Whetham is a former
manor in
Calne Without
Calne Without is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is a rural parish surrounding the town of Calne, extending west to the Avon and south to the Roman road from London to Bath. Settlements in the parish are the village of Derry Hill; the sm ...
parish, Wiltshire, England. No settlement remains beyond a farm, a few cottages and 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 ...
called Whetham House.
Description
Whetham is about south-west of the town of
Calne
Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs h ...
, north of what is now the
A3102 road
List of A roads in Great Britain, A roads in List of A roads zones in Great Britain, zone 3 in Great Britain starting west of the A3 road (England), A3 and south of the A4 road (England), A4 (roads beginning with 3).
Single- and double-digit r ...
and about east of
Sandy Lane village. To the north lies the
Bowood House
Bowood is a Grade I listed Georgian country house in Wiltshire, England, that has been owned for more than 250 years by the Fitzmaurice family. The house, with interiors by Robert Adam, stands in extensive grounds which include a garden designe ...
estate. The Whetham stream flows into the estate, where it is dammed to form an artificial lake.
There was a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
here in the early 15th century or earlier.
The present Whetham House was built in the 17th century, probably on an earlier core, and was extended in the 19th century. Built largely of rubble stone, with two storeys and an attic,
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...
states it has a "complex rambling plan".
In 1728 there were extensive formal gardens, and a park lay south of the house. The house was approached from the north (along a road which is now a track) or from the London-Bath road to the south. Changes in 1790–1791 brought that road closer to the house.
The farmhouse at Whetham Farm was rebuilt in the early 19th century in squared
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
. Nearby is a barn from the late 18th century or early 19th, in rubble stone and red brick. There was a mill on the Whetham stream, north-east of the house, but it was demolished in 1817.
Notable landowners
The house was owned by the Fynamore or Fynemore family from the mid-13th century until 1574, then came into the
Ernle
Ernle was the surname of an English gentry or landed family descended from the lords of the manor of Earnley in Sussex who derived their surname from the name of the place where their estates lay.
Origins
Onomastic
Onomasticians say that t ...
family.
They included Sir
John Ernle
Sir John Ernle (1620 – June 1697) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1695. He was one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer, a position he held from 2 May 1676 to 9 April 1 ...
(1620–1697), MP and long-serving
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
, and his son
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
(1647–1686), a Navy captain. The latter married Vincentia, daughter of John Kyrle (c.1617–1680), later
2nd Baronet Kyrle, of
Homme House
Homme House is an 18th-century country house in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, UK. Primarily built of brick, it is now used as a wedding venue and is a Grade II* listed building.
Originally built in the 16th century of stone it was substantially re ...
,
Much Marcle
Much Marcle is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, located north-east of Ross-on-Wye. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 660. The name ''Marcle'' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for a boundary field, ''mearc-l ...
, Herefordshire, thus uniting Whetham with the Kyrle estates in that county.
Their son, another John (1682–1725) took the surname Kyrle Ernle.
Queen Anne visited the house during his ownership, in 1703.
Constantia Ernle (d.1753) married
Viscount Dupplin (later 9th Earl of Kinnoull). Her estates were settled on a son of a cousin, James Money (1724-1785). His descendant
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
(1775–1843) assumed the surname Kyrle-Money in 1809.
Following the death in 1980 of
Roger Money-Kyrle
Roger Money-Kyrle was a British psychoanalyst renowned for his wide-ranging intellect interested in the ways an individual psyche relates to the wider sphere of human society. A member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society, Money-Kyrle bl ...
, in 1999 the property was owned by Whetham Estates Ltd on behalf of the Money-Kyrle family. the privately held company continues in business, with several members of the Money-Kyrle family among its directors.
Sir John Ernle (d.1648) obtained the
advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
of
Yatesbury
Yatesbury is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is next to Cherhill, north of the A4 road (England), A4 road between Calne and Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough.
Yatesbury was an ancient parish and in the 19th century became a Civil parishe ...
parish church, east of Calne, where the Fynemore family had an estate from the 16th century. The right continued to be held by the Ernle, Money, and Money-Kyrle families until 1853, when it was sold by William Money-Kyrle.
The farm later called
Mile Elm
Mile Elm is a hamlet in central Wiltshire, England, with a population of around 40 residents. It lies on the A3102 road, south-west of the town of Calne.
There was a farm at Mile End in 1728; the area to the east of the road was the tithing of S ...
, 20 acres in 1728, was bought by William Money and continued to held by the owners of Whetham House.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Whetham House, Wiltshire & Homme House, Herefordshire– Handed On blog, 21 June 2018
Calne Without
Country houses in Wiltshire
Grade II listed buildings in Wiltshire
Hamlets in Wiltshire