Worthy Park House is a large country house at

Kings Worthy Kings Worthy is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, approximately two miles north-east of Winchester. Kings Worthy was a tithing of Barton Stacey when the Domesday Book was written. St Mary's church The parish church, built in 186 ...

near

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. 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 ...

History

The original house on the site was built by William Evelyn in 1722. It was bought by

Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet (1726 – 27 August 1816) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Life He was the son of Nathanie ...

in 1773. Admiral

Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet (24 May 1775 – 16 June 1858) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he saw action leading storming parties at the capture of Martinique and at the capture of Guadeloupe during the Frenc ...

inherited the house in 1816 and commissioned

Sir Robert Smirke Sir Robert Smirke (1 October 1780 – 18 April 1867) was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture, though he also used other architectural styles. As architect to the Board of Works, he designed several major ...

to demolish the west wing and replace it with a new building, built in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, which was completed in 1820. The house was acquired by Samuel Wall, a banker in 1825 (died 1843) but remained in the Wall family until it passed by marriage to Captain Charles Gilbert Fryer in the mid 1870s. It then remained in the Fryer family passing to Colonel James A Butchart, again by marriage c1920. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was taken over by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. After the war it served as a training centre owned first by

Currys Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. E ...

and then by

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

. The house became Prince's Mead School in 1999.

References

{{coord, 51.09341, N, 1.28521, W, region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Hampshire Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire