Creech Grange is a country house in

Steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

, south of Wareham in Dorset at the foot of the

Purbeck Hills The Purbeck Hills, also called the Purbeck Ridge or simply the Purbecks, are a ridge of chalk downs in Dorset, England. It is formed by the structure known as the Purbeck Monocline. The ridge extends from Lulworth Cove in the west to Old H ...

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 w ...

designate it as 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 ...

. The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

History

The house was built by Sir Oliver Lawrence (1507–1559), who acquired the land from the former Bindon Abbey, near Wool, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Lawrence was the brother-in-law of Henry's Lord Chancellor,

Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton (21 December 1505 – 30 July 1550), KG was an English peer, secretary of state, Lord Chancellor and Lord High Admiral. A naturally skilled but unscrupulous and devious politician who changed with t ...

. Lawrence was an ancestor of the first American president,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, and the joint arms of the two families - the stars and stripes of Washington's signet ring and the American flag - appear in memorials at Steeple and

Affpuddle Affpuddle is a small village in the Purbeck district of Dorset in South West England, east of Dorchester. The local travel links are from the village to Moreton railway station and to Bournemouth International Airport. Part of the village ...

. Creech Grange was sold to

Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond KS (14 June 163431 August 1707), of Creech Grange in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament. Bond was the fourth son of Denis Bond, a prominent politician during the Interregnum, succeedin ...

in 1691, and the family still hold their Purbeck estates. It was Thomas Bond who in Stuart times laid out the London Street over fields of swamp and refuse tips and lost a fortune in the process. Only fragments remain of the original house built by Lawrence before his death in 1559, partly because it was damaged by fire by the Parliamentarians during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, and finally because in 1846 the entire front was taken down and rebuilt in the Tudor style. In 1746, Denis Bond erected a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

known as Grange Arch on the highest local point on the Purbeck Ridge,

Ridgeway Hill Ridgeway Hill, also referred to as Grange Hill or Steeple Hill, is the third highest point of the Purbeck Hills in the county of Dorset standing at , is one of the only hills with a prominence of over a hundred metres, HuMPs, in the county. Near ...

(199 m). The folly is now owned by the

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 ...

. Creech Grange is not to be confused with neighbouring East Creech Manor that was in the possession of Walter Le Franke in 1224 and passed down through his family to Mary Franke in 1637, who married Edmund Hayter (d. 1657), and was sold out of that family in 1770.

View

There are panoramic views from nearby Creech Barrow Hill. Though part of the Purbeck Hills, Creech Barrow stands out, detached. The church tower of Lady St Mary in the old town of Wareham stands proud.

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being t ...

assumes dominance as the view moves north-easterly, its southern shore dominated by the deep green of Rempstone Forest. After the blur of the Poole/Bournemouth conurbation, the ruins of

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the P ...

conclude the sweep as the eastern view disappears into the Purbeck Ridge.

SSSI

Part of the estate is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1977. The outbuildings are an important roosting site for

Greater Horseshoe Bat The greater horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ferrumequinum'') is an insectivorous bat of the genus '' Rhinolophus''. Its distribution covers Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Asia. It is the largest of the horseshoe bats in Europe an ...

s.English Nature citation sheet for the site
(accessed 29 August 2006)

Gallery

Image:Creech Grange near Wareham, Dorset - geograph.org.uk - 82426.jpg, Creech Grange near Wareham, Dorset Image:Creech - chapel of St. John - geograph.org.uk - 504071.jpg, Creech: chapel of St. John Image:Grange Arch on the Purbeck ridgeway - geograph.org.uk - 221715.jpg, Grange Arch on the Purbeck ridgeway Image:Creech Grange from the Arch - geograph.org.uk - 457146.jpg, Creech Grange from the Arch

References

{{SSSIs Dorset biological Isle of Purbeck Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Dorset Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1977 Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Grade I listed houses Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Dorset