Haines Hill, Berkshire, England

Haines Hill, in the liberty of Broad Hinton, is a large house, the older portion of which is Elizabethan or early Jacobean. Internally there is a long gallery similar to that at Bramshill and other large houses of the period. This part may have been built by William Hide, called of Haines Hill, who died in 1589. The house was formerly H-shaped in plan and had several courtyards. The windows and walls of the ends of the gallery were rebuilt in the Queen Anne style by the Biggs, as the date, 1716, on the outside testifies. The front part of the house was built by James Edward Colleton in 1760, and the old account books relating to the building are still at Haines Hill. Captain Garth added the servants' wing about 1825. Most of the internal ornamentation of the older portion is of the Queen Anne date; that of the later mid-Georgian. There are many family portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lely, Kneller and other masters.

At the close of the 16th century the property was acquired by the Windebanks, who about this date bought the manor of Odes (see below). Sir Francis Windebank (son of Sir Thomas who died in 1607) was Secretary of State in the reign of Charles I and a friend of Archbishop Laud, who frequently visited him at Haines Hill, and records his visits in his Diary. Many of Windebank's letters dated from Haines Hill are extant. On one occasion, when he had to transact business of state at Haines Hill owing to the fear of infection in London, the Council of State urged the establishment of a stage at Wokingham with good horses and guides to run to Hartford Bridge and Staines during the secretary's residence in the country. Haines Hill came with Odes (q.v.) to the Bigg family, with whom it remained until about the middle of the 18th century. It was acquired in 1736 by James Edward Colleton, who married Lady Ann Cowper, daughter of the first Earl Cowper. After the death of James Edward Colleton and subsequently the failure of direct heirs in his line, Charles Garth, who had married Elizabeth Colleton, granddaughter of Sir John Colleton, succeeded to the estates of Haines Hill and took in addition the name of Colleton. On his death in 1818 he left no male issue and his brother Captain Thomas Garth inherited the property. He died in 1841, and his son Mr. Thomas Colleton Garth, D. L., succeeded. He was the founder of the Garth Hunt, and held his opening meet at Haines Hill on 8 November 1852, holding the mastership for half a century. He died in 1907, leaving the estate to his sister Mrs. Shifner. On her death in 1910 it passed to Captain Godsal, the present owner.

At Haines Hill is still preserved the pardon granted to Bigg by Charles II, permitting him to retain possession of his property in spite of his support of the Parliamentarian cause during the Commonwealth period. It is a beautifully inscribed document bearing a portrait of Charles in the left-hand top corner. Richard Bigg left four sons, of whom John succeeded his father in 1677. (fn. 140) The manors of Mordells and Odes and the Haines Hill estate remained with the Bigg family (fn. 141) till about the middle of the 18th century. The subsequent history of this property is given under Haines Hill (see above). Thomas Garth suffered a recovery of the manor in 1819.