper to pull down Wyatt and Bonomi’s pavilions and erect the present stables and offices. Hopper may also have built the three lodges.
At the end of Victorian period, George Wilder had only recently inherited Stansted House and Park from his deceased father, when disaster struck. In August 1900, on the last night of the Goodwood Races, the Wilders had sat down for dinner when the alarm was raised for ‘fire!’. The inferno from the burning house lit up the countryside for miles around.
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Despite the fact that the Havant Fire Brigade arrived within 30 minutes, just after 9:00pm, and the Emsworth Fire Brigade at 9:40pm, both came to the decision that Stansted House was beyond saving from the raging inferno.
The house was burnt to the ground and many treasures in the house were destroyed, including carvings by Grinling Gibbons. However, the valuable six ‘Art of War’ tapestries were saved.
Two years later, in 1902, Stansted House had been redesigned and fully rebuilt into the fine Edwardian House we see today, using Rowlands castle brick and Portland stone dressings. During the rebuilding, George Wilder and his family stayed in nearby Aldsworth House.
The architect was Arthur Conran Blomfield, also used by King Edward VII as architect at Sandringham. Blomfield’s design for Stansted was broadly similar to the Dutch style used by Talman in his original ‘modern seat’ version of Stansted House.
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Constructed in Rowlands castle brick, with Portland stone dressings, it included many up-to-date features including electric light, running hot and cold water and a lift which continues to be used to this day!
Owners of Stansted House and Park:
Details of the many owners of Stansted from The Norman Conquest to the present day, their contributions to life of the house and the estate are set out in an authoritative book published in 1984: Enchanted Forest, The Story of Stansted in Sussex written by Frederick 10th Earl of Bessborough, with architectural historian Clive Aslet. The 10th Earl inherited Stansted in 1956. Some notable personalities identified in the Enchanted Forest among the more recent owners of Stansted include:
Richard Barwell: known as ‘The Indian Nabob’, he owned Stansted from 1781 until his death in 1804. Barwell made a fortune during his 23-year service in India, with The East India company. He rose to become a member of The Supreme Council of Bengal and at the age of 38 years, came home very rich. It was Barwell who lavished money on Stansted House and Park, financing both the work of Capability Brown as well as that of James Wyatt and Joseph Bonomi in the 18th century. Barwell wasn’t a popular owner and controversially closed several paths across the estate. But there is a fine memorial to him on the wall of the Chancel of Westbourne parish church.
Lewis Way: A curious character, he purchased Stansted after Barwell died in 1804. See St Paul’s Chapel below
Charles Dixon and The Wilders Family: Charles Dixon was a London wine merchant, who purchased Stansted in 1826 from Lewis Way. It was through Dixon and the previous marriage of his wife Augustine, to George Wilder, that the Wilder family took possession of Stansted. On the death of Dixon in 1855, Augustine put the estate in trust for the benefit of her grandson, also named George Wilder.
There were three George Wilders who owned Stansted in all, and it was during the ownership of the last, in 1900, that the house burned down. This George Wilder was born at Stansted in June 1876. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he spent much of his childhood on the estate. It was here that he developed his love of cricket, learning to play on the Stansted Estate ground in front of the house. He became a first-class cricketer, making his debut for Sussex against the MCC at Lord’s in 1905.
Cricket at Stansted
Cricket has long been played at Stansted. During the summer months, today’s visitors to Stansted can still watch it being played on the broad sweep of grass in front of the house.
Cricket at Stansted can trace its roots back to the 18th century. At that time, cricket was funded by gambling interests. Some of the wealthier gamblers also acted as patrons of different teams. One of these was Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (1701 – 1750) at nearby Goodwood. He had been an active player in the 1720s and became known as “the Duke who was cricket”. He was patron of the village cricket club at Slindon – a very small community to the east of Goodwood.
Did you know?
The first written record of the Slindon team is on 15th June 1741, when they played at Stansted Park against a Portsmouth eleven. Slindon won the match by 9 wickets, and the Duke noted in a letter written to his friend Thomas Pelham-Holles 1st Duke of Newcastle, that “above 5,000 people” were present!
