Foxwarren Park, at

Wisley __NOTOC__ Wisley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England between Cobham and Woking, in the Borough of Guildford. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village and Ockham and ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, is a Victorian country house and estate. On sandstone

Ockham and Wisley Commons Ockham and Wisley Commons is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Woking in Surrey. It is also a Local Nature Reserve and part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. It is part of the slightly larger area of ...

, it was designed in 1860 by the railway architect Frederick Barnes for brewing magnate and MP,

Charles Buxton Charles Buxton (18 November 1822 – 10 August 1871) was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and member of Parliament. Personal life and architectural legacy Buxton was born on 18 November 1822 in Cromer, Norfolk, the third son of Sir Tho ...

. It is 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 Ir ...

. From 1919 to 1955, it was owned by Alfred Ezra who was President of the Avicultural Society — he assembled a collection of rare birds and animals on the estate — in 1939 it housed the last known

pink-headed duck The pink-headed duck (''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'') is a large diving duck that was once found in parts of the Gangetic plains of India, parts of Maharashtra, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. ...

s in the world. It was then owned by

Hannah Weinstein Hannah Weinstein ( Dorner; June 23, 1911 – March 9, 1984) was an American journalist, publicist and left-wing political activist who moved to Britain and became a television producer. She is best remembered for having produced ''The Adventure ...

and chosen for films and television series including ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de H ...

''.

History

Charles Buxton, brewer, philanthropist and politician, was also an amateur architect. Having rented a range of properties around the growing village of

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

in the 1850s, he purchased the site for Foxwarren Park in 1855. He was heavily involved in the design of the new house, working with Frederick Barnes, known more for his designs for railway stations, particularly in Norfolk. The style is described as "harsh

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

". The house has been suggested as the inspiration for E. H. Shepard's illustrations of Toad Hall in

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as ''The Reluctant Dragon (short story), T ...

's book, ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

''. The claim has also been made for Hardwick House and

Mapledurham House Mapledurham House is an Elizabethan stately home located in the civil parish of Mapledurham in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is a Grade I listed building, first listed on 24 October 1951. History and architecture The manor of Mapledurha ...

in Oxfordshire, and

Fawley Court Fawley Court is a country house, with large mixed-use grounds standing on the west bank of the River Thames at Fawley in the English county of Buckinghamshire. Its former deer park extended east into the Henley Park area of Henley-on-Thames, Ox ...

in Buckinghamshire. The house was acquired by Alfred Ezra in 1919, who owned it until his death in 1955. He was an enthusiastic breeder of birds and created a large private collection of rare birds and animals on the estate. From in 1939 the journal ''Forest and Outdoors'' praised it as "probably the finest (

private zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

) in the world"; in which state it had been since 1920 and remained so until the following year. It hosted the known last pair of

s. 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 estate hosted research facilities of engineering firm

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

for

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...

: development of Barnes Wallis's

bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-deter ...

. In the 1950s, the house and estate was owned by

Sapphire Films Sapphire Films Ltd. was a British television production company, active in the 1950s. Amongst their best-known series are ''The Adventures of Robin Hood,'' ''The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'', '' The Buccaneers'', and '' The Four Just Men'' produ ...

which built a castle in the deer park and used it as the location for the successful TV series, ''

'' starring

Richard Greene Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985) was a noted English film and television actor. A matinée idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ' ...

. a not dissimilar show, ''

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot ''The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'' is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous Sir Lancelot, a ...

'', also used it as a location. Weinstein commissioned writers who had been blacklisted in the US as communists and this exile community included

Christina Stead Christina Stead (17 July 190231 March 1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a me ...

, who had a cottage in the grounds. In 1978, the house was used as the main location for the horror movie, '' The Comeback''.

Architecture

The house is built of red brick, in a

polychromatic Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

design, with terracotta dressings and blue

diapering Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, and silverwork. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces. Etymology For the full etymolo ...

. The house is

Grade II* 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 ...

. The architectural critic

Ian Nairn Ian Douglas Nairn (24 August 1930 – 14 August 1983) was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised criti ...

(d.1983) described the

Model Farm A demonstration farm, or model farm, is a farm which is used primarily to research or demonstrate various agricultural techniques, with any economic gains being an added bonus. Demonstration farms are often owned and operated by educational instit ...

attached to Foxwarren Park as "a true Struwelpeter mid-Victorian nightmare". It has a separate Grade II* listing. The house's elaborate decorations and antiques may be those being compared to those of the subject house of

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

' novel, ''

The Spoils of Poynton ''The Spoils of Poynton'' is a novel by Henry James, first published under the title ''The Old Things'' as a serial in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1896 and then as a book in 1897. This novel traces the shifting relations among three people and ...

'':

Notes

References

* {{cite book , last1=Nairn , first1=Ian , last2=Pevsner , first2=Nikolaus , last3=Cherry , first3=Bridget , author-link1=Ian Nairn , author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner , year=1971 , title=Surrey , series=The Buildings of England , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5b6dCBlfCLUC&q=The+Buildings+of+England%3A+Surrey , publisher=Penguin Books , location=Middlesex, England , isbn=978-0-300-09675-0 Country houses in Surrey Grade II* listed buildings in Surrey Grade II* listed houses Borough of Guildford Gothic Revival architecture in Surrey Houses completed in 1860 Wisley