Parterre garden, Ashdown House, Lambourn - geograph

Ashdown House (also known as Ashdown Park) is a 17th-century country house in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Ashbury in the English county of Oxfordshire. Until 1974 the house was in the county of Berkshire, and the nearby village of

Lambourn Lambourn is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It lies just north of the M4 Motorway between Swindon and Newbury, and borders Wiltshire to the west and Oxfordshire to the north. After Newmarket it is the largest centre of ra ...

remains in that county. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and the grounds are included in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens at Grade II*.

History

Ashdown House is associated with the "Winter Queen" Elizabeth of Bohemia, the older sister of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. Along with his house at Hamstead Marshall, it is said that William, the first Earl of Craven built Ashdown for her, but she died in 1662 before construction began. Although the architect is uncertain, it is thought that Craven commissioned Captain

William Winde Captain William Winde (c.1645–1722) was an English gentleman architect, whose Royalist military career, resulting in fortifications and topographical surveys but lack of preferment, and his later career, following the Glorious Revolution, as ...

to build the Dutch-style mansion as a hunting lodge and refuge from the plague. The building also acted as a grandstand to watch a hunt within the park. The house features of living space, a large central staircase, reception rooms, interlinking drawing and sitting rooms, a kitchen, a dining room and eight bedrooms. The property includes two lodges, three cottages and a hundred acres of land. The house was originally built at the junction of the four rides in Craven's hunting park – the four avenues no longer survive as they once did, but portions of them remain. The house is isolated, and the view from the roof includes park-like grounds and gardens, and beyond, woods and pastures. Nearby is a large group of sarsen stones and Alfred's Castle, a scheduled

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

. At least one of the woods of Ashdown Park predates the house.

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It w ...

held the manor of Ashbury until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 503–512 A deer park was established for the Abbey in the south of the parish. It is bounded by an ancient embankment enclosing a rounded area characteristic of Medieval deer parks.Rackham, 1976, page 144 The embankment would have been topped by a park pale, probably of cleft oak stakes. The park may equate to the ''Aysshen Wood'' that a

terrier Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary ...

of the parish in 1519 recorded as covering . The former deer park is now the Upper Wood of Ashdown Park. Ashdown Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Although a few alterations were made to the house, the building remained largely as-built until it was requisitioned for use by the army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The occupation left it in a near derelict state. The

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

has owned Ashdown House since 1956 when it was donated to the trust by Cornelia, Countess of Craven (wife of

William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven William George Robert Craven, 4th Earl of Craven OBE (16 December 1868 – 10 July 1921), styled Viscount Uffington from 1868 to 1883, was a British peer and Liberal politician. Early life Craven was the eldest son of the George Craven, 3r ...

). The house is tenanted, and has been renovated by recent lease holders. In 2010

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

bought a 41-year lease on the property and in 2011 a structural renovation was begun. Public access is restricted to the stairs and roof, with broad views of

Berkshire Downs The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in South east England split between the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. They are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The western parts of the downs ...

. There is also public access to the neighbouring Ashdown Woods. Admission to the house is by guided tour on Wednesdays and Saturdays from April to October.

Ghosts

There are a handful of ghost stories associated with the house. Ashdown is reputedly 'haunted' by a quiet, calm and lonely ghost of the

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...

who mourns the Winter Queen. There have been accounts of a phantom child crying in the woods, the poltergiest of a Victorian groom who once supposedly killed himself in the stables, and a spectral vision of a lady clad in grey silk looking out at the view of a second-floor window. All three are believed to be related with each other, around a local myth about a love affair at the house, however, there is no surviving historical evidence. It is not known how many of these stories are genuine, or rather tales of a local culture.

References

External links

Ashdown House information at the National Trust

Ashdown House entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country HousesAshdown House Blog
*Interior photos at rdujour.com/2009/08/05/maison-dujour-ashdown-park
Photos of the 2011–12 structural renovation

{{Authority control Grade I listed houses in Oxfordshire History of Berkshire National Trust properties in Oxfordshire Historic house museums in Oxfordshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Oxfordshire Country houses in Oxfordshire Pete Townshend Craven family

History

Ghosts

See also

References

Further reading

External links