Cowdray House
Encyclopedia
Cowdray House consists of the ruins of one of England
's great Tudor
houses, architecturally comparable to many of the great palaces and country houses of that time. It is situated just east of Midhurst
, West Sussex
standing on the north bank of the River Rother
. It was largely destroyed by fire on 24 September 1793.
. He named it Coudreye, the Norman
word for the nearby hazel woods.
began construction of the current Cowdray House on the site of the former home Coudreye which he had acquired upon the death of his wife Mary Bohun in 1496.
In 1529, Sir Owen's son, Henry, sold the estate of Cowdray to Sir William Fitzwilliam
. He received license from Henry VIII to empark and crenelate the house in 1533.
In 1536, following the dissolution of the monasteries Sir William was given the nearby Easebourne Priory and other properties, whilst in 1538 his half-brother and heir who later inherited Cowdray, Anthony Browne, received Battle Abbey
. It is rumoured that a dispossessed monk from Battle cursed the family and house by fire and water, thy line shall come to an end and it shall perish out of this land.
Henry VIII
made three visits to the house during his reign, in August 1538, July 1539 and August 1545. The house was later visited by his son, Edward VI
in July 1552 and by his daughter Elizabeth I
in August 1591. Mary of Guise
, widow of James V of Scotland
stayed a night at Cowdray in October 1551.
In November 1538, the last surviving member of the House of Plantagenet
, Lady Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury
was imprisoned at Cowdray until September 1539 when she was removed to the Tower of London
. She was later executed in May 1541.
In 1548 Anthony Browne
's son, Sir Anthony Browne
inherited Cowdray, he was later ennobled as the 1st Viscount Montague upon the marriage of Queen Mary
to King Philip of Spain
.
inherited Cowdray. During his ownership of Cowdray, Guy Fawkes
was briefly employed as a footman and the 2nd Viscount was briefly imprisoned for complicity in the Gunpowder plot
after staying away from Parliament
on 5 November 1605 following a warning.
In the mid-1630s Robert May
was employed as a cook at Cowdray House.
During the English Civil War
two thirds of the Cowdray estate were sequestered
and the house was garrisoned by Parliamentary forces. There are marks on the walls of the main courtyard of the house thought to be from musketballs fired by soldiers during this time.
On 24 September 1793, during restoration work, a fire started in the carpenters' work shop in the North Gallery where some smouldering charcoal was allowed to fall upon the sawdust and woodshavings strewn across the floor. During the restoration work the family's furniture and treasures had also been stored in the North Gallery to make re-decorating easier. From the collection only three paintings and a few small pieces of furniture were saved, the rest including artefacts from Battle Abbey
being devoured by flames.
Less than two weeks later, the 8th Viscount Montague
perished whilst trying to ride the Rhine Falls
and the Viscountancy passed to a descendent of the 2nd Viscount, who later died childless and the Viscountancy became extinct. These two events marked the conclusion of the supposed curse set upon the family 250 years earlier. The estate was inherited by the 8th Viscounts sister and by marriage William Stephen Poyntz
.
In 1908 the 8th Earl of Egmont sold the estate to Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson
, becoming Baron Cowdray of Midhurst and later in 1917 became the 1st Viscount Cowdray. The Viscount put a halt to the decay, arranging for the careful removal of the ivy, the restoration of any unsafe structures and a full survey of the ruins to be completed.
, currently residing with the 4th Viscount Cowdray who inherited it in 1995. Following a major preservation/conservation project in 2006 the ruins were opened to visitors on 31 March 2007.
Cowdray House featured largely in Anya Seton
's 1972 historical romance Green Darkness
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's great Tudor
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
houses, architecturally comparable to many of the great palaces and country houses of that time. It is situated just east of Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
standing on the north bank of the River Rother
River Rother (Western)
The River Rother is a river which flows for thirty miles from Empshott in Hampshire to Stopham in West Sussex, where it joins the River Arun. It should not be confused with the River Rother, in East Sussex....
. It was largely destroyed by fire on 24 September 1793.
Manor House
The original fortified manor house was built in 1284 by Sir John Bohun across the river from the town of MidhurstMidhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
. He named it Coudreye, the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
word for the nearby hazel woods.
16th century
In the 1520s, Sir David Owen, uncle to Henry VIIHenry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
began construction of the current Cowdray House on the site of the former home Coudreye which he had acquired upon the death of his wife Mary Bohun in 1496.
In 1529, Sir Owen's son, Henry, sold the estate of Cowdray to Sir William Fitzwilliam
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton
William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG , English courtier, was the third son of Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Aldwark and Lady Lucy Neville .His father died while FitzWilliam was in his infancy, and his mother remarried Sir Anthony Browne, the elder, so that...
. He received license from Henry VIII to empark and crenelate the house in 1533.
In 1536, following the dissolution of the monasteries Sir William was given the nearby Easebourne Priory and other properties, whilst in 1538 his half-brother and heir who later inherited Cowdray, Anthony Browne, received Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
. It is rumoured that a dispossessed monk from Battle cursed the family and house by fire and water, thy line shall come to an end and it shall perish out of this land.
Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
made three visits to the house during his reign, in August 1538, July 1539 and August 1545. The house was later visited by his son, Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
in July 1552 and by his daughter Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in August 1591. Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise was a queen consort of Scotland as the second spouse of King James V. She was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560...
