Old Alresford House is an 18th-century Georgian country house in

Old Alresford Old Alresford ( or ) is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is north of the town of New Alresford, northeast of the city of Winchester, and south-west of the town of Alton. In 1851, George Sumner, son of Charles Richard S ...

, Hampshire, England. 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 Irel ...

. It was built between 1749 and 1751 for Admiral Lord Rodney on a gently sloping south facing site between the village churchyard and Alresford Pond, paid for by the riches accrued in a successful naval career fighting the French in the Caribbean. The house is constructed of brick with Bath stone dressings and slated roofs in 3 storeys and a basement. It has a 7-bay frontage with the central 3 bays slightly projecting. There are single bay flanking wings at each end with single storey service wings on both sides at the front forming a courtyard. Rodney purchased Alresford Pond in 1755 before commissioning Richard Woods to create the park in 1764, which is itself now

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 ...

History

Old Alresford (pronounced Allsford) had belonged to the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...

for over a thousand years. During the mid-12th century, Bishop

Godfrey de Lucy Godfrey de Luci (also Godfrey de Lucy) was a medieval Bishop of Winchester. Life Godfrey de Luci was the second son of Richard de Luci and his wife Rohese.

, built the long Great Weir to create a balancing lake, known as Alresford Pond, for the Itchen Navigation. Admiral Rodney's house was built on the site of an old manor house owned by the Norton family. Unfortunately Rodney got into unrelated financial difficulties and was forced to move to France to escape his creditors. His son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

took over the estate, but the debts were repaid and the Admiral was able to return home. Old Alresford House passed down in the Rodney family for three generations until it was sold in 1870 to William Whitear Bulpitt, a banker. His family kept possession of the property until 1926, when it was sold to C. F. G. R. Schwerdt, an art collector. He died in 1931 and his mausoleum stands in the churchyard. The house then passed to Wing Commander

Gerald Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

and Mrs. Constable Maxwell. Maxwell was a highly decorated World War I fighter pilot who is also buried in the neighbouring churchyard. After his death in 1959 his family stayed on at the house. In 1990 the property was acquired by Peter and Gayle MacDermott.

References

{{Commons category, Old Alresford House Country houses in Hampshire Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire