Langshott Manor - Circa 1580 - A Brief History
The Manor House is a timber-framed, central-chimneyed House of Tudor origins, circa 1580. The oldest part of the building is where Hever bedroom and St Peter’s Dining Room are situated on the ground floor.In the 17th Century, Bodiam on the first floor and Arundel at the top of the house, Lewes and Windsor in the East Wing, which also contains the Lounge and the Morning Room, were added. In early Victorian times the outer Entrance Hall, the large Inner Hall and Staircase, the Gallery and Leeds, the four-poster room above Scotney bedroom were built..
The site of the Manor was once moated, hence today’s ponds, although there is now no evidence of it.
In 1669, during the reign of King Charles II, Richard Evelyn (brother of the famous diarist John Evelyn) and his wife Elizabeth, who was the daughter, and heiress of George Minne of Epsom, held the land as a Manor. They had four sons and one daughter. It was during this time that the East Wing of the house was built and there is a stone over the inglenook in the dining room that probably commemorates this.
Soon after this the property passed into the hands of a family called Barnes. William Barnes of Horley married a Sarah Bridges who, having outlived her husband, bequeathed the estate on her death to her nephew, Alexander Bridges, in 1733. This Alexander Bridges is mentioned in Burke’s Landed Gentry and it is with this family that Langshott remained until 1921.
This century, Langshott has been the home of Lord Montague of Brandon, 6th Baron, who was born here in July 1926, and then of Major Jennings who filled the house with six little boy evacuees from the East End during the Second World War.
The British Coal Board - Sir Eric Ezra - owned the property from 1955 - 1975 and then the major part of the park, meadows, pastures and woods were sold to a developer. This wonderful house was then forgotten, neglected and unloved for a number of years, which is when the Noble family came in…...
The Nobles bought the house and three acres of land in September 1986 at auction, and then proceeded to give it constant and ceaseless loving care for eleven years. During this time they had the great pleasure of watching the old Manor come back to life again.
Having bought the house in October 1997 the Hinchcliffes have embarked on a refurbishment programme that has seen a transformation of the Manor and gardens with the building of a new restaurant, and most recently, an additional wing which houses a further 7 bedrooms.
The house is in every sense a living thing and we all watch with excitement as she continues to grow.
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