Shillinglee is an 18th-century house and estate in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England near the

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. ...

border, in between the villages of

Chiddingfold Chiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 road between Milford and Petworth. The parish includes the hamlets of Ansteadbrook, High Street Green and Combe Common. C ...

and Plaistow. 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 in the 18th century and was home to the

Earl Winterton Earl Winterton, in the County of Galway, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1766 for Edward Turnour, 1st Baron Winterton, who represented Bramber in the House of Commons. Turnour had already been created Baron Winterton, o ...

who hosted cricket matches within the extensive parkland of the estate.

History

Built in 1735 and revised in the 1770s, Shillinglee was the home of the

and was originally a manor of the

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

Estate, which belonged to the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Family. A landscaped park was laid out in the 1770s with fishponds and tree planting in the style of

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. The garden and parklands laid out by the 1770s have been changed significantly since. There is little documentary evidence for the design but it is known that in 1766 there were 26 gardeners. Records exist of 19th-century

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

matches played in the grounds, against neighbouring villages. Both

Edward Turnour, 4th Earl Winterton Edward Turnour, 4th Earl Winterton (1810–1879) was a first-class cricketer who played 25 times for Sussex County Cricket Club, without much success. The 4th Earl also had one of the finest beagle packs of the time, rivaled only by those o ...

and

Edward Turnour, 5th Earl Winterton Edward Turnour, 5th Earl Winterton (15 August 1837 – 5 September 1907) was an Irish peer and cricketer. He married Lady Georgiana Susan Hamilton (1841–1913), daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, by whom he had one son: *Edward ...

were first-class cricketers. Around the start of the 20th century, Shillinglee was the summer residence of the Indian Prince

Ranjitsinhji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Mah ...

, reckoned to be one of the greatest

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

s of all time. He was presumably a guest of the Earl, who at various times was President and Chairman of

Sussex CCC Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The cl ...

. During the Second World War, the house was occupied by Canadian forces, who accidentally burnt the house down. This was around January 1943 according to a report by a Canadian soldier. The shell of Shillinglee House has been rebuilt and now consists of private residences. The former grounds once included a public golf course but that has now closed.

Architecture

The red brick two-storey building with attics is of seven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

and a slate roof. The central doorway has rusticated

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and segmental

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

References

{{coord, 51, 05, 02, N, 0, 37, 07, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in West Sussex