Beaurepaire is a country estate at

Sherborne St John Sherborne St John is a village and civil parish near Basingstoke in the English county of Hampshire. History The village was named in the Domesday book as ''Sireburne''. It became ''Shireburna'' (12th century), Schyreburne (13th century) and Sh ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

History

Beaurepaire was owned by the Brocas family from Aquitaine for approximately 500 years. In the 14th century, Sir John Brocas was

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

's Master of the Horse. In 1369, Edward permitted John's son, Bernard, to enclose the parkland and create the Beaurepaire estate. As a knight, Bernard was favoured by Edward, the Black Prince, and accompanied him during the Battle of Poitiers. Bernard later became Chief Surveyor and Sovereign Warden of the parks at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

; he was acquainted with the college's founder, William of Wykeham. The house suffered considerable damage during the Civil War and was later rebuilt in 1777. The house is moated with access over small bridges: the white iron gates to the main bridge were designed by Sir John Soane.

Recent history

The estate was sold by the Brocas family in 1873. In 1941, the building was largely destroyed by fire. The Tudor servants wing, however, survived. The owner at the time of the fire, Sir Strati Ralli, was unable to restore or repair the house due to wartime restriction of building materials. In 1959, the house was bought by Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield who lived in nearby Sherfield. Makins commissioned Tom Bird (an architect who worked at the offices of

Maxwell Fry Edwin Maxwell Fry, CBE, RA, FRIBA, FRTPI, known as Maxwell Fry (2 August 1899 – 3 September 1987), was an English modernist architect, writer and painter. Originally trained in the neo-classical style of architecture, Fry grew to favour the n ...

) to restore the building. The building was further renovated by Makins's son, Dwight, who added a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

garden with battlements and crow-stepped gables. The house is now a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

. In the early 21st century, the estate was put up for sale. The estate was broken into lots, aiming to attract offers of £3.4 million for the house and immediate grounds, or offers exceeding £7 million for the full estate of .

References

{{Authority control Country houses in Hampshire Basingstoke and Deane