Dogmersfield Park or Dogmersfield House is a Grade I listed Georgian country house, now being used as a hotel. It is located in

Dogmersfield Dogmersfield is a small village lying between the towns of Fleet and Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, England. The M3 motorway and railway stations at Fleet and Winchfield provide routes to London. Places of interest include the village church, whic ...

, a small village in

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 ...

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 ...

. The land was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as "Doccemere feld". Construction of the present building began in 1728 when a 3-storey rectangular block was built in brick in the Georgian style. Additional wings were added in the late 18th century and in the Victorian era to form a three-sided square enclosing a courtyard. The square was later completed with the addition of a modern chapel.

History

In medieval times the manor of

belonged to the Bishops of Bath and Wells, who built a palace there in the 13th century, probably on the site of the present house. Henry VI was a frequent visitor and Henry VII took his eldest son Prince Arthur there to meet the latter's future wife,

Katherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until ...

, for the first time. The manor was acquired in 1539 by Henry VIII and in 1547 granted to Thomas, Lord Wriothesley, who built a house and dovecote there. During the 17th century it passed through a number of hands until being possessed by Ellis St John. He started to build the present house in 1748 but died the same year. His son and heir

Sir Paulet St John, 1st Baronet Sir Paulet St John, 1st Baronet (7 April 1704 – 8 June 1780) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1734 and 1754. Life He was born the eldest son of Ellis St John (formerly Mews) of Farley Chamberlayne by his seco ...

completed the task, later extending both the house and the estate. During the ownership of his son

Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, 3rd Baronet Sir Henry Paulet St John-Mildmay, 3rd Baronet (30 September 1764 – 11 November 1808), of Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire, was an English politician. Life St John was the only son of Sir Henry Paulet St John, Bt and his wife Dorothea Maria Tuc ...

, the

Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, Dogm ...

was built through the grounds (1790–92). Following the death of the 6th Baronet, much of the parkland was sold. Neale(1818) p2

The 7th Baronet died childless in 1929 and the remaining estate was sold to Claud Ronald Anson and later became the

Reeds School Reed's School is an independent secondary boarding school for boys with a mixed sixth form located in Cobham, Surrey, England. There are currently around 700 day pupils (620 boys, 80 girls) with 100 full-time boarders (80 boys, 20 girls). The ...

(1933), then a College of the

De La Salle Brothers french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

(1956) and then the

Daneshill School Stratfield Turgis is a small village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire. History The name of Stratfield Turgis derives from its origins on open land (Old English feld) by the Roman road (Old English stræt) fro ...

(1973). The building was severely damaged by fire in 1981 and was purchased, renovated and extended for use as office accommodation by the American computer company

Amdahl Corporation Amdahl Corporation was an information technology company which specialized in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products, some of which were regarded as supercomputers competing with those from Cray Research. Founded in 1970 by Gene Amdahl, a for ...

. They sold the property in 1996 to the software company Systems Union who in turn put it up for sale in 2000. Since spring 2005, after completion of a major renovation, the manor, on 500 acres, has operated as the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire.

References

{{coord, 51.258346, -0.896029, display=title Country houses in Hampshire Four Seasons hotels and resorts Grade I listed buildings in Hampshire