, widow of James V of Scotland
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
stayed a night at Cowdray in October 1551.
In November 1538, the last surviving member of the House of Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
, Lady Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury
Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury was an English peeress, one of two women in sixteenth-century England to be a peeress in her own right with no titled husband, the daughter of George of Clarence, the brother of King Edward IV and King Richard III...
was imprisoned at Cowdray until September 1539 when she was removed to the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. She was later executed in May 1541.
In 1548 Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne may refer to:*Anthony Browne , author and illustrator of children's books*Anthony Browne , journalist, author, and policy director for London mayor Boris Johnson...
's son, Sir Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu
Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu KG PC was an English peer during the Tudor period.He was the eldest son of Sir Anthony Browne...
inherited Cowdray, he was later ennobled as the 1st Viscount Montague upon the marriage of Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
to King Philip of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
.
17th century
In 1592 the 1st Viscounts grandson Anthony-Maria BrowneAnthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu
Anthony-Maria Browne was an English peer during the Tudor and Stuart period.He was born in 1574, and become the Second Viscount Montagu on the death of his grandfather in 1592. He married Jane Sackville, the daughter of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, in 1591...
inherited Cowdray. During his ownership of Cowdray, Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
was briefly employed as a footman and the 2nd Viscount was briefly imprisoned for complicity in the Gunpowder plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
after staying away from Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
on 5 November 1605 following a warning.
In the mid-1630s Robert May
Robert May (chef)
-Sample recipes:The following is a recipe in which May used salt cod in a pie:The following is May's recipe for Lumber Pie:-See also:*Two Fat Ladies —in which they cooked Robert May's salmon....
was employed as a cook at Cowdray House.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
two thirds of the Cowdray estate were sequestered
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
and the house was garrisoned by Parliamentary forces. There are marks on the walls of the main courtyard of the house thought to be from musketballs fired by soldiers during this time.
18th century
In 1770, under the ownership of the 7th Viscount Montague, Capability Brown was employed to modernise the gardens.On 24 September 1793, during restoration work, a fire started in the carpenters' work shop in the North Gallery where some smouldering charcoal was allowed to fall upon the sawdust and woodshavings strewn across the floor. During the restoration work the family's furniture and treasures had also been stored in the North Gallery to make re-decorating easier. From the collection only three paintings and a few small pieces of furniture were saved, the rest including artefacts from Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
being devoured by flames.
Less than two weeks later, the 8th Viscount Montague
George Browne, 8th Viscount Montagu
George Samuel Browne, 8th Viscount Montagu was an English nobleman.While traveling in Europe with his friend Charles Sedley Burdett , the two became obstinately determined to ride a fishing boat over the Rhine Falls, despite the warnings of the local inhabitants, none of whom could be hired or...
perished whilst trying to ride the Rhine Falls
Rhine Falls
The Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe.The falls are located on the Upper Rhine between the municipalities of Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Laufen-Uhwiesen, near the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland, between the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zürich. They are 150 m ...
and the Viscountancy passed to a descendent of the 2nd Viscount, who later died childless and the Viscountancy became extinct. These two events marked the conclusion of the supposed curse set upon the family 250 years earlier. The estate was inherited by the 8th Viscounts sister and by marriage William Stephen Poyntz
William Stephen Poyntz
William Stephen Poyntz was an English Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1800 and 1837.Poyntz was the son of William Poyntz and his wife Isabella Courtenay...
.
19th and 20th centuries
During the early 19th Century the house was left to ruin, it was quickly colonised by plants, most notably of ivy which hastened its decay. Small alterations were made to the surviving Kitchen Tower such as a floor being put in above the kitchens, however it was not inhabited. Following the death of William Poyntz the estate passed to his three daughters, however they could not decide how to divide the estate and it was eventually sold to the 7th Earl of Egmont in 1843.In 1908 the 8th Earl of Egmont sold the estate to Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson
Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray
Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray GCVO, PC , known as Sir Weetman Pearson, Bt, between 1894 and 1910 and as The Lord Cowdray between 1910 and 1917, was a British engineer, oil industrialist, benefactor and Liberal politician...
, becoming Baron Cowdray of Midhurst and later in 1917 became the 1st Viscount Cowdray. The Viscount put a halt to the decay, arranging for the careful removal of the ivy, the restoration of any unsafe structures and a full survey of the ruins to be completed.
21st century
The house remains under the ownership of the Viscount CowdrayViscount Cowdray
Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of West Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the industrialist Weetman Pearson, 1st Baron Cowdray, head of the Pearson conglomerate...
, currently residing with the 4th Viscount Cowdray who inherited it in 1995. Following a major preservation/conservation project in 2006 the ruins were opened to visitors on 31 March 2007.
Cowdray House featured largely in Anya Seton
Anya Seton
Anya Seton was the pen name of Ann Seton, an American author of historical romances.-Biography:...
's 1972 historical romance Green Darkness
Green Darkness
Green Darkness is the 1972 novel by Anya Seton.-Plot summary:In the 1960s, young Celia Marsdon is a rich American heiress who, upon her marriage to English aristocrat Richard Marsdon, goes to live at an ancestral manor in Sussex, England. Shortly afterward, strange things begin to occur —...
.