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Historic Buildings of Surrey
England
Image right - Loseley House Guildford
Image by Andrew Wilkinson from London - Loseley House, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wiki Commons
See Historic Buildings of Britain and Ireland - Main Page
The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in the county of Surrey, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.
If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project.
Full sizes of the thumbnail images can be seen in the Gallery attached to the project or by clicking the thumbnail image. TIP - Use ctrl+the link to open the image in a separate tab, or use "back" to return to this project page) Sources for the images can be found in the image details as seen in the gallery.
Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages. Please copy and paste the bullet used - ● - instead of * when adding items to the list.
Royal Palaces & Residences
● Birch Hall Surrey Bought and sold in 1998 by the trustees representing Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York. Never occupied by the Princesses nor their mother, who claimed that financial difficulties prevented her from running the house (1998)
● Castlewood House Egham, Surrey Leased by The Duke and Duchess of York (1987–1990)
● Claremont Esher, Surrey Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany (1816–1831; owned 'til 1865, 1882–1922)
● Kingsbourne House Wentworth, Surrey Leased by Sarah, Duchess of York (1994–1997)
● Oatlands Palace Weybridge, Surrey King Henry VIII; King Edward VI; Queen Mary I; Queen Elizabeth I (and the Stuart line)
● Ribsden Holt Windlesham, Surrey Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll; Princess Patricia of Connaught
● Romenda Lodge Wentworth Estate, Surrey Leased by the Duchess of York 1992-1994.
Castles
● Abinger Castle
Abbeys and Priories
● Waverley Abbey Farnham, Surrey, was the first Cistercian abbey in England. It was founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. It was damaged on more than one occasion by severe flooding, resulting in rebuilding in the 13th century. Despite being the first Cistercian abbey in England, and being motherhouse to several other abbeys, Waverley was "slenderly endowed" and its monks are recorded as having endured poverty and famine. The abbey was closed in 1536 as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. Subsequently largely demolished, its stone was reused in local buildings, including "Waverley Abbey House", which was built in 1723 in the northern portion of the former abbey precinct. Waverley Abbey House, the ruins of the abbey and the surrounding land are all part of a conservation area. The house is a Grade II● Listed building and the ruins a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The ruins of the abbey are currently managed by English Heritage and open to the public.
Workhouses (Poor houses)
● Ash
● Battersea
● Bermondsey
● Camberwell Workhouse
● Chertsey- CHERTSEY UNION - "The Union workhouse contains 180 inmates. Thomas Dyson, master; Mrs Dyson, matron; Joseph Tomlinson, relieving officer." Source: Post office 1846 - p 507 Parishes in Chertsey Union:Bisley, Byfleet, Chertsey, Chobham, Horsell, Pyrford, Thorpe, Walton Upon Thames, Weybridge, Windlesham. The workhouse was at Ottershaw. A girls receiving home was added alongside the boys in 1912. It was renamed Murray House in 1930 and handed over to Surrey County Council Mental Hospitals Committee in 1932.
● Clapham
● Croydon
● Dorking
● Epsom
● Farnham
● Godstone
● Hambledon
● Kingston
● Reigate
● Richmond
Historic houses in alphabetical order
Including Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest
A
B
● Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village 11 miles (18 km) south of Windsor and approximately 11 miles (18 km) north west of Guildford (Grid reference: SU 9164). Owned by the Crown Estate it is the current home of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and the Countess of Wessex. Bagshot Park is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies 21 hectares within the designated area of Windsor Great Park. It is only a few miles from Sunninghill Park, the former residence of the Duke and Duchess of York.
● Banstead Wood - The first mention of the PARK of Banstead occurs in 1299, when it was included with the manor in the grant made to Margaret of France by the Crown. It was probably imparked after Banstead had been granted to the king by John de Burgh in 1274. An action for trespass in the queen's park was brought in 1305. In 1348 and 1349, when Queen Philippa held the manor, a writ of aid for one year was granted to the clerk of the great wardrobe to enable him to have timber brought to her wardrobe in La Rioll, London, from her park at Banstead. In 1439 John Merston and Rose, then holding Banstead, received licence to inclose the park, stated to be in great need of repair, with paling and hedge, and to cause trees and oaks required for the purpose to be felled both within and without the park, under the survey of the Prior of Merton. The park was included in the grant in fee made to Carew in 1532. In 1623 John Lambert received a lease of the part of the park called Banstead Old Park.The manor-house, which succeeded the older manor-house near the church stood in the park; it is now the bailiff's house. The new house called Banstead Wood was built by the Hon. Francis Baring in 1884–90, and is now owned together with the park by Mr. Charles Garton.
