Fawley Court is a country house standing on the banks of the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 at Fawley

Fawley, Buckinghamshire

Fawley is a village and civil parish in Wycombe district in the south-western corner of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, about seven miles west of Great Marlow and north of Henley-on-Thames....

 in the English

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...

 county of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, just north of Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

. The former deer park extended over the border into Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

. Fawley Court is listed as Grade I by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

.

The site was already occupied before the Norman Conquest: under Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....

 the manor of Fawley was held by Earl Tosti. The name "Fawley" comes from the Old English word for fallow deer

Fallow Deer

The Fallow Deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. This common species is native to western Eurasia, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It often includes the rarer Persian Fallow Deer as a subspecies , while others treat it as an entirely different species The Fallow...

. It is located about half way along the Henley Royal Regatta

Henley Royal Regatta

Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...

 course.

After the Conquest, Fawley Manor was given by William I

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

 to his kinsman Walter Giffard

Walter Giffard

Walter Giffard was Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York.-Family:Giffard was the son of Hugh Giffard, of Boyton in Wiltshire; his mother was Sibyl, the daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles. Walter was born about 1225, and may have been the oldest son. Hugh and Sybil were...

, who was one of the leading compilers of the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

. His steward Herbrand de Sackville was holding it in 1086, and the Sackvilles held it until it passed through the marriage of the Sackville heiress Margery, to Thomas Rokes, in 1477.

In 1616, Fawley was sold to Sir James Whitelocke

James Whitelocke

Sir James Whitelocke SL was an English judge.-Early life:He was the younger of posthumous twin sons of Richard Whitelocke, merchant, of London, by Joan Brockhurst, widow, daughter of John Colte of Little Munden, Hertfordshire. His twin-brother, William, served under Francis Drake, and fell at sea...

, a judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 who also bought Phyllis Court

Phyllis Court

Phyllis Court is a private members club in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, situated by the River Thames.The Club was founded in 1906 and is located in a Georgian-style building set within its own elegant grounds, close to the town centre...

 and Henley Park

Henley Park

Henley Park is a country house and landscape garden in Bix and Assendon civil parish in the Chiltern Hills of South Oxfordshire, England. The house is about north of Henley-on-Thames. The park adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire....

. His son, Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke

Bulstrode Whitelocke

Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke was an English lawyer, writer, parliamentarian and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.- Biography :...

, was a parliamentarian

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

 and also a judge. During the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, Fawley was the scene of fighting between the Roundheads and Royalist

Cavalier

Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

 troops commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...

. Since Bulstrode Whitelocke was a Parliament supporter, Royalist soldiers quartered in the house under Sir John Byron ransacked it in 1642.

The house was completely rebuilt for William Freeman, a plantation owner and merchant, in 1684. The resulting house is a large square brick and stone house of two stories in height, with a basement and an attic. The symmetrical plan is ranged either side of an entrance hall entered from the west, with the identically-proportioned saloon beyond; the principal apartments and staircases are placed in equal-sized blocks on either side, projecting slightly on the west and east fronts. The stair hall in the southwest block opens from the entrance hall; it has twist-turned balusters typical of the late seventeenth century. The centres of the north and south fronts are slightly broken forward and capped with pediments. There is an Ionic entrance portico on the west front.

During the Glorious Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

 of 1688, William III of Orange

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

 stayed in the house during his march from Torbay

Torbay

Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998...

 to London, and received a loyal declaration from peers and an address from the Corporation of London. Interior finishing was ongoing however, for the plasterwork of the Saloon ceiling bears the date 1690; bearing the arms of Freeman and of Baxter, William's spouse its confident bold relief tempted Geoffrey Beard to ascribe it to the London plasterer William Parker, whose comparable work at Denham Place is documented.

Following William Freeman's death the estate passed to John Cooke his nephew, a merchant, dilettante and amateur architect, who according to the terms of William's will changed his name to John Freeman. He was an early member of the Society of Antiquaries, built the Gothic folly in the grounds and the Freeman family mausoleum in the nearby village of Fawley based on the design of the tomb of Caecilla Metella in Rome. He buried a time capsule of contemporary artefacts in a mound resembling a round barrow on the estate. These were rediscovered in the early 20th century when the site was excavated by archeologists. Examples of day to day household items of the early 18th century they are now to be seen in the River and Rowing Museum

River and Rowing Museum

The River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international sport of rowing and the local town of...

 in nearby Henley on Thames.

Between 1764 and 1766 the grounds were dramatically landscaped for Sambrooke Freeman

Sambrooke Freeman

Sambrooke Freeman was a member of the prominent Freeman family of Fawley Court near Henley-on-Thames, England. He was a Member of Parliament, for Pontefract in Yorkshire from 1754–61 and Bridport in Dorset from 1768–74.Sambrooke Freeman was the son of John Freeman, a successful businessman...

 by Capability Brown

Capability Brown

Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...

