Stanmer Park is a large public park within the
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...
city boundary. It is a
Local Nature Reserve and
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
, under the
National Heritage Act 1983, has registered the park on the
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England at Grade II level.
The eighteenth century park contains the Grade I listed
Stanmer House and also 25 Grade II listed buildings and structures. These form the village of
Stanmer and
Stanmer Church within the park, which would once have been the estate of the house. All were private until bought by Brighton's Council in 1947. There is a café, Stanmer Tea Rooms, in the village.
Stanmer House was built for the Pelham family in 1722 around an earlier building. A mistress of King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
later lived there. It was used as the first administrative centre of the 1961
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
, during the construction of its campus over a part of the park. A walk of elm trees was preserved within the campus design, by architect
Sir Basil Spence. The house reopened in June 2006 after extensive restoration but there have been difficulties in bringing it into successful use.
The church, adjacent to the village pond, was built in 1838 on the site of a 14th-century building. The church is now maintained by the Stanmer Preservation Society, which also runs the Donkey Wheel.
In 2021 the park underwent a major restoration project funded through the
National Lottery, the
City Council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
,
Plumpton College and the
South Downs National Park Authority. The project improved the infrastructure, facilities and accessibility to the park, and provided a new walled public garden called the One Garden.
Stanmer is surrounded by
Sussex University to the east,
Wild Park and
Coldean to the southwest, more woodland with clay soils to the north west and the farmed
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...
. It is nestled in 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 ...
. Immediately to the south of the park runs the major
A27 road
The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 road, A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury, England, Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevense ...
.
References
Earthship
The Park also has one of Britain's few
Earthships
External links
Stanmer Park (Brighton and Hove Council website)Stanmer House websiteStanmer Preservation SocietyStanmer Park Tea Rooms websiteOne Garden Brighton website
{{Local Nature Reserves in East Sussex
Brighton and Hove
Parks and open spaces in East Sussex
Local Nature Reserves in East Sussex