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Historic Buildings of West Sussex
England
Image right - Wakehurst Place Ardingly
Image Geograph © Copyright Ian Capper and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
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Historic Buildings of East Sussex
The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in West Sussex, 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.
Historic houses in alphabetical order
Including Abbeys, Priories, Castles, Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest
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.
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
● The Abbey, Storrington
● Aldwick Grange - Lindsay Fleming lived at Aldwick Grange - in 1949/50, he produced his three-volume History of Pagham. He died in 1966 aged just 64. He left an invaluable document providing detailed historical information on Pagham, Aldwick, Rose Green and Bognor Regis.
● Aldwick Place, Pagham. The sales particulars for Aldwick Place in the 1930s stated that it was situated in a ‘premier residential position with direct frontage to the beach immediately west of Bognor’. Aldwick Place was for a time was used as a boys’ preparatory school around 1914.
Baron Albert Abraham Grant (born Gottheimer) died of heart failure at Aldwick Place, Pagham, near Bognor, in Sussex in August 1899 aged 67.
● Aldwick Manor - In 1397 is described as containing 152 acres of arable land and 158 acres of pasture, not including the site of the Manor house, the courts were held there every three weeks. The Manor passed through various ownerships and was bought in 1835 by John Ballett Fletcher and was passed to his son William Holland Ballett Fletcher in 1899 when he became the new Lord of the Manor.
● Amberley Castle
● 
Arundel Castle 1840 Arundel Castle
Image by Internet Archive Book Images - Flickr; No restrictions, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43928002 Wiki Commons
Arundel Castle was built at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel. Under his will, King Henry I (1068-1135) settled the Castle and lands in dower on his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain. Three years after his death she married William d'Albini II, who built the stone shell keep on the motte. King Henry II (1133-89), who built much of the oldest part of the stone Castle, in 1155 confirmed William d'Albini II as Earl of Arundel, with the Honour and Castle of Arundel.
B
● Bailiffscourt
● Balcombe Place - Grade II Listed Building, built in 1856 in West Sussex, with a south view across the Ouse Valley. It now forms part of The Balcombe Estate. The architect was Henry Clutton. It was built for John Alexander Hankey, whose family had been living at Naylands, a house about 1 mile away. The Gentleman's Magazine in 1864 refers to a meeting where “members adjourned to Balcombe Place, a residence recently erected by John Alexander Hankey, Esq., who hospitably entertained them”.
● Bignor Manor House - in WWII rented family home of Major Anthony Bertram who was working for military intelligence with French resistance agents
● Beach House
● Birch Grove - former family mansion of former British prime minister Harold Macmillan, who died there in 1986. It is on the edge of Ashdown Forest near Chelwood Gate in East Sussex, England (though the house itself is in West Sussex). The house is now owned by Dr James Hay. It was the venue for Macmillan's historic meeting with President Kennedy in June 1963. The house was built in 1926 for Maurice and Helen Macmillan, parents of the future prime minister, and is Grade II listed. It was reported to have been sold in 2011 for £25 million to Dr Jim Hay, having previously been owned by Chinese businessman
● Borde Hill Garden
● Bramber Castle is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle formerly the caput of the large feudal barony of Bramber long held by the Braose family.
● Brantridge Park, Balcombe - 19th-century country house, formerly one of the lesser royal residences. The present house was built on the site of an earlier farm, Brantridge Farm. Sir Robert Loder acquired the estate in 1849, and by 1874, Brantridge Park mansion had been built. Standing in Brantridge Forest, it was the seat of the 1st Earl of Athlone, and his wife, Princess Alice of Albany, the last surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria. They leased the house from Lord Cowdray from 1922 onwards. The Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, also lived in Brantridge Park from 1919 to 1944. Sir Denys Lowson, at one time Lord Mayor of London, lived there for some years after the Athlones. The house was then used as a home for disabled children. More recently the house was divided into apartments, and operated as a time-share resort until January 2008.
● Burton Park
C
● Castle Goring
● Charlwood House - early 17th-century timber-framed country house in Lowfield Heath, Crawley, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. It is now used as a nursery school.
