The Fernhurst Research Station was a

crop protection Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and wi ...

chemical research institute in

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, mainly run by ICI, for the fruit industry. The site is to the east of the A286, around a mile south of the village of Fernhurst and a mile north of the

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...

Serpent Trail.

History

Plant Protection Limited moved to the site in 1945 and opened a research institute on the estate of Sir

Felix Schuster Sir Felix Otto Schuster, 1st Baronet (21 April 1854 — 13 May 1936) was a British banker, financier and Liberal politician. Biography Schuster was born in the Free City of Frankfurt in 1854. His father was a merchant banker who converted f ...

(1854–1936). The research institute was to investigate pest and disease control in horticultural crops. As well as being an administrative site, the station comprised a orchard including 9 acres of

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

s and 26 acres of dessert apples at Hurstfold Farm. In June 1951 an international conference, with scientists from 39 countries, took place at the site on food scarcity. On 10 May 1955, the site was visited by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

. Another international conference took place at the site in June 1956. In 1958 Plant Protection Limited became a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

: ICI Plant Protection Division, which had its international headquarters at the site until the 1990s; in 1986 a new international conference centre was opened on the site by Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

. ICI Public Health was formed in 1989 and based at the site. Throughout its history, indoor and outdoor crops were grown for wholesale and for research, and the station developed advanced growing and application methods for crops, including the establishment of a film unit. In April 1990, the site won a

Queen's Award for Technological Achievement Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (song), a 2018 song by Saara Aalto * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", ...

for herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. The site was taken over by

Zeneca Zeneca (officially Zeneca Group PLC) was a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in June 1993 by the demerger of the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals businesses of Imperial Chemi ...

in 1994, and later

Syngenta Syngenta Global AG is a global agricultural technology company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. It primarily covers crop protection and seeds for farmers. Syngenta is part of the Syngenta Group, entirely owned by Sinochem, a Chinese state ...

, becoming the headquarters of Syngenta Europe Ltd. Syngenta left the site in December 2001, and the site ceased to function as a research station or administrative centre apart from the principal building, which is the head office of Aspinall of London. The other office buildings were left unoccupied and were subsequently comprehensively vandalised. At its peak, around 700 people had worked at the site.

Redevelopment

The redevelopment of the Highfield part of the site for housing was approved by the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

Authority in 2020 and expanded upon in 2023.

References

External links

Britain From Above 1951: Verdley

Britain From Above: Hurstfold
{{authority control 1945 establishments in England 2001 disestablishments in England AstraZeneca Chemical industry in the United Kingdom Chemical research institutes Crop protection Former research institutes Fruit production Herbicides Horticultural organisations based in the United Kingdom Imperial Chemical Industries Pesticides in the United Kingdom Research institutes established in 1945 Research institutes disestablished in 2001 Research institutes in West Sussex

History

Redevelopment

See also

References

External links