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Roke Manor is a 17th-century
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
approximately north-west of
Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...
in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, England. The house and grounds are the headquarters of Roke Manor Research Ltd, a subsidiary of Chemring Group.


History

The first known reference to a settlement at Roke appeared in the 'Feet of Fines' papers of
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
in 1256. In 1709 the estate was passed to a John Fifield of Stanbridge Earls and remained in the possession of his family until 1858. During this time many improvements were made to the house and grounds, and the house was renamed 'The Park'. The next owner, Thomas Wingate-Henderson, considerably enlarged the house and gave it its present appearance. In 1895 the estate amounted to about . In 1935 the estate was bought by the Ansell family, a
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
-based brewery firm. Some of the Ansell racing cars were maintained at Roke until the 1950s. In 1956 the house and surrounding it were bought by the Plessey Company and named Plessey Research Roke Manor Limited. Plessey was taken over in 1990 and in 2010 the facilities were bought by Chemring Group; it continues in use as a research and development centre and the head office of Roke Manor Research Ltd. The grounds had a walled garden, stable block and cottages when bought by Plessey, but since then all buildings except the house have been demolished and most of the grounds covered by buildings and car parks.


References

Country houses in Hampshire {{Hampshire-struct-stub