The park lies near

Easebourne Easebourne () is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is half a mile (0.8 km) north of Midhurst, across the River Rother on the A272 and A286 roads. The parish includes the h ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, in the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

. The estate belongs to

Viscount Cowdray Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the industrialist Weetman Pearson, 1st Baron Cowdray, head of the Pearson conglomerate. He had already been creat ...

, whose family have owned it since 1909. It has a golf course, and it offers

clay pigeon shooting Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting at shooting target#Clay pigeons, special flying targets known as "clay pigeons" or "clay targets" with a shotgun. Despite their name, the targets ...

and corporate activity days, as well as the more traditional activities of agriculture, forestry and property lets. The preserved ruins of

Cowdray House Cowdray House consists of the ruins of one of England's great Tudor houses, architecturally comparable to many of the great palaces and country houses of that time. It is situated in the parish of Easebourne, just east of Midhurst, West Sussex ...

an important

Tudor era In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

great house lie in the park and are open to visitors.

History

The estate was owned by the

Bohun family The de Bohun then Bohun family is an English noble family of Norman origin that played a prominent role in English political and military history during the Late Middle Ages. The swan used by the family and their descendants as a heraldic badge ...

from approximately 1185. Sir David Owen built

in the 16th century. His son sold the estate to

William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, Knight of the Garter, KG ( – 15 October 1542) was an English courtier and soldier. He was the third son of Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Aldwark and Lady Lucy Neville, daughter of John Neville, 1st M ...

in 1529. His half-brother Sir Anthony Browne inherited the estate in 1542. Browne's son

Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, Order of the Bath, KB, Privy Council of England, PC (29 November 1528 – 19 October 1592) was an English peerage of England, peer during the Tudor period. He was a staunch Roman Catholic, but unswervingly l ...

inherited in 1548. The 7th Viscount employed

Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...

to landscape the park in 1770. The park and gardens are

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. On 25 September 1793, a fire destroyed Cowdray House, reducing it to its present ruined state. The ruins are Grade I listed. The 7th Viscount's daughter married

William Stephen Poyntz William Stephen Poyntz (20 January 1770 – 8 April 1840) was an English Whig (British political party), Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons variously between 1800 and 1837. Early life Poyntz ...

. On his death in 1840, the estate was purchased by

George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral George James Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont (14 March 1794 – 2 August 1874), known as the Lord Arden between 1840 and 1841, was a British naval commander and Tory (political faction), Tory politician. Background Eg ...

. The present house was built by his son Charles Perceval, 7th Earl of Egmont in the 1870s. It was purchased in 1909 by Weetman Pearson, later 1st

, who restored the house. His heir and his twin

Angela Pearson Hon. Angela Pearson became Angela Murray and Angela Campbell-Preston (27 February 1910 – 1981) was a British businessperson, landowner, and conservationist. She managed her families estates and houses, hospitals and newspapers. She was a support ...

were born in 1910 and they and their three sisters were brought up here. His heir made further alterations in 1927. During the Second World War it was occupied by the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

. After the war, architect Percy Wheeler made alterations for

John Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray Lt Col (Weetman) John Churchill Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray (27 February 1910 - 19 January 1995) was a British peer, businessman and polo player. Early life Weetman John Churchill Pearson and his twin sister, Angela was born on 27 Februa ...

. The house was refurbished by

Michael Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray Michael Orlando Weetman Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray, (born 17 June 1944) of Cowdray Park in West Sussex, is a landowner in West Sussex with and is a major shareholder of the FTSE 100 company Pearson plc, the construction, now publishing, co ...

from 1995. It is Grade II listed. Numerous other aspects of the estate are listed. In 2005 the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

awarded a grant of £2.7m towards the cost of stabilising the ruins and they were opened to the public on 31 March 2007. In May 2009 Lord Cowdray sought to turn the house into a country house hotel, but the project was abandoned when Cowdray failed to find a business partner. Cowdray moved to another family property at

Fernhurst Fernhurst is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England, on the A286 Milford, Surrey, to Chichester road, south of Haslemere and north of Midhurst. The parish includes the settlements of Henley Common, Kin ...

.Midhurst and Petworth Observer, 21 May 2009 The following year, in September 2010, the house was put on the market for £25 million, not including the rest of the estate. Lord Cowdray, claimed that he did not want his son to inherit the burden of maintaining the house. The collection housed within Cowdray Park was auctioned ''in situ'' by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

over three days, between 13 and 15 September 2011. Among the objects sold were furniture, silver, paintings, tapestries and porcelain, with a portrait previously identified as Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

(but now considered more likely to be

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...

, ''née'' Carey, Countess of Nottingham) achieving the highest auction price of £325,250. In total, the auction raised £7.9 million.

Cowdray Park Polo Club

The estate is home to the Cowdray Park

Polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

Club, which describes itself as the "Home of British Polo". The club was founded in 1910. The Cowdray Gold Cup tournament was inaugurated in 1956.

Notes

External links

Cowdray EstateCowdray Park Polo ClubRemarkable trees in Cowdray Park
{{coord, 50.98724, N, 0.71619, W, , display=title Polo clubs in the United Kingdom Country houses in West Sussex Sports venues in West Sussex Clubs and societies in West Sussex