George Wilder sold Stansted to Major Cecil Whitaker in 1912. He was a keen sailor and helped found Emsworth Sailing Club. It was Major Whitaker who sold Stansted to the Bessborough Family.
The Bessboroughs: In 1924, Stansted Park was purchased by Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough, to became the family seat of the Earls of Bessborough, which it remains to this day.
WW2 directly affected Stansted. Over 80 bombs fell on the estate, and Stansted House welcomed evacuees from the Children’s Service Home in Southsea. A German plane actually crashed onto the cricket ground, in front of the house, killing the crew, and mortally wounding a friend of the family. The impact blew out the windows of the Chapel and all those on the west side of the house.
After the war in 1956, the estate passed to Frederick 10th Earl of Bessborough. It was the 10th Earl who set up the Stansted Park Foundation a charitable trust charged with preservation of the estate for the benefit of the nation.
Stansted today
Since 1983 it is the trust which owns both house and estate. Frederick the 10th Earl of Bessborough died without male heir in 1993.
Stansted House, park and grounds are all open to the public. It is a thriving estate with a wide variety of attractions mostly located in the area over the foundations of the ‘Old House’, including: Pavillion Tea Room, Park Farm Shop, Park Garden Centre, Physiological Centre and Bookshop.
There is an Arboretum, Yew Maze, Arboretum, and Miniature Light Railway. Across the 1800-acre estate there is a considerable network of paths for walkers, cyclists and horse riders to enjoy.
- Find out more about Stansted House and park and how to visit – click here
- Full details of all the events and tours at Stansted House and park – click here
- Read more about the fascinating history of Stansted House on the fact sheet – click here
St Paul’s Chapel
St Paul’s Chapel is one of the most interesting buildings on the estate but the architect is unknown. Restored by Lewis Way in 1807, it incorporates earlier structures, like the south entrance built in beautiful Tudor brickwork.
Lewis Way purchased Stansted house in 1804. His intention was Stansted should become his family home, but also a place where he could found a religious institution. In fulfilment of this ambition, and to give himself a private chapel, in 1807 Way converted the brewhouse into the Chapel at Stansted.
Way had decided that his life’s work should be conversion of Jews to Christianity and their restoration to Palestine. In 1818 Way crossed Europe, visiting Russia to gain support from Czar Alexander I.
Did you know?
Lewis Way addressed assembled crowned heads of state at Aix-la-Chapelle in France in pursuit of trying to win tolerance for the Jewish people and allowing them the right to buy land in Palestine. As a result of this work, Way nicknamed himself ‘The Wandering Jew’.
The Chapel sanctuary has a canopy supported by wooden pillars which is unusual and has a unique East Window with Christian and Jewish imagery. This reflects Lewis Way’s failed ambition to establish Stansted as a centre for conversion of the Jews to Christianity.
The Chapel is believed to be the only church in England with the ten commandments on stone tablets on the wall, written in Hebrew.
Lewis Way had the Chapel consecrated on the 25th January 1819 (The Feast of the Conversion of St Paul) by the Bishops of St David’s and Gloucester. Some 300 people attended, including the poet John Keats, who used the imagery of the chapel in his poems ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ and ‘The Eve of St Mark’.
- Read the fact sheet about St Pauls’ Chapel and Keats’ poem – click here
By 1824 Way’s dream of establishing Stansted as a Hebrew College for the training of Jews and foreign missionaries had evaporated, and his inherited fortune dwindled. To cut his losses he sold Stansted and moved to Paris. He died in 1849 in Leamington, haunted by a sense of futility in his life.
- St Paul’s Chapel details – Click here
- Donate – Parish Giving Scheme
- W3W: ///mainly.sofa.allowable
- Postcode: PO9 6DX
- Visits to St Pauls Chapel can be arranged via Stansted House Estate Office. Phone 023 9241 2265
Racton Monument
Today’s Racton Ruin was commissioned as a folly by the 2nd Earl of Halifax, who inherited Stansted in the mid-18th century. Designed by the architect Theodosius Keene, it was built between 1766 and 1775.
The 10th Earl Bessborough described the tower as ‘half-way between a castle and a pagoda’. Originally designed with a triangular base and a round turret on each corner, it was built of red brick construction faced with flint. With four storeys it stands an impressive 80 feet (24m) high.