● Brockwell Hall (Greater London) formerly Surrey The Grade II● listed Brockwell Hall[8] was built between 1811-1813 when the area was part of Surrey and was the country seat of glass merchant John Blades Esq. The land and house were acquired by the London County Council (LCC) in March 1891 and opened to the public on 2 June in the following summer, led by the local MP Thomas Lynn Bristowe. At the unveiling, Bristowe died of a heart attack on the steps of the hall. In 1901 the LCC acquired a further 43 acres (17 ha) of land north of the original park.[9] In the 1920s, there were 13 cricket pitches in the park, which attracted crowds of up to 1,500. Brockwell Park was home to the Galton Institute. A bust of Thomas Bristowe was returned to the Park and unveiled on its 120th birthday, 2012.
C
● Cain Manor
● Chessington Hall was a country house in Chessington, England. It is important in literary history as the home of Samuel Crisp (1707–1783), a close friend of Fanny Burney, the novelist. At the time of the house's existence, Chessington was a village in Surrey; it now forms part of the urban sprawl of contemporary Greater London. At the time of Samuel Crisp's occupancy, Chessington was a tiny village that stood on a large and nearly desolate common. Crisp retreated to the isolation of Chessington Hall after the failure of his play Virginia in 1754, after selling his house in Hampton, and much of his book and art collection. Crisp shared the house with his friend Christopher Hamilton. Crisp was a close friend of Charles Burney, the musicologist, and came to know his daughter, Fanny Burney. It is likely that Fanny wrote much of her second novel, Cecilia (published in 1782), in the summer house at Chessington, and the pair were frequent and fond correspondents. Crisp died on 24 April 1783 and is buried in the churchyard at Chessington. He is commemorated by a memorial in the church. The original house, said to date to 1520, was demolished in 1832 and replaced by a new building. From about 1850 to 1910 the Hall was occupied by the Chancellor family; their estate papers are housed in the Surrey History Centre in Woking. In the 1930s the village of Chessington was chosen as a centre for council housing. The house and estate were purchased by compulsory purchase order of Kingston Borough Council in 1946, and the Hall demolished in 1965, at a time when historic houses were regarded as of little value. The housing estate built on the estate is a typical example of 1950s architecture. Nothing survives of the rural charm or history of Chessington Hall, except for the monuments and graves of its occupants in Chessington churchyard.
D
● Denbies now a wine estate
● Detillens - Jn the village of Limpsfield south of the church, on the west side of the road, opposite the Bull Inn, is Detillens House, the residence of Mr. J. Hamilton Adams, which appears to have been built about the middle of the 15th century. The original portion of the building is of half-timber construction, consisting probably in the first instance of a hall with entrance, screens, and offices at the northern end, and private apartments on the south, extending to the rear in two projecting wings. The hall originally had a central hearth, traces of which were discovered some years since. The central roof-truss still survives. Late in the 16th century the plan was completely transformed by the addition of a fireplace and chimney-stack on the west side of the hall. At the same time the hall was divided into two stories. With the exception of the hall roof-truss above referred to, most of the internal fittings and panelling belong to the period of this remodelling. The fireplaces of the two rooms into which the hall was divided by the new floor are of stone, with moulded four-centred heads and jambs. The overmantel of the room at the south of the hall is a good piece of Elizabethan work. The brick chimney-stacks throughout are of this date. Early in the 18th century the house underwent further drastic alterations, the north wall of the hall being demolished on the ground floor, the entrance closed up, and a new and larger room formed by the addition of the space occupied by the passage and divided from the hall by a partition occupying the position of the original screens. The upper floor of the hall alone now represents its original extent. At the same time the east front was entirely rebuilt, with a doorway in the centre of the hall, and a new entrance hall formed in the middle of the south side of the house, with stairs against the south side of the central chimney-stack. In this state the house now remains, except that the 16th-century kitchen has within recent years been enlarged by the removal of the passage and converted to the drawing-room, and the original kitchen at the north-west corner has again been put to its former use. A porch has also been added to the entrance hall.
E
F
G
● Goddards - Goddards is a large country house in Abinger Common, Surrey, England.The house was designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1898–1900 and later enlarged. It was built 'as a Home of Rest to which ladies of small means might repair for holiday' for shipping magnate Frederick Mirrielees. It has an integrated skittle alley and the gardens were designed by Gertrude Jekyll.[1] In 1991 Bill Hall bequeathed Goddards to the Lutyens Trust in memory of his architect son, Lee Hall, who died in 1988. The property is now leased by the Landmark Trust and is available for holiday lets. It is a grade II● listed building.[1] It is the headquarters of the Lutyens Trust. Tours are available by prior arrangement.
