Albury Park is a country park and Grade II* listed historic country house (Albury Park Mansion) in Surrey, England. It covers over 150 acres (0.61 km2); within this area is the old village of Albury, which consists of three or four houses and a church. The River Tillingbourne runs through the grounds. The gardens of Albury Park are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [1]
The Saxon Old St Peter and St Paul's Church, within the grounds of Albury Park, predates 1066. Albury Park was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Over the centuries the estate has changed hands many times. [2]
The grounds of Albury Park were laid out by John Evelyn, the 17th-century diarist and landscape gardener, between 1655 and 1677. [3] He lived nearby at Wotton. At this time the park was owned by Henry Howard who later became the 6th Duke of Norfolk. John Evelyn's work included a yew walk, a vineyard, a terrace a quarter of a mile long, and a 160-yard tunnel, through the hill under Silver Wood. Beneath the terrace was a chamber built in imitation of a Roman bath, with niches for sculpture. He also designed a wide canal fed by the River Tillingbourne; it was drained in the early nineteenth century. [4] Many of Evelyn's alterations to the mansion were destroyed in a fire in 1697. At that time the owner was Heneage Finch who later became the first Earl of Aylesford and Solicitor-General to Charles II. Finch rebuilt the mansion.
In 1761, Albury Park was the scene of the coronation banquet of George III. [5]
The house was owned by the immediate Finch family until 1782 when the 4th Earl of Aylesford sold the estate to his brother Captain William Clement Finch, a naval captain who had acquired a fortune by capturing a Spanish ship. Captain Finch wanted to enclose the park so he obtained magistrates' orders in 1784/5 to close and re-route a number of roads through the park. He enclosed the village green, incorporated part of the churchyard into the park grounds and harassed the villagers, causing some of them to move away to a nearby hamlet which is now the village of Albury.
In 1800, Captain Finch's widow sold the estate to Samuel Thornton, who made additions to the house, including the north front, to the designs of John Soane. [6] Albury Park was purchased by Barings Bank partner, Charles Wall in 1811 and he lived at this estate with his wife Harriet (born Baring) and at their homes in London and Hampshire. Harriet organised evangelical meetings at the house which were scheduled for twice a day. The services attracted sizable congregations to hear the prayers and the readings from scripture. All of these were organised by Harriet and at some she would lead the service. Charles Wall died in 1815 and after that Harriet's focus moved to her new residence in Hampshire. [7]
The banker and politician Henry Drummond (1786–1860), great-grandson of William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan, was the owner in 1819. [8] Drummond added a battlemented stone Gothick tower at the north-west corner of the building, [4] and 63 brick chimneys – each to a different design. His architect was Augustus Pugin. [6] Drummond also planted many of the rare trees in the park.
Albury Park passed into the Percy family through the marriage of Louisa Drummond, daughter of Henry Drummond, to the 6th Duke of Northumberland. [9] The Duke of Northumberland still owns most of the land, known as the Albury Estate. [10] The mansion contains 64 different mantelpieces, which were in part the work of Robert Adam. The private areas of the park contain a Roman bath and a cave inspired by the Grotto of Posilippo in Naples. [11]
In 1969, the mansion together with 3 acres (12,000 m2) of land, mostly laid to grass, was sold. The building was converted into private flats that were owned by the Country Houses Association until it went into liquidation in 2003. [12] The house was then sold to private owners, who continued to let the flats, while living in the house themselves. The parkland and the John Evelyn gardens remained private.
Fly fishing is possible at Albury Park as part of the Albury Estate Fisheries fly fishing club. Park membership is based on a syndicate membership. [13]
There is a public footpath that cuts through the estate.
The storms of 1987 and 1990 caused serious damage to parts of the park.
Albury Park was featured in a Channel 4 television series, Country House Rescue in December 2008, and November 2009. The house and grounds have also been the location of the filming of the television series Midsomer Murders and the romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral . [14]
In March 2020, Country Life reported that the Grade II* listed mansion had been split into luxury apartments. [15]
Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built close to the site of an earlier manor house belonging to the Leigh family. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Since the 1930s most of the grounds have been occupied by Addington Palace Golf Club. Between 1953 and 1996 the mansion was occupied by the Royal School of Church Music, which has since moved to Salisbury. It was later used as a wedding and events venue.
Earl of Aylesford, in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. The junior branch of the Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham. It was created in 1714 for the lawyer and politician Heneage Finch, 1st Baron Guernsey. He had already been created Baron Guernsey in the Peerage of England in 1703.
Claremont, also known historically as 'Clermont', is an 18th-century Palladian mansion less than a mile south of the centre of Esher in Surrey, England. The buildings are now occupied by Claremont Fan Court School, and its landscaped gardens are owned and managed by the National Trust. Claremont House is a Grade I listed building.
Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village 11 miles (18 km) south of Windsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a 50-square-mile (130 km2) tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies 51 acres (21 ha) within the designated area of Windsor Great Park.
Albury is a village and civil parish in central Surrey, England, around 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Guildford. It is in the Surrey Hills National Landscape and the Borough of Guildford.
Deepdene was an estate and country house occupying land to the southeast of Dorking, Surrey, England. The remains of the gardens are Grade II* listed with the adjoining Chart Park on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
The River Tillingbourne runs along the south side of the North Downs and joins the River Wey at Guildford. Its source is a mile south of Tilling Springs to the north of Leith Hill at grid reference TQ143437 and it runs through Friday Street, Abinger Hammer, Gomshall, Shere, Albury, Chilworth and Shalford. The source is a semi-natural uninhabited area. The catchment is situated on sandstone which has a low rate of weathering. The Tillingbourne is 24 km (15 mi) in length.
Witley Park, formerly known as Lea Park, is an estate dating from the late 19th century between Godalming and Haslemere in Surrey, England. Its landscaped grounds include three artificial lakes, one of which conceals an underwater conservatory and smoking room. The mansion house, rebuilt for the swindler Whitaker Wright, was gutted by fire in October 1952 and the ruins were demolished in January 1954. In the early 21st century, a new house was built on the site.
Packington Hall is a 17th-century mansion situated at Great Packington, near Meriden in Warwickshire, England and is the seat of the Earl of Aylesford. It is a Grade II listed building.
Fetcham Park House is a Queen Anne mansion designed by the English architect William Talman with internal murals by the renowned artist Louis Laguerre and grounds originally landscaped by George London. It is located in the parish of Fetcham near Leatherhead in Surrey.
Old St Peter and St Paul's Church is a former Anglican church near the village of Albury, Surrey, England in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The church stands in Albury Park, to the northwest of Albury Hall, and between the villages of Albury and Shere.
Wotton House is a hotel, wedding venue, conference centre and former country house in Wotton near Dorking, Surrey, England. Originally the centre of the Wotton Estate and the seat of the Evelyn family, it was the birthplace in 1620 of diarist and landscape gardener John Evelyn, who built the first Italian garden in England there.
Wimbledon manor house; the residence of the lord of the manor, was an English country house at Wimbledon, Surrey, now part of Greater London. The manor house was over the centuries exploded, burnt and several times demolished. The first known manor house, The Old Rectory was built around 1500 still stands as a private home, despite very nearly falling into a state beyond repair, in the 19th century. The ambitious later Elizabethan prodigy house, Wimbledon Palace, was "a house of the first importance" according to Sir John Summerson, and is now demolished.
Frimley Park in Frimley, Surrey, England, consists of Frimley Park mansion, a Grade II listed building, and the formal gardens, designed by Edward White in 1920. The house and gardens are all that remain of an estate that once encompassed more than 590 hectares. Since 1949 it has belonged to the War Office, and currently hosts an Army Cadet training centre.
Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey consists of about 20 hectares of land, grassland and houses.
Swaylands is a private parkland estate set high upon the Kentish Weald, on the edge of the village of Penshurst in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England.
Lamorbey Park is a 57-hectare (140-acre) park in Lamorbey, in the London Borough of Bexley, set around a Grade II listed mansion, Lamorbey House. The original 17th century estate consisted of 119 hectares, but over time sections of the estate have been separated for other uses, including two secondary schools, Rose Bruford College, and Sidcup Golf Club. The area of the park still in public ownership includes The Glade, a 7.4-hectare (18-acre) area of historic landscape laid in the 1920s with a large lake. The park was added to the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in 1988.
Many watermills lined the banks of the River Wey, England, from the 17th century, due to the river's ability to provide a reliable, year-round flow of water. These mills chiefly ground wheat, often referred to as corn, for flour and oats for animal feed though many were used in the production of other goods such as paper, cloth, leather, wire and gunpowder. The river was home to more mills per mile than anywhere else in Great Britain. The mill situated at Coxes Lock near Addlestone, Surrey, is the largest. There are many mills on the river's principal tributaries, such as the Tillingbourne, the Ock and some mills on the Whitmore Vale stream, Cranleigh Waters and Hodge Brook. The last commercial mill on the Tillingbourne, Botting's Mill at Albury, closed in 1991. Headley Water Mill, on the Wey South branch is still in business. Town Mill, Guildford still has a water turbine driven generator producing electricity for the town.
Langley Park is a historic house and estate in Buckinghamshire, England. The parkland is currently known as Langley Park Country Park, and is open to visitors. The house, designed and built by Stiff Leadbetter, is a Grade II* listed building, and the parkland, designed by landscape architect Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, and gardens are Grade II listed together. The house and grounds are owned by Buckinghamshire Council, and the house is leased as a privately run hotel.
Harriet Wall was a British religious controversialist from a privileged background. She led a schism from the Church of England.