Place to Place - TrustNews Sept 11
On July 4, 25 members and friends of the Trust drove down to see New Place, Shedfield (north of Fareham). This house, designed by Lutyens, was built in 1906 for a Mrs Franklyn, mainly to accommodate fittings from an early 17th century house in Bristol, which was built by John Langton, Lord Mayor of Bristol, to show off his wealth. The house was demolished in 1906. These fittings include ceilings, fireplaces and an interesting wooden staircase, richly embossed with fruit, foliage and heraldic beasts.
It is said that Lutyens, initially excited by the prospect of the new commission, was a bit disappointed when told that the purpose of the building was to house these old fittings from the Bristol house. Nevertheless he designed an interesting building.
New Place is built in Jacobean style entirely of red brick: windows, brick mullions, window sills and doorways. There are groups of three tall diagonally-set chimneys which rise from the inner facades of each wing. To me the large simple planes of red brick are very attractive, especially when the sun is shining as it was that day.
The garden, although designed by Gertrude Jekyll, has been rather neglected. Originally a private house, New Place is now a hotel and conference centre.
Fern Mason of the hotel looked after us very well - even clearing some of the rooms specially for our visit. Before leaving New Place, she provided an excellent lunch for us in The Bristol Room, which contains some of the best fittings from the stateroom of the Bristol House.
We were very lucky to have James Airy, an architect of the Lutyens Trust, to guide us round the house and garden.
From there we drove on (about half an hour) to Grove Place, Nursling (not far from Romsey). This is a stunning early Elizabethan Manor House which has been well restored by the ‘Life Care Residences Group’ as the headquarters of a retirement village. The house provides offices, library, restaurant and resident staff to service the flats and cottages in the grounds. Before the present occupants, tenants of the house have included a prep school and a lunatic asylum.
James Airy was joined by two enthusiastic residents (Peter Otway and John Jones) to show us round the house and garden, and gave a presentation of its history.
There was some discussion over tea at Grove Place, and it was generally agreed that Lutyens must have been aware of, if not influenced by, Grove Place when designing New Place down the road. Before leaving Grove Place, Chairman lain Patton asked for ideas for similar trips in the future. Organisers would be welcome too.
It was indeed a lovely day, and provided an opportunity for Trust members to have time to talk together informally over lunch or tea, or when climbing up a somewhat scary narrow wooden spiral staircase to get a fabulous view of Southampton docks from the top of one of Grove Place towers!
Many thanks to Anthony Proudman for organising such a good day so efficiently.