Rotherfield Park 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 ...

and estate located in

East Tisted East Tisted () is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south of Alton on the A32 road. The village lies 50 miles south-west of London, 14 miles east of the city of Winche ...

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Petersfield. Other towns are Alton and Bordon. The district was originally to be known as the District Council of Petersfield. It comprised 42 seats a ...

in England. The park originated as a medieval hunting park, which may have been predated by a settlement and was later in the 18th century turned into pleasure grounds. The land owned by the park stretches across much of

and includes fields in

Colemore Colemore is a hamlet and former village in the Hampshire Downs about northwest of Petersfield. It was united with Priors Dean to form the civil parish of Colemore and Priors Dean in 1932. Colemore is a largely abandoned village. There were ho ...

Priors Dean Priors Dean is a hamlet in the Hampshire Downs about west of Liss and about north of Petersfield, Hampshire, England. It is a deserted medieval village first mentioned in the 1100s. Since 1932 it and Colemore have been in a single civil parish ...

and other parishes. In 1815–21 large changes were made to the older estate house; the designs were made by architect

Joseph T. Parkinson Joseph T. Parkinson (1783 - May 1855, London) was an English architect. He was the son of land agent and museum proprietor James Parkinson. He was articled to William Pilkington. He was a member of James Burton's Loyal British Artificers, a volu ...

and is 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 ...

History

Rotherfield Park is an ancient estate first mentioned in 1015 as ''Hrytherafeld'' meaning 'the open land for cattle.' There was likely settlement here predating the medieval hunting park which is first mentioned in the 16th century. The evidence for the park can still be seen today as a complex of ditches running around the estate. The estate has undergone a number of changes over the centuries, the first major one being the creation of pleasure grounds there in the 18th century, of which many features still exist. A detailed map of the estate was made at some point in the 1600s (see right), it is likely stored in the Rotherfield Park Estate Archives along with a wealth of other records which has unfortunately been kept hidden from researchers and historians. 1600s Rotherfield Map

Archaeology

Near to the park is a large amount of prehistoric activity, large flint scatters from the

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 ...

were uncovered during field walking in the 1970s, also prehistoric ceramic finds dot the area suggesting settlement. This along with other flint concentrations in nearby Chawton and Ropley suggests a potential broad area of prehistoric settlement which requires more archaeological attention from local archaeological groups.

Points of interest

The house was owned by the local MP and High Sheriff of Hampshire,

James Winter Scott James Winter Scott (26 May 1799 – 4 January 1873) was a British Whig politician from Hampshire. On 24 January 1828, he married Lucy Jervoise, daughter of Sir Samuel Clarke Jervoise: Scott's brother-in-law, Jervoise, was an MP for the neighb ...

, in the 1860s. It was used a filming location for ''

House of the Long Shadows ''House of the Long Shadows'' is a 1983 British comedy horror film directed by Pete Walker. It is notable because four iconic horror film stars (Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine) are together in one feature. The ...

'' and ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Poirot'' (also known as ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'') is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet starred as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional Her ...

'' episode "

After the Funeral ''After the Funeral'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1953 under the title of ''Funerals are Fatal'' and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 18 May of the same ye ...

". Rotherfield Park was also used filming the fourth season of ''

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Grauntset ...

'' for the scenes around the Manor house owned by the new vicar's parents.

References

External links

National Garden Scheme , Rotherfield Park
Country houses in Hampshire Grade I listed buildings in Hampshire {{Hampshire-struct-stub

History

Archaeology

Points of interest

See also

References

External links