Wormsley Park

Wormsley House, view from the northeast

Wormsley Park is a property about three kilometers southwest of the English town of Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire and the residence of the family of Mark Getty , the co-founder of the Getty Images stock agency . The complex emerged from a farm yard and manor house built by Robert Scrope in the 1570s. Changes, redesigns and extensions by the various owners - most recently in the 1980s - resulted in today's property with a three-wing main house and extensive landscaped park . The Wormsley House called mansion stands on 21 June 1955 as a Grade II Listed building under monument protection . Four buildings in the Wormsley Park farm yard are also protected. Some areas of the property are only open to visitors for certain events, such as the annual summer performances of the Garsington Opera . On such occasions the Wormsley Library can also be visited, which houses one of the most important private collections in England on the subject of book art.

history

middle Ages

The roots of the plant go back to the 12th century. 1106 Wormsley was first mentioned as Wdemunesleia . Possibly it can be interpreted as Wudemund's-leah , which means "Wudemund's forest clearing". At that time the land belonged to the Lewknor property of Abingdon Abbey . In the second half of the 13th century it then belonged to Adam de Lewknor, who is recorded as the owner in 1276. In 1384 the manor burned down but was rebuilt. It may already have been on the site of today's main house at that time, because during its restoration in the 1980s, medieval structures and dark-colored layers of earth were found. At the end of the 14th / beginning of the 15th century, the de Lewknors and the Brundenell family had a dispute over ownership. At that time the manor house ( belonging to the Civil Parish of Lewknor) belonged to the Brundenells, while the Lewknor family owned the Wormsley farmyard in the Civil parish of Stokenchurch. The Brundenell family finally emerged as the new general owners from the dispute. In 1456 the property came to Alice Brundenell and her husband Richard Waller. Their descendant William sold Wormsley in 1574 to Adrian Scrope from neighboring Hambleden.

Scrope family

Adrian's son Robert had the old main house replaced with a new building in Tudor style in the late 1570s . His son Adrian, named after his grandfather, fought for parliamentarians in the English Civil War and was one of the 84 judges who voted for the execution of King Charles I of England in 1649 . After the Restoration , he was imprisoned for this and executed in 1660. At the same time as Adrian Scropes was arrested, all of his property was confiscated , with which Wormsley Park came to the English crown. Adrian's son Thomas received it back in 1662. Thomas was meanwhile living in Bristol and did not use Wormsley as a residence, but leased part of it. After his death, his only son John followed him as Lord of Wormsley. Because he was unmarried and childless, he transferred the property in 1714 to his sister Anne , who had married Henry Fane , a great-grandson of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland , at the end of the 17th century .

Fane family

Richard Woods' plan to redesign Wormsley Park Gardens; not all of it was realized.

Henry Fane began a long line of owners from this family who owned Wormsley Park for over 270 years. A wing in the Georgian style was added under it to the old Tudor building around 1800 to the south . After Henry's third son - also named Henry - died in 1777, he was inherited by his son John. He began to redesign the property around 1780, for which he hired the landscape architect Richard Woods . Possibly this was recommended to him by his uncle John Luther, who had employed Woods in 1771. As recently as 1759, Wormsley House only had a rather simply designed formal garden , which was mentioned in writing as early as 1662. It was surrounded by a wall ( English walled garden ) and divided into six compartments. The mansion stood in the southeast corner of the area. Woods laid out an English landscape garden around the manor house and included the forest areas belonging to the property in the redesign. Approximately one mile south of the mansion was a new, as to Woods designs Kitchen Garden unused garden Walled . An ice cellar and a grotto were also created. Remnants of these two buildings were found in the 1980s during archaeological excavations and a reconstruction of the manor house. At the same time, John Fane enlarged the land belonging to Wormsley Park at the end of the 18th century by purchasing forest and agricultural land.