Did you know?
The main period for folly-building was in the 18th century. The 2nd Earl of Halifax (1716-1771) was a statesman who gloried in the name of George Montagu-Dunk. He has an elaborate memorial in Westminster Abbey saying he ‘contributed so largely to the commerce and splendour of America as to be styled ‘father of the colonies’. Halifax, Nova Scotia, is also named after him.
Although reputed to have a long history of being the venue for lavish parties, Racton monument was also often associated with smuggling, and the tower can certainly be seen from Chichester Harbour. It was also said to have been constructed so that the 2nd Earl of Halifax could watch his merchant ships dock at the nearby port village of Emsworth, 3 miles away.
The tower was also by the Home Guard in World War II. However, it has been abandoned for over a century and is a state of ruin, with much of the original flint facing having disappeared. This leaves it with a rather haunted and neglected atmosphere, making it a spooky place to come to after dark!
Location: W3W: ///laptops.january.speedily
St Peter’s Church Racton
St Peter, Racton with Lordington, is a small 12th century downland church with a seating capacity of about 60. St Peters has a delightful atmosphere which has served the spiritual needs of Racton for almost a thousand years, with a bell-cot and simple layout of chancel, nave and south porch. It contains significant monuments to the Gunter family who owned Racton Manor opposite the church (now demolished).
The earliest record of this little downland church is 1142, when Savaric Fitz-Cane and his wife Murial, daughter of Engelger de Bohun gave the church to Lewis Priory. It was held by the monks of Lewis Priory until 1445 when Racton benefice was amalgamated with that of Lordington rectory. The advowson now belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Chichester.
Built of rubble, partly plastered with ashlar dressings and roofed with tile. The church contains many early features: the nave may have been built as early as the 12th Century, possibly by the Bohun family. It was added-to in the 13th Century and the east window was opened and the west wall re-built in the 14th century.
In the chancel’s east wall is a square-headed aumbry, or recess, used for holding the blessed sacrament and holy oils. Below it, there is another square-headed recess, possibly a piscina, but without a drain. On the south side is a 13th century lancet window, a priest’s door and a window of two cinquefoil lights under a square head of the 15th century. The north wall has a two window lights, facing the one on the south wall, which it resembles.
The roof is ancient but of uncertain date. Above the western tie beam are the royal arms of George II. On the south side of the nave is a square-headed window of two semi-circular headed lights, perhaps from the 17th century. West of this is a plain headed doorway of a later date with ancient woodwork and hinges are ancient. The west door and window are 14th century, and the trussed rafter roof of the nave is ancient, of unknown date.
The restored tub-shaped font is originally 12th century. There is one bell cast by J. Warner in 1876. The communion plate includes an Elizabethan cup with paten cover of 1691 and a silver flagon of 1716.
To the left of the altar is the tomb of Sir George Gunter, who died in 1624, and Ursula, his wife. Their kneeling effigies and the monument itself were repainted when it was still possible to trace and reproduce the original colouring of the tomb.
Did you know?
Almost all of the statues and much of the stonework on the interior and exterior of churches were originally painted, making them stand out for miles to local residents. It was only in Victorian times, with the fashion for a ‘stripped back’ ascetic, that much of this paint was removed, as well as culturally valuable church wall paintings and frescoes being painted over or the plaster stripped back to naked brick and stonework.
Two decades after Sir George Gunter and Ursula were buried in St Peters, their descendant Colonel George Gunter was to play a pivotal role in the escape of King Charles II to France after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, on Sept 3rd 1651.
- Find out about the escape of King Charles II to France – click here
- Find out about the 625 mile Monarch’s Way walking trail – click here
Sunday services are attended by a small number of loyal worshippers, with numbers significantly increasing at Easter, harvest festival, carol services, Christmas Day and other Octagon services. The church is used for baptisms, weddings and funeral services and music is played on a fine example of a French Alexandre harmonium.
- Racton St Peter – Parish Giving Scheme
- W3W: ///introduce.hidden.reaction
- Postcode: PO18 9DR
- See the 16 page Octagon Walks Booklet – click here