Folkington Manor (pronounced Fo'ington) is a grade II* listed country house situated in the village of Folkington two miles (3.2 km) west of Polegate, East Sussex, England.
Folkington Manor (pronounced Fo'ington) is a grade II* listed country house situated in the village of Folkington two miles (3.2 km) west of Polegate, East Sussex, England.
Folkington Manor was built in 1843 [1] by the architect W. J. Donthorne, near the site of a manor that was recorded in the Domesday Book ,. [2] The previous manor was home to Viscount Monckton in the 14th century, advisor to King Edward III. The Place, as it was formerly called, is a site of some antiquity, having been the seat of the Culpepers in James I's reign and later of the Dobell [3] family, from whom it was bought in about 1650 by Sir William Thomas, of West Dean with the adjoining manor of Wootton.
The old house was largely demolished circa 1820. In 1838, Folkington together with the manor at nearby Wootton were bought by Thomas Sheppard, M.P for Frome, who thereupon built the present manor at a new site slightly to the north. Folkington Place, situated on the original manorial site, retains some architectural elements of the pre-1820 manor. After the death of Thomas Sheppard’s son in 1875 both properties were sold to Mr J. E. A. Gwynne and in 1915 passed to the latter’s son, Col. Rupert Gwynne, M.P for Eastbourne 1910-24. Rupert Gwynne was father of Elizabeth David, the pre-eminent British cookery writer of the mid 20th century, and brother of Violet Gordon Woodhouse, the influential and highly acclaimed musician. On his death the house passed into the hands of his younger brother Roland Gwynne, Mayor of Eastbourne 1928-31.
As noted in a Country Life [4] editorial in 1958, Folkington has had a close connection with art for some time – a tradition which continues to this day with the Manor containing a number of galleries suitable for displaying large amounts of fine art. Indeed the well known Long Man of Wilmington stands in the distance on Windover Hill. The Stacy-Marks [5] family bought the property in the late 1960s and the Flint Rooms were the core of the well-respected art business that has flourished for many years. In Autumn 2010 the Manor was purchased by Dr Harry Brünjes and Mrs Jacqueline Brünjes and has recently undergone a complete restoration.
The herbalist Nicholas Culpeper lived in the village in the 17th century. [6]
Folkington Manor stands in a secluded position at the foot of the South Downs in 85 acres of parkland. The main grounds lie principally to the north and east of the house, with sweeping lawns surrounding an ornamental pond with many spring bulbs, specimen trees including cedar, yew, horse chestnut and lime leading out to a large informal area of parkland fringed with semi-mature trees and flanked on the southern side by the gravelled drive. To the south of the drive are 3 large railed paddocks with parkland trees including pine and chestnut, as well as a grass gallop that extends for approximately 1.5 miles. To the south of the house are yew hedges, shrub borders and steps leading up to a further area of mature wooded garden with two greenhouses and a sunken dell. There are 3 more paddocks and further woodland to the west.
A fine stone paved terrace runs along the east facade of Folkington Manor, overlooking a neatly clipped knot garden with flint paths surrounded by trimmed yew hedges, garden ornaments and a bank of spring bulbs.
The main stable yard has 17 boxes, tack rooms and feed rooms and lies immediately west of the house. Folkington Manor Stables was formerly a horse racing training establishment. Today Folkington Manor Stables operates a small, exclusive, part livery service. An outdoor school measuring approximately 65 x 35m serves the stables as well as direct access to the stunning South Downs.
Former owners include Rupert Gwynne, MP for Eastbourne 1910–24 and father of food writer, Elizabeth David, who inherited the house from his father. On his death the house passed into the hands of his younger brother Roland Gwynne, Mayor of Eastbourne 1928–31, and the possible lover of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. [7]
The house was used as a location for the 1948 film version of the George Moore novel Esther Waters . [8] The film, directed by Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud, starred Kathleen Ryan (in the title role), Dirk Bogarde (as William Latch), Cyril Cusack, Ivor Barnard and Fay Compton. The story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover, Esther Waters was the most "English" of his novels. Moore had just returned to England after abandoning his brief interest in the Irish Renaissance theatre movement in 1901, in which he was a founder of the Irish Literary Theatre.
Accounts of life at Folkington Manor appear in the book Violet: The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse by Jessica Douglas-Home. [9] Violet Gordon Woodhouse was the sister of Rupert Gwynne and one of the century's most gifted musicians, her salon at Wooton Manor was a rural match for London's Bloomsbury gatherings. The first chapter of the book details the long and stormy engagement between Violet's parents, James Gwynne and the musical May Purvis, there was strong opposition from the Gwynnes to James marrying someone of "questionable" descent. James and May set up house in Harley Street in London and at Folkington Manor in Sussex giving birth to Violet and her six brothers and sisters.
Petworth House is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England. It was built 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.
John Bodkin Adams was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of investigation. In addition, 132 out of 310 patients had left Adams money or items in their wills.
Isfield is a small village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England, located north-east of Lewes.
