Anderson Manor is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

in the

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

village of

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson Ra ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was built in 1622 for

John Tregonwell Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was an Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.C.S. Gilbert, ''An Historical ...

. Today it is privately owned, but its gardens are open to the public under the

National Gardens Scheme The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...

. The gardens are Grade II listed in the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

History

Anderson Manor was built in 1622 for John Tregonwell. It was restored around 1912 and listed in 1955.''Anderson Manor, Anderson''
at www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014. Its listing describes it as a Jacobean manor house; due to its completion date. But it appears the house was started in the 1590s by Sir John Moreton and purchased in 1613 by Tregonwell, who completed it. It is clearly partly

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

– to which many of its features, such as the E-shaped floor plan, bear witness. The manor remained in the Tregonwell family until 1902, when it was purchased by a Mrs Gratrix. When she died the house contents were sold by auction and, unfortunately, all the bespoke furniture and Tregonwell artefacts were removed. Other owners were the Tabors and the Cholmondeleys; finally, in 1975, the manor was bought by its present owners. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the manor was requisitioned, initially, as the headquarters of the

Small Scale Raiding Force No. 62 Commando or the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) was a British Commandos, British Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The unit was formed around a small group of commandos under the command of the Special Operatio ...

(SSRF) attached to 62 Commando and became the planning centre for Operation Pinprick, a series of raids designed to force the Germans to waste valuable manpower defending a multitude of targets. In 1943 the SSRF were disbanded and the house was commandeered by the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. There is still evidence of this wartime use in the building.

Description

The listing describes the building as a three-storey manor house with a symmetrical front and projecting gabled

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

. It has brick walls in garden wall bond with burnt headers, and stone dressings, on a

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

plinth. The roofs are tiled, with moulded copings to its parapets and gables. There are ball

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s to the gables at the apex and springing. The house has 2 brick stacks. It has a so-called "double-pile plan" with parallel roofs. Rather more prosaically Treves describes Anderson Manor House as ''"a remarkably fine and stately building. It is of faded red brick faced with stone, has high gables and towering chimneys, handsome stone mullioned windows, and a general bearing of great dignity and charm. The village has vanished, so that the manor house and the church are left alone, one on either side of the faithless stream."''White, Steve and Hannay, Clive (2012). ''In the footsteps of Treves: the Winterbornes''
at www.dorsetlife.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014.

Gardens

For several years Anderson Manor Gardens have been open to the public on a few days each year in order to raise money for the Macmillan nurses' charity or for the maintenance St Michael's Church, Anderson. The gardens are set within the old walls and mature

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

of the

. Typical flowers include snowdrops and daffodils in the spring, wisteria and blossoms in May and June, old roses and peonies in midsummer and herbaceous borders in the autumn. The historic

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a forma ...

s contain mature

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

and

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

topiary, a

pleached Pleaching or plashing is a technique of interweaving living and dead branches through a hedge creating a fence, hedge or lattices. Trees are planted in lines, and the branches are woven together to strengthen and fill any weak spots until the hedg ...

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

walk, a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, two stone

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries (website), Oxford D ...

s and an old rose walk by the

River Winterborne There are two River Winterbornes in Dorset, England. The rivers only flow overground during the winter, hence the name. They both flow through a number of villages with a first name of "Winterborne" or “Winterbourne”. The North Winterbor ...

. The walled garden has a

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...

garden, herbaceous beds and an orchard. Beyond the garden the enclosed pasture is gradually being converted to woodland. The 12th century church of St Michael's is now a private chapel, but is also open to the public.''Anderson Manor Gardens''
at www.gillinghamdorsetbusiness.com. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014

References

{{coord, 50.7779, N, 2.1713, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Manor houses in England Country houses in Dorset Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Grade II listed parks and gardens in Dorset 1622 establishments in England