Silverton Park, also known locally as Egremont House, was a large neoclassical mansion in the parish of

Silverton, Devon Silverton is a large village and civil parish, about north of Exeter, in the English county of Devon. It is one of the oldest villages in Devon and dates from the first years of the Saxon occupation. It has been suggested that the medieval ma ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

It was built between 1838 and 1845 by

George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont George Francis Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont (30 August 1786 – 2 April 1845) of Orchard Wyndham, Somerset and Silverton Park, Devon, was an English nobleman and naval officer. Origins He was the son of William Frederick Wyndham (1763–1828) ...

, and demolished in 1901. It was, according to the architectural historians

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and

Bridget Cherry Bridget Cherry OBE, FSA, Hon. FRIBA (born 17 May 1941) is a British architectural historian who was series editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides from 1971 until 2002, and is the author or co-author of several volumes in the series.

"an extraordinary design, entirely clothed in colonnades",Pevsner, 1991 edition, p.744 but in the opinion of

Bernard Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge Bernard John Seymour Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge (19 August 1851 – 4 September 1927) was a British lawyer, judge, and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 until 1894 when he inherited his peerage. Biography Coleridg ...

was "a monstrous Italian house". The stable block, also designed in a neoclassical style, survives and is managed as a holiday let by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

. In October 2021, the stables was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government's

Culture Recovery Fund The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had bec ...

Construction

Silverton Park was built by

George Wyndham George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls. Background and education Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...

, a British naval officer who retired from the service in 1825. In 1836, his uncle,

, the 3rd

Earl of Egremont Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1749, along with the subsidiary title Baron of Cockermouth, in Cumberland, for Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, with remainder to his nephews Sir Charles Wy ...

died, leaving only illegitimate children; George therefore inherited the Egremont title, although the Egremont seat of

Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...

in Sussex and the ancestral wealth passed to the 3rd earl's eldest son. George set about building a grand mansion in 1838 using the architect James Thomas Knowles. At the core of the new building was an older house called Combesatchfield, which Knowles surrounded with classical features, constructed in brick with a render of patented, metallic cement. A frieze depicting the '' Exodus of the Israelites into Egypt'' was sculpted on the external cornice. The interior was richly furnished. A classical stable block was built alongside the house. George borrowed heavily and increased rents to pay for the hugely expensive project and died, heavily in debt, in 1845.

Destruction and later use

Silverton Park was uncompleted when George Wyndham died; his widow died in 1876 but attempts to sell the property failed. The contents were sold off in 1892, and in 1902 the house was demolished, although the stable block was converted for agricultural use. The surviving stable block, is according to

and

a "monumental pedimented composition around a courtyard" built "in a severely Grecian style". It is the only surviving remnant of the house and was acquired in 1987 by Sir John Smith, founder of the

who sought to prevent it being converted into flats. In 2004, with the financial assistance of private donors, the

started its restoration for use as self-catering holiday accommodation, completing the project in 2008.

Art forgeries

The art forger

Shaun Greenhalgh Shaun Greenhalgh (born 1961) is a British artist and former art forger. Over a seventeen-year period, between 1989 and 2006, he produced a large number of forgeries. With the assistance of his brother and elderly parents, who fronted the sal ...

and his father acquired a copy of the 1892 sale catalogue and used the un-illustrated catalogue descriptions to recreate items, for which the catalogue was used to provide spurious provenances. Their most notorious forgery supported by this false provenance was the so-called "

Amarna Princess The ''Amarna Princess'', sometimes referred to as the "Bolton Amarna Princess," is a statue forged by British art forger Shaun Greenhalgh and sold by his father George Sr. to Bolton Museum for £440,000 in 2003. Based on the Amarna art-style of ...

", made in the Amarna art style of ancient Egypt, which they sold in 2003 to

Bolton Museum Bolton Museum is a public museum and art gallery in the town of Bolton, England, owned by Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council. The museum is housed within the grade II listed Le Mans Crescent near Bolton Town Hall and shares its main entrance ...

for £440,000, but were subsequently unmasked as forgers.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Buildings and structures demolished in 1902 Demolished buildings and structures in England Country houses in Devon Landmark Trust properties in England Wyndham family residences