Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum

Last updated

Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum
East Sussex UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum in East Sussex
Location Halland
Coordinates 50°55′26.5″N0°6′42.6″E / 50.924028°N 0.111833°E / 50.924028; 0.111833
OS grid reference TQ4858715914
Area East Sussex
Built
  • 18th century
  • East wing 1960/1
  • West wing 1969/71
ArchitectExtension: Raymond Erith
Architectural style(s)Extension: Palladian
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameBentley Farm, with attached walls and gate piers.
Designated26 November 1963
Reference no. 1192009
Bentley-ww02.jpg

The Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum was a visitor attraction near Halland, East Sussex, England. As of October 2018, it is closed to the public. [1]

Contents

History

Part of the formal garden Bentley-garden.jpg
Part of the formal garden

The house at Bentley was bought by Gerald and Mary Askew in 1937 and following the Second World War the couple developed the house and garden and started a wildfowl collection. Two large Palladian rooms were added to each end of the original house. Following the death of Gerald Askew in 1970, Mary gave the nucleus of the estate to the people of East Sussex. Mary continues to live in part of the house and the site was developed as a tourist attraction. In 2004 due to increasing running costs the East Sussex Council offered to sell the property back to the Askew family for £1.25 million or it would sell the property on the open market. [2] The Askews purchased the estate and placed it in the hands of a trust.

Wildfowl

Magpie geese Bentley-wildfowl2.jpg
Magpie geese

In 1962, influenced by the Sussex artist Philip Rickman and a visit to the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, the Askew's started a collection of wildfowl. A pond was dug in a nearby field which was poor agricultural land, and the collection was started. The collection held examples of 125 of the 147 species of wildfowl.

Motor museum

Motor museum Bentleymm-02.jpg
Motor museum

In 1982, a motor museum was opened on the site. Set up by Hugh Stuart-Roberts, it was a collection of vehicles mostly owned by private individuals and were on loan to the museum. The first car to be displayed was a 1928 Minerva.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Trust</span> Conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The National Trust is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is the separate and independent National Trust for Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust</span> Charity in the United Kingdom

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is an international wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. Its patron is Charles III, and its president is Kate Humble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre</span> Open-air industrial heritage museum at Amberley, West Sussex

Amberley Museum is an open-air industrial heritage museum at Amberley, near Arundel in West Sussex, England. The museum is owned and operated by Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre, a not-for-profit company and registered charity, and has the support of an active Friends organisation. The items in the Museums collection are held by The Amberley Museum Trust

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Motor Museum, Beaulieu</span> Automobile museum in Hampshire, England

The National Motor Museum is a museum in the village of Beaulieu, set in the heart of the New Forest, in the English county of Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston Lacy</span> Country house near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England

Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. It was for many years the family seat of the Bankes family who lived nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War after its incumbent owners, Sir John Bankes and Dame Mary, had remained loyal to Charles I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petworth House</span> Country house in Petworth, West Sussex

Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Salvin. It contains intricate wood-carvings by Grinling Gibbons. It is the manor house of the manor of Petworth. For centuries it was the southern home for the Percy family, earls of Northumberland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Leonards-on-Sea</span> Human settlement in England

St Leonards-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The original part of the settlement was laid out in the early 19th century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off; it also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery, assembly rooms and a church. Today's St Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burscough</span> Town in West Lancashire, England

Burscough is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenwood House</span> Country house in Hampstead, London

Kenwood House is a former stately home in Hampstead, London, on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. The house was originally constructed in the 17th century and served as a residence for the Earls of Mansfield during the 18th and 19th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Folk and Transport Museums</span>

The Ulster Folk Museum and the Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) east of the city of Belfast. The Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions of the people in Northern Ireland, past and present, while the Transport Museum explores and exhibits methods of transport by land, sea and air, past and present. The museums rank among Ireland's foremost visitor attractions and is a former Irish Museum of the Year. The location houses two of four museums included in National Museums Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Sussex College</span> College in East Sussex, UK

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Horsted</span> Village in East Sussex, England

Little Horsted is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Uckfield, on the A26 road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burwood Park</span> Private housing estate in Surrey, England

Burwood Park is a historic private estate located in Hersham, Surrey, England. Spanning six miles of road, Burwood Park is situated in a former deer park that belonged to Henry VIII. The 360 acre estate is known both for its extensive wildlife — more than 150 species of birds and mammals have been recorded in the woods and parkland around its lakes and communal areas —.as well as the high level of security and privacy provided to its residents; it is one of the few remaining residential areas in the United Kingdom never to have been filmed by Google Streetview.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Hare School</span> Non-maintained special school in Newbury, Berkshire, England

Mary Hare School is a residential co-educational Non-Maintained special school for deaf pupils in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It consists of around 230 pupils from Reception to Year 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beauport Park</span>

Beauport Park is a house near Hastings, East Sussex, England. It is located at the western end of the ridge of hills sheltering Hastings from the north and east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakespeare Birthplace Trust</span>

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preservation as a national memorial. It can also lay claim to be the oldest conservation society in Britain. Receiving no government funding or public subsidies, it is totally dependent upon the public for support, and relies on donations and the income generated from visitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunnylands</span> Estate-retreat in Rancho Mirage, California

Sunnylands, the former Annenberg Estate, located in Rancho Mirage, California, is a 200-acre (0.81 km2) estate currently run by The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, a not-for-profit organization. The property was owned by Walter and Leonore Annenberg until 2009 and had been used as a winter retreat by the couple beginning in 1966, when the house was completed. The city of Rancho Mirage considers the property to be “rich with historical significance” and declared Sunnylands an historic site in 1990. Located at Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope Drives, the property has been the vacation site of numerous celebrities and public officials. Sunnylands is sometimes referred to as the "Camp David of the West."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nymans</span> Grade II* garden in West Sussex, England

Nymans is an English garden to the east of the village of Handcross, and in the civil parish of Slaugham in West Sussex, England. The garden was developed, starting in the late 19th century, by three generations of the Messel family, and was brought to renown by Leonard Messel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hines Interests Limited Partnership</span> American privately held company that invests in and develops real estate

Hines Interests Limited Partnership is a privately held company that invests in and develops real estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public services in Brighton and Hove</span>

Brighton and Hove, a city and unitary authority in the English county of East Sussex, has a wide range of public services funded by national government, East Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council and other public-sector bodies. Revenue to fund these services comes partly from Council Tax, which is paid annually by residents: this tax provides the city council with nearly 20% of its income and also helps to fund the local police force, Sussex Police, and the county's fire service, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Some of Brighton and Hove's utilities and infrastructure are provided by outside parties, such as utility companies, rather than by the city council.

References

  1. "Shock closure of leading family attraction in Sussex". Sussex Express. JPIMedia. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  2. Allison, Rebecca (11 March 2004). "Gift of country estate turns sour". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 November 2022.