● Guildford House - Guildford House is an important and interesting house that was built in 1660. It was originally owned by the Childe family. From 1736 to the 1840s it was the home of the Martyr family and later served as a shop and restaurant. In 1959 it took on its present role as the Guildford Borough Art Gallery, home to the Borough's Art Collection and a venue to a programme of varied temporary exhibitions
H
● Hascombe Court - In 1906 Robert E A Murray, a descendant of the Duke of Atholl, employed the architect J D Coleridge to build him a house in a woodland clearing on a plateau above the village of Hascombe. In 1910 Murray died, and subsequently G E B Kennedy bought the house. By 1912 the house remained largely surrounded by woodland, into which had been set to the north the kitchen garden, with, to the north-east, an orchard. By 1916 a further clearing had been formed to the south of the house, from which a long vista extended south into the woodland. A field to the east had been planted up as parkland, with scattered clumps of trees and singles. Kennedy died in 1921. The property was bought by Sir John Jarvis, 1st Baronet, who employed Gertrude Jekyll in 1922 to extend the garden (Plans, NMR), working with the architect C Clare Nauheim. In 1928-9 Sir John employed Percy Cane to extend the garden further, and some of Jekyll's features appear to have been overlain by Cane's work. Cane produced a plan of around 1928, from which the names of the garden compartments have been taken and used in this description. Sir John Jarvis died in 1951. The property was subsequently sold but has since remained in private ownership. It was owned by the broadcaster and television presenter Chris Evans, until sold to Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky who, in turn, sold it to Ron Dennis, the boss of Formula One racing team, McLaren F1.
● Heywood House - There appears to be no early history of the reputed manor of HEYWOOD in Cobham. A family named 'Heiwude' held land so called in 1206 and two grants of land there occur in the 14th century by William de Horwode, who was perhaps one of the same family. A certain John Prudhomme held lands in Heywood in Cobham in 1317. In 1331 the Prior and convent of Newark by Guildford acquired from him lands in Cobham, amounting altogether to 80 acres of land and 20 acres of wood. These lands were held of Henry de Somerbury, who held of Henry atte Downe, who held of the abbey of Chertsey. In 1594 James Sutton died seised of 'a messuage called Heywood' in Cobham, which he held of the Crown. In 1711 Katherine Gyles, widow, and Thomas Machell quitclaimed to Robert Porter and his heirs, for £320, the manor of Heywood with its appurtenances, including a fishery in the River Mole. The small property now called Heywood Park, near Fairmile Common, belonged to Lord Iveagh, and was recently sold by him to Mr. Hartmann.
I
J
● Juniper Hall - Cecil Bisshop is distinguished for building the famous Juniper Hall on the site of the old Royal Oak Inn. This fine old house afforded a kindly shelter to French émigrés in troubled times. Sir Cecil Bisshop died in 1779. Mr. David Jenkinson, a lottery agent, bought the property, and built Juniper Hill. In 1803, on the death of his son, the property was broken up. Mr. Worrall bought Juniper Hall and sold it in 1814 to Mr. Thomas Broadwood, from whom it was bought by Miss Beardmore. Her heir conveyed it in 1868 to Mr. F. Richardson, who in 1882 sold it to Mr. George McAndrew. Juniper Hill was bought by Sir Lucas Pepys, bart., M.P., who married the Countess of Rothes and took the name of Leslie. It passed through them and Colonel Lambton to Mr. J. H. Bryant in 1884, and in 1899 to Mr. Leonard Cunliffe.
K
● Kinfauns
L
● 
Loseley House Guildford
Image by Andrew Wilkinson from London - Loseley House, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wiki Commons
An historic manor house situated outside Guildford in Surrey, England near Compton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux, at the beginning of the 16th century. The house constructed at Loseley Park by Sir William More in c.1563-1569 included a purpose-built 'evidence room', which, used for the storage of records by the family for hundreds of years, accumulated a great variety of documents, many created in the course of their official, business and estate affairs, and others apparently acquired through executorships. It is a Grade I listed building. The present house was built between 1562 and 1568 with stone brought from the ruins of Waverley Abbey. Bought by Thomas Orby Hunter 1747
M
● The Manor House Upper Long Ditton, Residence of Francis Trollope
N
● Nonsuch Mansion - Nonsuch Mansion is a historic house located within Nonsuch Park on the border of Greater London and north Surrey, England. It is on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell and the London Borough of Sutton. It is Grade II● listed. In medieval times it was part of the three thousand acre manor of Cuddington. The mansion was built in between 1731 and 1743 by Joseph Thompson and later bought by Samuel Farmer in 1799. He employed Jeffry Wyatville to rebuild it in a Tudor Gothic style in 1802 to 1806. Farmer was succeeded by his grandson in 1838 under whom the gardens became famous. Nonsuch Mansion bears a resemblance in its design to the original design of Nonsuch Palace, whose construction was begun by King Henry VIII in the 16th Century. Built within the north porch of the mansion is a block from the original Nonsuch Palace that bears an inscription which means "1543 Henry VIII in the 35th year of His reign." In 1937 the Farmer family sold the mansion to a group of local authorities.
