Sherfield Court (also known as Sherfield Court Farm)

16 - 17th Century

A fortified house stood on this spot from the twelfth century until around 1572 when it was replaced by a Tudor house on the outer edge of the moat. From 1646, when the manor was divided into moieties and the courts removed to Wheeler's court house in Sherfield Green, the old property by the moat lost some of its distinction but remained a comfortable farmhouse.

18th Century

In 1700 the front of the house was extended in a fashionable style in red brick and later in the eighteenth century it was remodelled again when a long parapet was added to the upper floors (Hastings Architectural Review 1923).

19th Century

During the nineteenth century the farm was passed from hand to hand through a succession of landowners; Sherfield Court was owned by Haskers, Edward St. John, Chute of the Vyne and finally from 1838, the Wellington Estates.

20th Century

In the early twentieth century Sherfield Court Farm was tenanted (31M57/399-433; 21M65/F7/206/1/20).

In 1918 the Duke of Wellington's third son, Gerald Wellesley and his wealthy wife Dorothy bought Sherfield Court as their family country home. Dorothy was a keen botanist and garden maker as well as a published poet and literary figure. Lord Gerald Wellesley was an accomplished architect and he designed extensions to the house which would accommodate their family, servants and visiting friends. He added wings to the house, taking care to preserve the formal aspect to the front and a more rustic style to the rear where the house sat precipitously close to the edge of the moat. Here he added a thatched octagon room at one side and a long thatched wing on the other which divided the house from the still operational farmyard (Hastings,1923; Wellesley, J. 2008).

The house was connected to the island in the moat by a wooden bridge. Dorothy was enraptured by the romanticism of the place and she restored the orchard trees and underplanted them with great drifts of daffodils, fritillaries and the rare wild tulip, tulip silvestris. Later Vita Sackville-West incorporated a romantic description of the island garden in her long poem The Land, which she dedicated to Dorothy. It includes the lines: 'She walks among the loveliness she made, between the apple-blossom and the water-She walks among the patterned pied brocade. Each flower her son, and every tree her daughter'. (Sackville-West, The Land 1926).

Dorothy created a floral garden within part of the walled farmyard and planted sweet-smelling shrubs and climbers around the walls. Dorothy's close friendship with Vita was creating strains within the Wellesley marriage and Lord Gerald and Dorothy separated; in 1928 the house was sold (Wellesley, D. 1952).

The property was bought by Cecil M Wills, a member of the Bristol tobacco dynasty, better known for the pedigree cattle which he reared at Sherfield and as a writer of detective stories. The Wills, with seven children, added further rooms to the house and in 1929 the completion of the building was celebrated by the planting of a blue cedar in the front lawn by Walter Wills, the head of the family (Times On-line).

After the war the house was sold to Mr Roger Makins, the then UK Ambassador to the United States. The Makins family took an active part in the life of Sherfield; they also purchased the Beaurepaire Estate and became significant landowners in the area (National Archives; ONB; Times On-line). During their tenure the house was listed by English Heritage as Grade II.

In 1978 the garden was included in the Gardens of England series published by Batsford. The pool garden was a particular delight with shrubs lining a deep border around the walls, a rose walk, and the barn walls smothered with Rosa Banksia; the island retained its magical charm with mature ornamental trees and a long avenue of Lombardy poplars stretched to the boundary of the property. ‘In all directions', commented the author, ‘outwards and backwards to the house, views are good.' (Batsford, 1978).

In 1982 the Sherfield Court Estate was sold and subsequently the house was divided vertically into multiple ownership. The extreme right-hand wing was renamed 'Garden Court' and Dorothy Wellesley's walled garden is now part of this property. The principal part of the house was sold again in 2001 and the current owners are the main landowners within this complex of properties (HRO:16M83/PZ17; 38M82/95).

Despite 19th and 20th-century additions the house remains a fascinating combination of styles reflecting its history. The house and grounds retain historical and literary significance for their association with Gerald Wellesley, architect and later sixth Duke of Wellington, and with Dorothy, Vita and the literary set of the 1920s. Later it became home to two of the century’s distinguished families and although it is now in multiple ownership it continues to please as an elegant family home although the unity of the garden has been lost.

Detailed history contributed by Hampshire Gardens Trust 17/04/2015

Type

Garden

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Period

Early 20th Century (1901-1932)

Survival

Extant

Hectares

4.45

Open to the public

Yes

Civil Parish

Sherfield on