Hatchford Park
| Hatchford Park | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 Hatchford Park house | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ09165813 |
| Location: | 51°18’42"N, 0°26’6"W |
| History | |
| Built 1850s | |
| For: | The 1st Earl of Ellesmere |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to flats |
Hatchford Park is a country house at Hatchford in the midst of Surrey and edge of the North Downs. Once a home of the Earls of Ellesmere, it was later converted into a school, and is now divided into private apartments.
History
The house was originally built in the 1600s, but little physical evidence of this survives. In the nineteenth century, it became the home of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, who rebuilt the house in the 1850s. Lord Ellesmere started an arboretum in the grounds in 1845,[1] while Lady Ellesmere laid out the gardens.[2] The garden writer William Keane included the gardens in his book The Beauties of Surrey. Lady Ellesmere lived on at Hatchford Park after the 1857 death of the 1st Earl. Her mother, Lady Charlotte Greville (née Cavendish-Bentinck) died at Hatchford Park on 28 July 1862, aged 86.[3] The estate was later purchased by Isabella Saltonstall, a patron and executor of the painter George Stubbs. The main house was remodelled in c1890 by Rowland Plumbe [4] in mock Jacobean style for its then owner, the City stockbroker, Walter Moresby Chinnery. It then became the home of Bernhard Samuelson MP, who built a mausoleum in the grounds. Its last private owner as a single house was the steel magnate William John Firth, who lived there in the 1930s.
During the Second World War, Hatchford Park was taken over by the War Office. In 1952, it became Hatchford Park School, a residential school for children with disabilities. In the 1990s, Hatchford Park was bought by property developers for conversion into private apartments. During the redevelopment, a fire was started which severely damaged the manor house and destroyed many of the original features.
At the same time as remodelling the main house, Lord Ellesmere also gave land and funds to build a small church, St Matthews, on his estate.[5] In 1865, the church was endowed as a parish within the Diocese of Winchester with the Earl of Ellesmere as patron.[6] However, the church was demolished in the 1960s due to disrepair, leaving only the graveyard, which remains in use; the community is now served by parish church of Ockham.[7] and the small chapel of St Matthew in Downside.
On television
In 1969, Hatchford Park was used as a filming location for Spearhead from Space, an episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1970.[8]
Outside links
References
- ↑ "Hidden Hatchford, 8 May 2011". http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nathist/enhs/290/Hatchford.htm.
- ↑ "Hatchford Park". Doctor Who locations. http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/hatchfordpark.
- ↑ "Harriet Catherine Greville". http://www.anatpro.com/index_files/Harriet_Catherine_Greville.htm.
- ↑ Hatchford Park School - British Listed Buildings
- ↑ Langham-Carter, R. R. "Hatchford Park & Church" in Harrison (ed.) Surrey Archaeological Collections, Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, Volume 61; published by Surrey Archaeological Society, 1964 available online at https://archive.org/stream/surreyarchaeol61surr/surreyarchaeol61surr_djvu.txt (accessed 14 March 2013)
- ↑ "Hatchford, Surrey". http://www.uk-genealogy.org.uk/england/Surrey/towns/Hatchford.html.
- ↑ All Saints', Ockham
- ↑ Doctor Who locations: Spearhead from Space
