South Harting
South Harting is a village within Harting civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It 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 ...
and a
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
property.
History
The house, set high on the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
Earl of Tankerville
Earl of Tankerville is a noble title drawn from Tancarville in Normandy. The title has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England, and once (in 1714) in the Peerage of Great Britain for Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston. His ...
, ''circa'' 1690, the architect is believed to have been William Talman. The estate was sold in 1747 to Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh and his wife Sarah. Matthew and Sarah redecorated the house extensively from 1750 to 1760 and introduced most of the existing collection of household items displayed today, much of it collected on their
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...
of 1749 to 1751.
Their only son, Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, added to the collection and commissioned
Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
to add a new pillared portico, dairy and landscaped garden. In the 19th century stables and kitchens were added as separate buildings, connected to the main building by tunnels. Sir Harry married, at the age of 71, the estate's dairymaid, 21-year-old Mary Ann Bullock, to whom he left Uppark on his death in 1846. She in turn, after considerably upgrading the property, left it to her sister Frances on her own death in 1874. Frances Bullock, under her adopted name of Miss Fetherstonhaugh, was determined to fulfill the trust her sister had passed on. She chose her two friends, Colonel Keith Turnour and Admiral Herbert Meade, to be her heirs in succession. Both were selected as second sons who could, therefore, adopt her name, which both went on to do. Admiral Meade's wife, Margaret, became the next mistress of Uppark in 1931. She continued caring for the house and contents as the Bullock sisters had done. After World War II, Admiral Meade-Fetherstonhaugh and his son, Richard, entered into negotiations with the National Trust, the outcome being that Uppark passed to the Trust in 1954. The house is open to the public, except for private apartments leased from the Trust that are still used as a home.
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, a gardener, was employed at Uppark in 1851 and he and Sarah married in 1853.
The house and the social hierarchy it embodied had an important effect on Wells' outlook. The deep class divisions he observed there helped to inspire many of his meritocratic, liberal and socialist views. This development was further encouraged by his discovery, in Uppark's large library, of works by philosophers and radicals such as
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
,
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
and
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
. These impressions were reflected in his later work: for example, the contrast between the sunny and carefree world of the
Eloi
The Eloi are one of the two fictional post-human races, along with the Morlocks, in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel ''The Time Machine''.
In H. G. Wells' ''The Time Machine''
By the year AD 802,701, humanity has evolved into two separate species: t ...
and the dark caves of the
Morlock
Morlocks are a fictional species created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel,'' The Time Machine'', and are the main antagonists. Since their creation by H. G. Wells, the Morlocks have appeared in many other works such as sequels, films, televi ...
s in ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' is commonly regarded to have been inspired by the inequalities Wells observed at Uppark. Also significant was Wells' discovery of a telescope in the house's attic, which gave the future author of ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
'' his first opportunity to examine the night sky in detail.
Fire
On 30 August 1989 the building was devastated by a fire caused by a workman's
blowtorch
A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking.
Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attach ...
whilst repairing lead flashing on the roof, just two days before the work was due to be completed. The fire broke out during opening hours. Many works of art and pieces of furniture were carried out of the burning building by members of the Meade-Fetherstonehaugh family, National Trust staff and members of the public. Although the garret and first floors collapsed onto the lower floors and the garret and first-floor contents were lost completely, the floors largely fell clear of the ground-floor walls and much of the panelling and decoration survived.
Much of the contents of the ground floor were crushed but not burned; metalwork was able to be straightened and cleaned, crystal chandeliers were able to be reassembled, and even the elaborate tassels on the chandelier ropes were able to be conserved. The decision to restore the house came after it was determined that restoration would be a cheaper insurance settlement than complete payout for a total loss.
Most of the pictures and furniture in the house were saved. The building has since been completely restored with many lost crafts relearned in the restoration process, and it reopened its doors in 1995.
Public access
The house is open to the public most days of the year other than Christmas.