The Wormsley tournament on a lithograph

When John Fanes died in 1824, his son of the same name inherited the property. During his time as the owner of the estate, the so-called Wormsley tournament ( English Wormsley tournament ) took place in 1840 , a re-enactment of a medieval knight tournament in which between 5000 and 10,000 spectators were present. For this event, the garden and park were changed again. For example, a deer park was created, which was surrounded by a Ha-Ha . Through John's son and successor, John William, the property came to John's grandson John Augustus in 1875. During his time as Lord of Wormsley Park, the centuries-old curiosity that the property belonged to two different parishes was removed: those parts of Wormsley that had previously belonged to Lewknor were now added to Stokenchurch. Economically things went downhill with Wormsley at that time. John Augustus Fane was a keen player and lost big sums of money. In order to repay his gambling debts, he had to borrow money from Wormsley Park. From 1887 the mansion was completely uninhabited because the Fanes resided in London. It was not until Frederick Fane that Wormsley House was used again as a residence from 1908. The last male member of the Fane family on Wormsley, John Fane, inherited the property in 1954. He remained unmarried and lived beyond his means, so that he was eventually forced to sell Wormsley Park in 1984.

Getty family

Billionaire John Paul Getty II became the new owner . At the time of purchase, the mansion was so dilapidated that it had to be completely restored and large parts of it rebuilt. The outbuildings and farm buildings and the forests belonging to the property also had to be repaired. In 1987, the new owner had a library extension added to the main building on the south side to accommodate his collection of old books, manuscripts and atlases. In the landscape park, Getty had two new ornamental ponds dug with an island and waterfall and built some follys such as a wooden church, a ruined tower and grottos. The planting to the east of the farmyard, reminiscent of a hedge labyrinth , also dates from that time. Most of the work was finished in 1990. Together with his wife, he then made sure that the completely overgrown walled garden was replanted in 1991. Penelope Hobhouse provided the designs . The last major change that John Paul Getty II made to Wormsley Park was the creation of a cricket ground in 1992 , now known as Sir Paul Getty's Ground . He received help from his numerous cricket-loving friends. In the same year the opening game for the square took place, at which Queen Mum and the then British Prime Minister John Major were present. Since then, cricket greats such as Brian Lara , Graham Gooch , Viv Richards , Shane Warne and many others have swung the bat there and the national teams of the West Indies , Sri Lanka and South Africa have played on this exclusive court.

After Getty's death, his son Mark took over Wormsley Park. He opened the family estate to the public to some extent. Among other things, the library, the family art collection and the walled garden can be visited on certain occasions . Another way to visit the property has been every summer since 2011 during the performances of the Garsington Opera , which will be based there for at least 15 years.

description

Schematic site plan of the buildings

The 1000 acre property is located in the Chiltern Hills . Its components include the manor house called Wormsley House with its attached library, a former farm yard and a large castle park , in which the modern Garsington Opera has been located since 2011. The appearance of Wormsley Parks was shaped in six phases. The core of the complex was a simple Tudor-style mansion from the 16th century, which was modified in the late 16th or early 17th century. Further changes followed in the first half of the 18th century, before John Fane had the entire area around the manor house redesigned in the late 18th century (around 1780 to 1800). After a few more redesigns in the 19th century, major changes to the park and buildings followed in the 1980s under John Paul Getty II and his wife.

Mansion and library

The mansion is a stucco building with masonry of brick and flint . It has a U-shaped floor plan, whereby the north wing has preserved the remains of the original main house from the 16th century. The east wing with the portico in front forms the representative main wing with six axes . Including its attic , it has three floors, while the two side wings in the north and south are only two-story. The roof of the south wing is covered with tiles , the other wings have slate roofs . Inside fireplaces are from the time around 1800 with inlays of colored marble and relief - Friesen received. The stucco ceilings preserved in the house also date from the same period .

The manor houses the Getty family's art collection, which is only accessible on the occasion of certain events. In addition to paintings by old masters such as Thomas Gainsborough , the collection also includes works by Sir John Everett Millais and contemporary works by artists such as Banksy , Cindy Sherman and Jeff Koons .