O
P
● Portnall Park, Virginia Water
Q
R
● Ribsden Holt is a former royal residence at Windlesham, Surrey, England. The royal residents were Princess Louise Duchess of Argyll to 1939, and Lady Patricia Ramsay 1939-1974
● 
Royal Earlswood House
Image by Roger W Haworth, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wiki Commons
The Royal Earlswood Hospital, formerly The Asylum for Idiots and The Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives, in Redhill, Surrey, was the first establishment to cater specifically for people with developmental disabilities. Previously they had been housed either in asylums for the mentally ill or in workhouses.
S
● 
Seale Manor Farm cottages
Image Geograph © Copyright Robin Webster and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
Twin listed homes across from the church that date almost wholly to the 18th century
● Sunny Heights in St George's Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, England, was the mid-1960s home of Ringo Starr, drummer of the Beatles.[1] Starr purchased his home on 24 July 1965 after bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison had bought houses. Sunny Heights, along with its large house and grounds, boasted its own bar, The Flying Cow, where Starr played host. The previous owner was Mr. H. E. Pope, who changed the name of the house from Haleakala to Sunny Heights II when he bought it in 1948; the name came from the house in Amberley that the Pope family had been evacuated to during the Second World War. Manager Brian Epstein had hoped each Beatle would buy adjacent properties, with a central one for himself. While Starr and Lennon (who purchased Kenwood, a mock Tudor house nearby) did buy places close to each other on the same estate, and it comforted each to know the other could be found close by, Harrison broke herd by getting a house (Kinfauns) on a nearby estate in Esher, while Paul McCartney bided his time, and bought a house on Cavendish Avenue in St. John's Wood, a short walk from EMI's Abbey Road recording studios. Maureen Cox married Starr in 1965, joining him at Sunny Heights and giving birth to their three children (Zak, Jason and Lee Starkey). While this was their primary residence, Starr also kept a London apartment at 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone, which was often lent out to guests. As the Beatles began to break up, Lennon sold Kenwood, purchasing Tittenhurst Park in 1969, while Harrison bought Friar Park early in 1970. Ringo in 1968 purchased Brookfield, in Elstead, from actor Peter Sellers. When Lennon (with second wife Yoko Ono) moved to New York City in 1971, Starr bought Tittenhurst Park, moving in with his family, who lived there until 1988.
● Sutton Place
T
U-V
W
Image Geograph © Copyright Bill Nicholls and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
Over 200 years after monks had inhabited Waverley Abbey, (Below), Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Aislabie used the ruins as a source of building material in the construction of the present-day Waverley Abbey House. In the 19th century the house was purchased by Florence Nightingale's family - the owner was George Nicholson, uncle of Florence Nightingale who was a frequent visitor, as was Sir Walter Scott, author of the “Waverley Novels”. Waverley became a Red Cross hospital during the First World War, and at the end of World War II the building was converted into apartments for retired people.
● 
Waverley Abbey Ruins
Image by Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wiki Commons
Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England. It was founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. Located in Farnham, Surrey. The abbey was closed in 1536 as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. Subsequently, largely demolished, its stone was reused in local buildings,( likely including "Waverley Abbey House" below, which was built in 1723 in the northern portion of the former abbey precinct.
● Wimbledon Manor & Old Rectory
X-Y-Z
References and Sources
Surrey Specific
General
- Stravaiging.com
- Secret Scotland
- Canmore
- Historic Scotland
- National Trust
- English Heritage
- WIKI List of country houses in the UK
- Britain's Finest
- Britain Express
- Lankdmark Trust
- Historic Houses Association - represents 1,500 houses in the UK
- Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens - UK - guidebook of over 2,000 houses open to the public
- The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses - database of over 7,000 houses
- Lost Heritage - A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England - list of over 1,700 houses
- National Trust for Historic Preservation - online database of historic houses in the United States
- WIKI Historic Houses Association
- Historic Houses Association
- WIKI Treasure Houses of England
- List of country houses in the United Kingdom
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Other Pages for Historic Buildings of English Counties
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