Ferne House is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in the parish of

Donhead St Andrew Donhead St Andrew is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the River Nadder. It lies east of the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of West End, Milkwell and (on the A30) Brook Waters. Ferne House ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, owned by

Viscount Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in the ...

. There has been a settlement on the site since 1225 AD. The current house, known as Ferne Park and the third to occupy the site, was designed by the 2005

Driehaus Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

winner

Quinlan Terry John Quinlan Terry Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 24 July 1937) is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom ...

in 2001. The estate grounds straddle Donhead St Andrew and

Berwick St John Berwick St John is a village and civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, about east of Shaftesbury in Dorset. The parish includes the Ashcombe Park estate, part of the Ferne Park estate, and most of Rushmore Park (since 1939 the home ...

parishes.

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

artefacts were found in the vicinity of the house during 1988 archaeological fieldwork.

First house

The first Ferne House was the

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 ...

of the de Ferne family: Philip de Ferne is recorded as living there in 1225. From the Ferne family, in 1450 it passed to the Brockway family, and in 1561 to William Grove of

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

. By 1809 the house had become so dilapidated that it was demolished. The 18th-century gatepiers to the park remain; they are Grade II listed structures.

Second house

The second Ferne House was built by Thomas Grove, "on an enlarged scale in the year 1811 on the site of the old structure … in an elevated situation, commanding a pleasing view of the surrounding country". The house is mentioned in surviving diaries of his daughters

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

and Harriet; an 1850 photograph of it is reproduced in ''The Grove Diaries''. This house was remodelled some time after 1850 and assumed a square ground-plan. In 1902 the house passed out of the ownership of the Grove family when it was sold to A. H. Charlesworth, who further enlarged it the following year. The house was bought in 1914 by

Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon TD, DL (6 March 1862 – 16 March 1940) was a Scottish nobleman and sailor. Early life Hamilton was born at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, in 1862, the son ...

, who also bought nearby Ashcombe House around the same time. During

World War II 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 house was used as an

animal sanctuary An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. Pattrice Jones, co-founder of VINE Sanctuary defines an animal sanctuary as "a safe-enough place or relationship within the cont ...

by his wife

Nina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, ...

, co-founder in 1906 of the

Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by the animal rights advocates Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish-British feminist, and the English peeress Nina Do ...

with

Lizzy Lind af Hageby Emilie Augusta Louise "Lizzy" Lind af Hageby (20 September 1878 – 26 December 1963) was a Swedish-British feminist and animal rights advocate who became a prominent anti-vivisection activist in England in the early 20th century. Born to ...

. She used the sanctuary to enable well-off London families to evacuate their pets to safety. The house remained in the Hamilton family's possession until the estate was bequeathed by the Duchess to the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, for the purpose of maintaining the sanctuary.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

briefly described the house in his 1963 edition of ''Wiltshire'' in ''

The Buildings of England ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' series (incorrectly listed in the parish of Berwick St John). A clause in the Duchess's will stated that it should remain as an animal sanctuary in perpetuity, but the restrictions she laid down were so stringent, according to ''The Observer'', that the house was unsaleable, and as a result it was demolished in 1965. The animal sanctuary moved to

Chard Chard or Swiss chard (; ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf blade; ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, where it still operates; in 1985 the

Animal Defence Trust The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by the animal rights advocates Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish-British feminist, and the English peeress Nina Do ...

still owned the property, including the still-standing stable block and lodges. In 1991, the Ferne Estate was sold at auction for £1,040,000. The buyer was Francis Dineley, whose father had made money from arms manufacturing.

Third house

Sometime after 1991 the estate – described as "run down" – was bought by the 4th Viscount Rothermere and his wife. In 2001 the third and present Ferne House (known as Ferne Park) was built to the design of the architect

, in

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style and at a reported cost of £40m. The north front is a simplified copy of

Came House Came House is a privately owned country house next to the village of Winterborne Came, in Dorset, England. Built in the mid-18th century, it is a Grade I listed building. Description History The house was built for John Damer by Francis Cartwrig ...

, Dorset. The house won the award for Best Modern Classical House from the

Georgian Group The Georgian Group is a British charity, and the national authority on Georgian architecture built between 1700 and 1837 in England and Wales. As one of the National Amenity Societies, The Georgian Group is a statutory consultee on alterat ...

in 2003, and in 2013 two cuboid wings were added, providing a dining room and library. A summerhouse in the grounds, called the New Pavilion and also designed by Terry, won the 2008 Georgian Group award for a New Building in the Classical Tradition.

References

External links

Image of second house on the Lost Heritage website
archived in 2008
Images of the third house
– Quinlan Terry Architects {{coord, 51.00004, N, 2.10131, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade II listed buildings in Wiltshire Country houses in Wiltshire Grade II listed houses Buildings by Quinlan Terry Houses completed in 2001 New Classical architecture

First house

Second house

Third house

See also

References

Further reading

External links