A large building adjoins the south wing of the mansion, the architectural style of which is a mixture of neo-Gothic and neoclassicism . John Paul Getty II had it built in the 1980s for his large book art collection. It is considered the most important private collection of its kind in England and includes old books, manuscripts, Bibles, old cards, prayer books , prints, illustrations and illuminated manuscripts as well as exhibits on calligraphy and bookbinding . The most valuable pieces include a fragment of a manuscript from the 7th century, William Caxton's first edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales from 1476–1478, a Gutenberg Bible , Anne Boleyn's Psalter and a copy of Shakespeare's folio . The collection is constantly being expanded by the current owner of Wormsley Park, Mark Getty, and can - like the art collection in the manor - be viewed on certain occasions. Guided tours by the librarian are available for small groups.

Former farm yard

The residential building of the farm yard next to the hedge labyrinth

To the southeast of the mansion are the buildings of the former farm yard, which served to supply the residents of Wormsley Park. These buildings are grouped around an inner courtyard. Four of the buildings are classified as Grade II Listed Buildings. One of them is the farmyard house from the early 18th century, which has been protected since June 21, 1955. The two-story brick building is surrounded by a tile-roofed gable roof finished and has five axes. The coach house on the north side of the courtyard has also been protected as a monument since July 4, 1985 . It dates from the early 19th century and was made of brick. The building has five axes, of which the central axis is emphasized by a dwelling with a clock. On the roof there is a roof turret with a bell. The remise is joined to the east by a younger, single-storey wagon shed. Two other buildings of the farm yard have been under monument protection since July 4, 1985 : the first is a single-storey stable from the early 19th century with a tiled hipped roof (opposite the house) and the other is a half-timbered barn with a slate-hipped roof , which also dates from the early 19th century . Century and delimits the inner courtyard on the south side. Both buildings were placed under protection because of their importance for the building ensemble .

Castle Park

The large ornamental pond with an island before the island pavilion was built (2012)

Wormsley's castle park includes large pieces of forest, a deer park, an area for pheasant hunting and a landscaped garden with ornamental ponds. Access to the park grant iron gates from the 18th century, by the Irish castle Castlegar Castle in County Galway come. Although the landscape park was heavily modified in the 20th century, some elements from the founding time of the 18th century have been preserved, for example a ha-ha with a wall made of flint, the remains of which are still over a meter high. The palace park is, among other things, a habitat for red kites . They were resettled there as part of a special program to bring the birds back to their original habitat, the Chiltern Hills.

The two ornamental ponds northeast of the manor house, for example, resulted from the changes in the 20th century. In the larger of the two is an island that was created from the excavation for the pond. A 42 meter long wooden bridge leads from the shore to the island, on which there is a modern pavilion made of glass and stainless steel . The single-storey building was built in 2014 according to a design by the architect Robin Snell and has a floor area of 150 m². Inside are some modern sculptures by contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons Cracked Egg (blue) . The pavilion can be rented as an event location.

Wormsley's cricket field during a game in 2013

The Sir Paul Getty's Ground cricket field, which was laid out in 1992, is southeast of the manor house and farm yard . On its western edge there is an elongated, single-storey half-timbered building with a thatched roof , which is known as the cricket pavilion. However, it is around 90 years older than the playing field and dates from 1900/1901. To the north of it, a new, exclusive restaurant opened in 2015, the building of which, like the island pavilion, was designed by Robin Snell.

Wormsley Park has twice been the location for episodes of the British crime film series Inspector Barnaby . For some scenes in the episode The Undead by Barton Woods , the castle park served as a backdrop, while the cricket field and surrounding buildings can be seen several times in athletes and spies .

Gardens

Part of the walled gardens

Wormsley had a walled garden as early as the 17th century. Remnants of his garden wall still exist to the north, northwest and northeast of Wormsley House. The old walled garden was replaced by the landscape architect Richard Woods around 1780 with a new garden about a mile south of the manor house because there were two underground springs and there were better lighting conditions for plants. In order to be able to reach it comfortably from the main house, a carriage path was originally supposed to be laid from there to the new garden, but this plan was never implemented. After the garden had been neglected and overgrown for decades, it owes its present appearance to a new planting in 1991. The gardener Penelope Hobhouse divided the two acres (approx. 8093 m²) large, square area into four equally-sized garden rooms, which were cut into shape Hedges and paths are separated from each other. These garden rooms are a flower garden, a baumumstandene Crocket meadow, a kitchen garden with rosenberankter pergola and a small open-air theater . On the north corner is the Garden Cottage , which has long been the residence of members of the Getty family.