● Cowdray House Midhurst.
Image by Clethbridge8 - Flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wiki Commons
Cowdray House - the former home of the Montague family, was built in 1542 and largely destroyed by fire in 1793. In 2005 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £2.7m towards the cost of stabilising the ruins and they were opened to the public on 31 March 2007. The house is not open to the public.
Ruins of a Tudor mansion stand beside a stream, on the site of a 13th century house. In its day Cowdray was home to one of the most powerful families at the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Ruined by a fire in 1793, Cowdray is a shell, but what a shell! The Tudor facade is one of the most imposing and impressive in the country, and the inner courtyard is entered through a fabulous ruined gatehouse.
● Cowdray Park
Image Public Domain, Wiki Commons
Cowdray Park lies in the South Downs National Park and belongs to Viscount Cowdray, whose family have owned it since 1908. It has a golf course, and it offers clay pigeon shooting and corporate activity days, as well as the more traditional activities of agriculture, forestry and property lets.
● Craigweil House where in 1929 when King George V arrived to convalesce in the Parish of Pagham
● Craigweil Lodge was renamed Martineau House when it was used as a seaside school from 1955 by a trust set up in Birmingham for sending disadvantage children to the seaside.
D
● Dale Park - Madehurst. Demolished c 1960
● Danny House - Grade I listed Elizabethan red brick Mansion near Hurstpierpoint. It lies at the northern foot of Wolstonbury Hill and may be regarded as one of the finest stately houses in Sussex, with 56 bedrooms and 28 apartments. The present house was built 1593-95 by George Goring, slightly to the east of an older house. It is set in eight acres (32,000 m²) of gardens at the foot of the South Downs.
E
● Ecclesden Manor, Angmering
F
● Fishbourne Palace Fishbourne Roman Palace is a superbly restored and intelligently set out seat of Roman power a mile or so west of the important Roman city of Chichester close to the busy Roman harbour and port of Fishbourne.
G
● Goodwood House - seat of successive Dukes of Richmond and Gordon
● Gravetye Manor - West Hoathly. Elizabethan Manor House with world renowned historic garden created by William Robinson. Now run as an exclusive country house hotel and restaurant.
H
● Hammerwood Park - built in 1792 for John Sperling by Benjamin Latrobe, then an unknown architect
● Hotham Park House - grade II listed 18th-century country house in Bognor Regis. It stands in the 9 hectare (22 acres) Hotham Park, now a public open space. The house, originally called Chapel House after a nearby chapel, was built in 1792 by Sir Richard Hotham, the founder of Bognor, as his main residence. After the chapel was demolished in the 1850s, the house was renamed Bersted Lodge, then Aldwick Manor and subsequently Hotham Lodge. It is built of stuccoed brick in two storeys with a six-bay (but 10 window) frontage
I
J
K
● Knepp Castle - See also Knepp Castle Sussex Info.
Knepp Castle Ruins
Image Geograph © Copyright Simon Carey and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
Built in the 12th century by the William de Braose whose family was in charge of the Rape of Bramber and custodians of the castle. It was rebuilt as a stone castle with a two-storey keep in 1214 by King John. In addition to John the castle had a succession of royal visitors, including Henry III in 1218, Edward II in 1324 and Richard II in 1384. Subsequently, it fell into decline and deteriorated. The bulk of it had been destroyed by the 1720s. In the early 19th century the remnants were reinforced and fenced in by Sir Charles Burrell to protect them from further deterioration.Its origins were possibly as a hunting lodge which was later fortified for safety reasons. The stone keep was added around 1214 during the civil strife that punctuated the reign of King John. John himself stayed here on a number of occasions and took possession in 1208 when he confiscated it from the De Braoses. The castle returned to non-royal ownership after the death of John though Henry III regained control in the 1230s. By that point it appears the building had reverted to its original use as a hunting lodge. It remained inhabited until the early 16th century after which it fell into disrepair gaining its present form by the 1720s. Stone from the castle was used in the construction of the Horsham-Steyning turnpike that opened in 1764 and was probably still being taken when the Burrell family, owners of the Knepp estate, fenced it off in 1825.
