Newbuildings Place is a 17th-century Artisan Mannerist house near

Shipley, West Sussex Shipley is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A272 road north-east of Storrington. The parish includes the village of Coolham and the hamlets of Dragon's Green, Brooks Green and B ...

. The house is a former home of

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

, who is buried in the grounds of the house. The building is currently owned by John Lytton, 5th Earl of Lytton, and is

Grade I 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 ...

History

Converted Barn at Newbuildings Place - geograph

Newbuildings Place was built by Philip Caryll in the 17th century, around 1683. Caryll's family owned the estate for over 100 years. The house was built with numerous

priest hole A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England, Wales and Ireland during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, there were se ...

s, as the Caryll family were Roman Catholic. It is situated around from the church in

. In the 1820s and 1830s,

paupers Pauperism (Lat. ''pauper'', poor) is poverty or generally the state of being poor, or particularly the condition of being a "pauper", i.e. receiving relief administered under the English Poor Laws. From this, pauperism can also be more generally ...

were housed at Newbuildings Place. In 1833, some of the paupers damaged the house by using its wood panelling for firewood. The building is a former home of

, an author, poet and

Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...

breeder. Blunt originally lived in the house from 1870 to 1872, during which time he added oak to the house's porch and panelling. He moved back into Newbuildings Place in 1906, after his separation from

Lady Anne Blunt Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in E ...

. Whilst living there, he bought

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

and furniture from

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, which still survive in the house. Blunt is buried in a tomb in the house's grounds; in his will, he requested to be buried in the house's woods in his travelling carpet rather than in a coffin. Blunt's daughter, who inherited the house, was married to

Neville Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton, OBE (6 February 1879 – 9 February 1951) was a British military officer, Olympian and artist. Early life Neville Lytton was born in British India on 6 February 1879 while his parents ...

. In 1957, the house was sold to

Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth, (6 February 1873 – 8 August 1957) also known as Lady Wentworth, was a British peer, Arabian horse breeder and real tennis player. As the owner of the Crabbet Arabian Stud from ...

, and after being owned by some of her relatives, it was then owned by John Lytton, 5th Earl of Lytton. In 1959, the house became a Grade I

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 ...

. The grounds of the house contain a Grade II listed barn, and a Grade II listed

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

Architecture

Newbuildings Place is built in the Artisan Mannerist style, with some interior features matching the

Jacobean style The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign there ...

. The style of the building is unusual for houses in Sussex, whereas it is more common in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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. ...

. The house is built of stone, including

Horsham Stone Horsham Stone is a type of calcareous, flaggy sandstone containing millions of minute sand grains and occurring naturally in the Weald Clay of south-east England.Roger Birch, Sussex Stone, The Story of Horsham Stone and Sussex Marble, 2006, It is ...

, and has two storeys. The kitchen and cellar are original to the house. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

s of the house contain two

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. The roof of the building is made of Horsham

stone slab A stone slab is a big stone, flat and relatively thin, often of rectangular or almost rectangular form. They are generally used for paving floors, for covering walls or as headstones. In dolmens Most dolmen constructions were built using stone ...

References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex Grade I listed houses Houses completed in 1683 Houses in West Sussex