Walberton Park (also known as Walberton House)

11th - 15th Century

The manor of Walberton was held in 1066 by three free men, and from at least 1200 was held by the St John family. It passed to Thomas West, later Lord de la Warr at the end of the 15th century. There was a manor house on the estate at 1302 at the latest and a garden is mentioned in 1362.

16th Century

The manor was given to the Crown in 1540 as part of an exchange, and thereafter had six successive owners until 1903, when the site comprised over 1400 acres.

17th - 18th Century

A house is recorded in the 17th century as having 9 hearths, and with a main front with seven bays, the central three recessed. The house was rebuilt and greatly enlarged by General Whyte about 1803, and was replaced in 1817-18 by Richard Prime in plain Greek revival style.

In 1756, large formal gardens adjoined the manor house, including two square plan areas each with diagonal paths and a round pond. There were also shrubberies and a kitchen garden. In 1778, a park is shown extending eastwards as far as Yapton Lane.

19th Century

In 1817, Richard Prime, Tory MP for the western division of Sussex, bought the estate which remained in his family till 1903.

By the 1840s the main approach to the house was from Yapton Lane in the east, and in 1902 this drive was lined with an avenue of trees. At the same date, the house also had two walled kitchen gardens, with a cucumber house, mushroom house and vinery.

20th Century

Several farms were sold off in the early-20th century, Walberton, Lower, Todhurst and Pigeon Farms, while under the ownership of the Liddle Family. In 1954, the house and remaining estate of about 160 acres were bought by Frederick James, later Earl of Woolton, who died in 1964.

American soldiers billeted at the house in World War 2 scratched their names into the brick pillars of the main gate posts. A secondary drive from the village, flanked by lawns and flowerbeds, became the only access after 1945. Much of the park was given over to agriculture by 1993.

In the early 1980s the building was divided into apartments, and a new wing was added, containing eight apartments. It was later converted for use as a nursing home.

Type

Garden

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Part: standing remains

Civil Parish

Walberton