Image left by Charlesdrakew - Own work, Public Domain, Wiki Commons; Right Geograph © Copyright Kevin Young and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Knepp Castle 'House' -The modern Knepp Castle, as opposed to the original motte and bailey castle. A castellated Gothic Revival mansion built near the ruined Knepp Castle in the early nineteenth century by Sir Charles Merrik Burrell, to the designs of John Nash.
L
● Leonardslee - one of the largest and most spectacular landscaped woodland gardens in England. They are particularly noted for their spring displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, magnolias and bluebells, with the flowering season reaching its peak in May. Leonardslee is situated at Lower Beeding, near Horsham, West Sussex.
● Little Thakeham - Grade 1 listed private house, located near the village of Storrington in the Horsham District. The property was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the medieval vernacular style for wine importer Ernest Blackburn.
M
● Malemayns - land known as 'Malemayns' belonging to Nicholas de Malemayns in 1292, had disappeared into the sea, last recorded in 1556, a portion remains today at the foot of Dark Lane. The Manor passed through the generations mainly father to son, from the family of John Dingley to Richard, from Richard to John who sold to John Comber. then to his niece and her son. Sir Thomas Miller passed it to his son and ultimately to his son again who sold out to Sir Richard Hotham in 1789.
N
● Nymans, the ruins of the Messel family home in West Sussex
O
● Ockenden Manor
P
Paradise, in Dark Lane, Aldwick, was destroyed by fire in 1909. It was constructed in 1802 for Sir Thomas Brooke Pechell (1753-1826) and was seen as a construction that “typified the penchant for the picturesque”, which was fashionable at that time. Referring back to the 1807 guide, a report on Sir Thomas Pechell’s home remarks that it stood ‘on a delightful eminence, commanding a variegated and extensive prospect, and at whose foot the sea breaks with unavailing rage. You discover, hanging over the beach, a thatched cottage, more remarkable for its simplicity than for its architectural ornaments’.
● Parham House Elizabethan H-shaped house featuring its original rooms and furnishings, as well as Jacobean additions. The most interesting feature at Parham is the Long Gallery, which stretches fully 160 feet.
● Petworth House - medieval Percy manor remodelled under Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (nicknamed "The Proud Duke") in 1688 and his wife Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Somerset.
● Pitshill - Grade II listed house built in the neo-classical style and is located within the Parish of Tillington a couple of miles west of Petworth. Begun by William Mitford in 1760 on the site of an earlier house it was completed by his son, also William, in 1794. It is considered to be one of the most important country houses in West Sussex.
● Pulborough Castle
Q
R
S
● Saint Hill Manor - Georgian manor house on the fringe of East Grinstead, built by Gibbs Crawfurd in 1792. The Manor was restored to its original condition by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology movement, and contains exhibits relating to Hubbard's life and voluminous writings.
● St Joseph's Abbey (The Abbey), Storrington - originally a rectory, later a small country house and then a convent school. Built in 1871-2 by the Rev George Faithfull in the Victorian Gothic style, reusing material from the 1621 rectory which was demolished at this time. In the 1880s it was the residence of Colonel Walter George Stirling, a Baronet who had a pedigree herd of Jersey cattle. Successive tenants altered the house; in 1911 (semi-timbered work) and 1930 (brick range) when Colonel H.V. Ravenscroft added a billiard room and ballroom designed by John Leopold Denman.
● St Mary's House - timber-framed monastic inn, founded by Bishop Waynflete of Winchester in 1470 for pilgrims journeying to Canterbury.