When the Garsington Opera came to Wormsley Park, the former kitchen garden of the farm yard south of the house was transformed into a small pleasure garden. The opera garden ( English Opera garden ) consists of six square beds with floral and herbaceous vegetation, by kiesbestreute separated paths. On the central axis of the garden there are arcades overgrown by climbing roses at the crossing points of the paths . At the north-western end of the central axis is the former granary of the farmyard. It is a wood-clad building with a square floor plan and a tent roof and can be rented for private events. To the east of the garden is the Garsington Opera theater, built in 2011 and designed by Robin Snell.

literature

Elizabeth Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. o. A., o. O. 1996.
Nikolaus Pevsner et al .: Buckinghamshire. Yale University Press, New Haven 2003, ISBN 0-300-09584-8 , pp. 761-762.
Stephen Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. John Moore Heritage Services, Beckley 2010 ( PDF ; 7.1 MB).

Web links

Commons : Wormsley Park - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

The property website (English)
The Cricket Ground site (English)
About Wormsley Park on the site of Parks and Gardens UK (English)
Entry of Wormsley House in the English list of monuments on historicengland.co.uk (English)
Video of Wormsley Park

Footnotes

↑ ^a ^b ^c Wormsley Park's entry on historicengland.co.uk's list of monuments , accessed August 29, 2016.
↑ Louis Francis Salzman, William Page (Ed.): The Victoria History of the County of Oxford. Volume 8. University of London, Institute of Historical Research, London 1964, p. 100.
^ ^A ^b S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 5.
^ ^A ^b William Page: The Victoria History of the County of Buckingham. Volume 3. University of London, Institute of Historical Research, London 1969, p. 99.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h History of the property on wormsleyestate.com ( Memento from October 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.8 MB)
^ E. Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. 1996, p. 43.
^ ^A ^b ^c S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 6.
^ E. Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. 1996, p. 6.
^ E. Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. 1996, pp. 7-8.
^ ^A ^b S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 7.
↑ Elizabeth Leggatt mentions 1771 as the beginning of the redesign, but confused the owner of Wormsley Park with his uncle John Luther, for whom Richard Woods worked that year. See Fiona Cowell: Richard Woods (1715–1793). Master of the Pleasure Garden. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-184383-524-0, p. 238.
^ Fiona Cowell: Richard Woods (1715-1793). Master of the Pleasure Garden. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-184383-524-0, p. 238 ( digitized version ).
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d ^e S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 8.
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 11.
^ Fiona Cowell: Richard Woods (1715-1793). Master of the Pleasure Garden. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-184383-524-0, p. 239 ( digitized version ).
^ E. Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. 1996, p. 10.
↑ This week's big earner. In: Bristol Post. Edition of December 5, 2009 ( Memento of September 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
^ E. Leggatt: The Chronicle of Wormsley. 1996, p. 11.
↑ History of the Castle Park on the Parks and Gardens UK website , accessed September 1, 2016.
^ S. Yeates: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment on Wormsley Park, Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire. 2010, p. 20.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Information on the walled garden on the National Garden Scheme (NGS) website , accessed on August 31, 2016.
↑ ^a ^b Information on the cricket pitch on wormsleycricket.co.uk ( Memento from April 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
^ ^A ^b Rupert Christiansen: Garsington gears up for glorious pastures new. In: The Telegraph. Edition of November 2, 2010 ( online ).
↑ Information about the palace gardens on the Parks and Gardens UK website , accessed August 31, 2016.
↑ Information about the art collection on wormsleycricket.co.uk ( Memento from September 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
↑ ^a ^b Information about Wormsley Park on Country & Town House Magazine website , accessed August 31, 2016.