Barton Manor

Barton Manor
Hampshire
Gateway and North Lodge
Location
Grid reference:	SZ52009446
Location:	50°44’51"N, 1°15’51"W
Village:	Whippingham
History
	Manor house
	Jacobean
Information

Barton Manor is a Jacobean manor house in Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire's great south island. Two 17th-century elevations remain, while other frontages were renovated in the 19th century, as was the interior. Two mediæval lancet windows originated at a former Augustinian priory.

Barton is the most northerly of all the Island manor houses.

History

The manor of Barton is mentioned in Domesday Book as having been held from by Bolla before the Conquest, but by the survey it was in the hands of the Norman, Fitz Stur, with whose family it remained till the reign of Henry III. In the middle of the 15th century, Bishop Waynflete granted the estate to Winchester College, with which it remained until purchased by the Queen in 1846.

The ancient Barton Manor House, which was erected shortly after the College received it, has been considerably enlarged and renovated, so that it is now a large mansion of that style of domestic architecture which prevailed during the reign of the Tudors.

Queen Victoria first rented Barton Manor for a period of a year from 1844, in order to assess its suitability as her family home. However, obviously deciding that it was too small, she purchased the nearby Osborne House instead, which became her main residence on the Isle of Wight. The Queen still bought Barton Manor in 1845 for £18,000, so that she could house Crown equerries and visiting European royalty there.

King Edward VII decided to retain Barton Manor for his own use, after giving Osborne House to the nation in 1902, and it became a favourite summer retreat of his. In 1922 though, King George V sold the estate to Mr & Mrs F C Tillett. In 1952, Ivor Tillett moved to Devon and sold Barton Manor.

In 1954, Barton Manor was sold to Mr Gerald Joynson. Shortly afterwards, a boarding school, Brookfield School, relocated here from Fairlee Road in Newport. It was intended to be a school run on an unconventional basis: amid some scandal, the school closed its doors in 1955. The estate was sold again in 1962, a number of times in the following years.

In 1976, Anthony Goddard purchased Barton Manor. During his ownership, he turned the estate into a popular visitor's attraction and added a high-quality vineyard, producing some 30,000 bottles of wine each year. He sold the manor in October 1991.