● Sennicotts - small estate near Chichester, formed in 1809 by Charles Baker (1761–1839) having retired after serving in Madras, with the British East India Company. In the following years, he built the house (1810), the lodge (1815) and the chapel (1829). Charles Baker was the son of a Chichester surgeon, and claimed descent from the Bakers of Mayfield, the great Sussex Iron-masters. The architect of the house is thought to have been James Elmes (1782–1862), who is known to have submitted a design for Oakwood, the house opposite Sennicotts, and who lived at Oving nearby. Charles Baker lived until 1839, when the estate passed to his nephew, Christopher Teesdale. The Teesdales did not inhabit the house, but continued to be buried in the family vault below the chapel, until it was made into a Church for this part of the extensive Parish of Funtington, following the sale of the rest of the estate in 1929. Between 1839 and 1929, the house was let to a succession of tenants, the most notable being Prince Louis of Battenberg, who had Sennicotts as his first home after his marriage in 1884. The house is mentioned in David Duff’s “Hessian Tapestry”, and another book called “Louis and Victoria”, and in an earlier work on Prince Louis written by Mark Kerr, the Prince’s letter at the end of June 1885 says how sad he was to leave Sennicotts. The new owner in 1929 was William P. Wilson, who built the Music Room with a fine Venetian window at one end, a bow window at the side, and a shallow vaulted ceiling of the kind favoured by Repton, Soane and other Regency architects. After a period as 'Combined Operations' during the Second World War, the house was purchased by Captain Geoffrey Bowes-Lyon, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. After his death in 1951, the house was occupied by his son, Major-General Sir James Bowes-Lyon, when not stationed in Germany. The house was sold to the late Mrs. Rowland Rank, sister-in-law of J Arthur Rank and daughter-in-law of Joseph Rank the flour miller, in 1961 and it remains in her family. Alternative historic spelling of Sennicotts: Sennicots, Sennicott, Scynecat (1810)
● Shillinglee - 18th-century house and estate in West Sussex, near the Surrey border, in between the villages of Chiddingfold and Plaistow. Built in 1785, Shillinglee was the home of the Earl Winterton and was originally a manor of the Arundel Estate, which belonged to the Norfolk Family.
● Standen - late Victorian house designed by Phillip Webb
● Stansted Park/ House - near Chichester, lying within the parish of Stoughton, near the village of Rowlands Castle over the border in Hampshire. The house began as a hunting lodge in the 11th century. It was built on the present site in 1688 for Richard Lumley, probably to a design by William Talman. The original house was burnt down in 1900, and rebuilt on the exact footprint of the previous building in 1903. The architect was Arthur Conran Blomfield.
T
U-V
● 
Uppark House
Image - Geograph © Copyright Ian Capper and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
17th century mansion built on high ground above South Harting, built in the 1680s by Lord Grey of Warke (later 1st Earl of Tankerville). The house was sold by the third Earl of Tankerville in 1747 to Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh. He and his wife filled Uppark with artwork and other treasures collected during their Grand Tour of Europe. Their son Harry commissioned Humphry Repton, the great garden designer, to make some alterations to the interior of Uppark and lay out the gardens. http://www.westsussex.info/uppark-house-and-garden.shtml
W
● Wakehurst Place - late 16th-century country house and a mainly 20th-century garden, managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who also have a research facility there. Wakehurst was bought in 1694 by Dennis Lyddell, comptroller of the Royal Navy treasurer’s accounts and briefly MP for Harwich. His son Richard Liddell, Chief Secretary for Ireland and MP for Bossiney, was obliged by financial pressure to pass the estate to his younger brother Charles.
● West Dean House - large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean. This country estate has approximately 6,350 acres (25.7 km) of land and dates back to 1086, with various royal connections throughout the years. In 1971 the Estate became the home of West Dean College, a centre of study of conservation, arts, crafts, writing, gardening and music.
● Wiston House - now a wedding venue
● Worth Abbey
X-Y-Z
References and Sources
Sussex Specific
Sussex Specific
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 2
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 3
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 5 Part 1, Arundel Rape: South-Western Part, Including Arundel
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1, Bramber Rape (Southern Part)
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham
- A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3, Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) Including Crawley New Town
- The Victoria History - Volume 7 - Rape of Lewes
- Victoria County History: Sussex - Volumes 1 through to 7 and 9
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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