Long Man is a civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes the villages of Wilmington, Milton Street and Folkington. The parish is named after the Long Man of Wilmington, a 69.2-metre (227 ft) chalk figure in the parish.
Nether Lypiatt Manor is a compact, neo-Classical manor house in the mainly rural parish of Thrupp, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. It was formerly the country home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and is a Grade I listed building.
Glynde is a village and shares a civil parish with Beddingham in the Lewes District of East Sussex, United Kingdom. It is located two miles (5 km) east of Lewes.
Gwynnes Limited was a City of London England engineering business, iron founders and pump makers founded in 1849 to capitalise on the centrifugal pump invented by James Gwynne (1804–1850). In 1856 his eldest son, James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne (1832–1915), of Essex Street Wharves on the south side of The Strand was awarded a patent for the manufacture of carbon or charcoal powder. Their Strand site became part of the Victoria Embankment built between 1865 and 1867 and Gwynne profited from judicious investment in the reclaimed land. Their Crisp Road, Hammersmith Ironworks and works at Church Wharf, Chiswick, London, were established in 1867 to specialise in the manufacture of these centrifugal pumps and pumping engines This machinery was for use in practically all purposes where large or small quantities of liquid were required to be lifted and dealt with for low or high heads. A limited liability company was formed in May 1897 to own the business.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Roland Vaughan Gwynne DSO, DL, JP was a British soldier and politician who served as Mayor of Eastbourne, Sussex, from 1928 to 1931. He was also a patient, close friend, and probable lover of the suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams.
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse was a British keyboard player. She specialised in the harpsichord and clavichord, and was influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion. She was the first person to record the harpsichord, and the first to broadcast harpsichord music.
Rupert Sackville Gwynne, was a British Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 1910 to 1924.
Michelham Priory is the site of a former Augustinian Priory in Upper Dicker, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. The surviving buildings are owned and administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society and are Grade I and Grade II listed.
Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894.
Buxted Park is an 84.7 hectare (206.16 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, located near the village of Buxted, East Sussex, England. The main house is just over 0.5 km northeast of the town of Uckfield. The site was notified in 1989 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The site is an old deer park dating back to 1199, which consists of large amounts of unimproved grassland areas. The house which forms the centrepiece of the estate is now a country house hotel owned and operated by Hand Picked Hotels.
Eastbourne is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, 19 miles (31 km) east of Brighton and 54 miles (87 km) south of London. It is also a local government district with borough status. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the larger Eastbourne Downland Estate.
As of 2011 there were 102 listed buildings and structures in the English borough of Crawley, West Sussex. Two others have subsequently gained listed status. The Borough of Crawley is based on the town of the same name, located approximately halfway between London and Brighton. Although Crawley expanded substantially after World War II when it was designated a New Town by an Act of Parliament, many older buildings remain.
The Ancient Priors is a medieval timber-framed hall house on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It was built in approximately 1450, partly replacing an older structure—although part of this survives behind the present street frontage. It has been expanded, altered and renovated many times since, and fell into such disrepair by the 1930s that demolition was considered. It has since been refurbished and is now a restaurant, although it has been put to various uses during its existence. Secret rooms, whose purpose has never been confirmed for certain, were discovered in the 19th century. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance, and it has been described as Crawley's "most prestigious medieval building" and "the finest timber-framed house between London and Brighton".
The George Hotel, also known as the George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. The George was one of the country's most famous and successful coaching inns, and the most important in Sussex, because of its location halfway between the capital city, London, and the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton. Cited as "Crawley's most celebrated building", it has Grade II* listed status.
Wootton Manor is a country house in Folkington, East Sussex. Originally a mediaeval manor house, from which parts of the chapel survive, it was rebuilt in the mid-17th century in a rather old-fashioned Jacobean style. Rupert Gwynne and his wife settled in the house after their marriage in 1905, and later commissioned the Arts and Crafts architect Detmar Blow to restore and extend the house, which he did in four directions, and add outbuildings, as well as working in the gardens. The cookery writer Elizabeth David, and her three sisters, grew up in this house.
Henry Otto Brünjes is a physician and founder of the Premier Medical Group. He has been a fellow and governor of the Expert Witness Institute since 2002, a Fellow of the Woodard Corporation since 2004, and a founding fellow and vice-president of The College of Medicine (2009). He was chairman of Rapid Trauma and Assessment (2000–06), the Personal Injury Forum of Bupa (2004–07) and Newmans Clinics (2011–). He was made chairman of the English National Opera in 2015.
Southover Grange in Lewes, Sussex is a house of historical significance and is Grade II* listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in 1572 by William Newton and owned by this family for the next three hundred years. After this it was the residence of many notable people until it was bought by the local Council in about 1945. Today it is owned by the East Sussex County Council. It now houses the Lewes Register Office which provides Marriage Ceremony Packages, civil partnerships and citizenship ceremonies. The gardens host events from local theatre to beer an gin festivals.