. Shortly thereafter the architect James Wyatt

James Wyatt

James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...

, not yet made famous by his Pantheon, London

Pantheon, London

The Pantheon, was a place of public entertainment on the south side of Oxford Street, London, England. It was designed by James Wyatt and opened in 1772. The main rotunda was one of the largest rooms built in England up to that time and had a central dome somewhat reminiscent of the celebrated...

, worked on decorations in new rooms in the house (1770–71), where doorcases and chimneypieces in Wyatt's early neoclassical style and the decoration of the Library reflect his presence. Fawley may have been Wyatt's first country house commission. He also designed "the temple", a folly and fishing lodge, on Temple Island

Temple Island

Temple Island is an island in the River Thames in England just north of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The island is on the reach above Hambleden Lock between the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire banks, and is part of Remenham in Berkshire...

. One of two drawings securely attributed to Wyatt that appeared at a Christie's auction, 30 November 1983, is for the interior of the island temple, which was the earliest essay in England of an "Etruscan" style, its pale green walls painted as if hung with "antique" black and terracotta figured tablets and medallions. The drawing that accompanied it is for the Drawing Room ceiling, as executed. Drawings by James Wyatt's brother Samuel suggested to Eileen Harris that he was responsible for the barn with an apsidal end, which survives (with some nineteenth-century changes) at Fawley. The recent improvements at Fawley were praised by Mrs Lybbe Powys in 1771. The brick facades were stuccoed about 1800, and were restored with new brick in the nineteenth century. Both George III and George IV

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 visited the house.

Strickland Freeman, the son of Sambrooke Freeman

Sambrooke Freeman

Sambrooke Freeman was a member of the prominent Freeman family of Fawley Court near Henley-on-Thames, England. He was a Member of Parliament, for Pontefract in Yorkshire from 1754–61 and Bridport in Dorset from 1768–74.Sambrooke Freeman was the son of John Freeman, a successful businessman...

, wrote some early works on equitation and veterinary aspects of horsemanship and botany. A very progressive landlord to his agricultural tenants he participated in advancing faming techniques and practices deemed by some to have been revolutionary.

Strickland Freeman died without a son and heir. This was basically the end of the Freeman line whose history and achievements in a relatively short time frame were indeed meritorious and make fascinating reading ( Fawley Court and the Freeman Family - 1971) The estate passed to William Peere Williams

William Peere Williams-Freeman

William Peere Williams-Freeman was an officer in the Royal Navy, eventually becoming admiral of the fleet for a brief period before his death at the age of 90.-Family and early life:Williams was born in Peterborough on 6 January 1742, the son of Frederick Williams,...

, a distant relative. He again respected William Freeman's will to be able entitled inherit and changed his name to William Peere Williams-Freeman. After extensive and lengthy litigation his heirs eventually put the estate up for auction.

Fawley Court was sold to the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 banker and railway entrepreneur Edward Mackenzie in 1853. He purchased and retired to Fawley following many successful ventures developing major stages of the railway network in France after the ill health and death of his partner and brother the famous civil engineer and railway builder William Mackenzie

William Mackenzie (contractor)

William Mackenzie was a British civil engineer and civil engineering contractor who was one of the leading European contractors in the 1840s.-Early life:...

. Edward enlarged the house, adding the north east wing in 1884. It is reputed to have been Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....

's inspiration for Toad Hall in his book The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...

, written in 1908.

The house was requisitioned by the Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and was used as a training camp, leaving it in a poor state after the war. In 1953 the house and surrounding park were purchased by the Congregation of Marian Fathers

Congregation of Marian Fathers

The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary is a Roman Catholic male clerical religious congregation founded, 1673, in Poland...

, to be used as a school, Divine Mercy College, for Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 boys. At its peak the school catered for 150 boys, aged 9 to 19, mostly the children of Poles displaced during the Second World War who had found refuge in Britain. The house was severely damaged by fire in the early 1970s, but was rebuilt with the help of donations from the Polish community overseas. A modern church was also built on the grounds, funded by Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł (best known as husband of Lee Bouvier-Radziwill, the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...

); he died in 1976 and was interred in the church's crypt. The school closed down in 1986 due to a lack of students of Polish origin, and the Marian Fathers converted Fawley Court into a 'Retreat and Conference Centre'.

In 2008 the Marian Fathers caused a controversy in the Polish community by placing the estate on the market by informal tender. They had deemed that there was no longer any missionary need to fulfil and that the proceeds of the sale could be better applied elsewhere. The house was sold in that year for £13 million to a property investor; in 2011 the circumstances around this deal was the subject of a High Court dispute.

External links

• www.fawleycourt.net
• Marian Fathers: Fawley Court
• Fawley Court described in John Preston Neale, Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Second Series, Volume III, b1826
• Listed buildings in and around Fawley Court estate