Sudbourne Park - a brief history

This blog traces the regeneration of the woodland and lake adjacent to the site of Sudbourne Park, and in particular the efforts to restore the ornamental fountain and the area around it  The woods which lie alongside the original site of Sudbourne Hall have been transformed in 2016 as part of a project by the landowner, Sir Edward Greenwell to restore some of the original rides and vistas of the estate and rediscover some of the historical heritage of the area.

Sudbourne Hall, South side

A LITTLE HISTORY
Records of Sudbourne Manor go back to Saxon times. The manor house, originally known as Chapmans, was built by Sir Michael Stanhope in 1621, and became Sudbourne Hall. The Hall was rebuilt in 1784 in Palladian style and the estate was bought in 1871 by Sir Richard Wallace MP who organized famous shoots in the 1870s for, among others, Edward, Prince of Wales. He also refaced the building with brick, built the stable courtyard in 1875 and laid out the gardens to the south.
In 1909 the Estate was bought by the wealthy industrialist Sir Kenneth MacKenzie Clark who held lavish shooting parties in the pre-war years 1909-14, employing two dozen gamekeepers and shooting as many as 6000 pheasants in a day. His son, also Kenneth MacKenzie Clark b.1903 ( later to be the famous critic, art historian and broadcaster), lived in the house as a boy at this time, and was brought up largely by servants and nannies as his parents lived an extravagant lifestyle in London, Monte Carlo and on their yachts in the Mediterranean.
After the war the economic situation was more difficult even for those as wealthy as Clarke, and the estate was sold off piecemeal in 1917, 1918 and 1926. The Forestry Commission bought much of the land in the 1920s.
The whole area of Sudbourne was closed for tank training in the second world war, with the Hall becoming the Officers' mess. After the war the Hall was in poor repair and was demolished in 1951.
The remaining wings of the house, and the courtyard buildings and game larder were converted in the 1980s into residential units, now known as Sudbourne Park.