Loseley Park is a large Tudor

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 ...

with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in

Artington Artington is a village and civil parish in the borough of Guildford, Surrey, England. It covers the area from the southern edge of the built-up centre of Guildford and steep Guildown, the start of the Hog's Back and part of the North Downs AO ...

close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux family, at the beginning of the 16th century. The house built for Sir William More is a Grade I listed building, the highest rank in architecture or heritage. Loseley appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 as ''Losele''. It was held by Turald (Thorold) from

Roger de Montgomery Roger de Montgomery (died 1094), also known as Roger the Great, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury, and Earl of Arundel, in Sussex. His father was Roger de Montgomery, seigneur of Montgomery, a member of the House of Montgomerie, and was probably ...

. Its Domesday assets were: 2 hides. It had 4 ploughs, of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

. It rendered £3. The papers of Sir

Thomas Cawarden Sir Thomas Cawarden (died 25 August 1559) of Bletchingley, Nonsuch Park and East Horsley (Surrey) was Master of the Revels to Henry VIII of England, Edward VI, and Mary I. Background Thomas was the son of William Cawarden, a cloth-fuller and c ...

Master of the Revels The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain ...

, were formerly preserved in the house. Loseley Park is still the residence of the More-Molyneux family and is open to the public. The 17th-century

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious orga ...

is available for weddings.

The house

The present house was built between 1562 and 1568 with stone brought from the ruins of

Waverley Abbey Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester. Located about southeast of Farnham, Surrey, it is situated on a flood-plain; surrounded by current and previous channe ...

. The new house replaced a smaller one which

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

declared was not 'adequate' for her to visit and requested something larger be built. The great hall is the principal room containing panelling from Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace, a minstrel's gallery, carvings by

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and othe ...

, panels from Henry VIII's banqueting tents and a collection of royal and family portraits. The drawing room has a gilded ceiling that was commissioned for

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

's visit and a massive chalk fireplace designed by Hans Holbein. The carvings above the library fireplace (dated 1570) commemorate one of Elizabeth I's visits. Sir William More's room contain an 18th-century Vauxhall mirror. Two bedrooms named the King's Room and the Queen's Room were used by James I and

respectively. The house contains one of the few paintings of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

The garden

The walled garden, based on a design by Gertrude Jekyll, contains a series of "rooms" with different themes running through them. The redevelopment of the garden commenced in 1993/4 with the Rose Garden and continued with the Herb Garden, Flower Garden, White Garden and, most recently, the organic Vegetable and Cut Flower Garden. The gardens are surrounded by an old wall of similar age to the house and contain a vine walk, a huge spread of

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...

, the moat and moat walk, and the old

mulberry tree ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

around which a family prophecy revolves.

Film and television

Loseley Park and house has been used as a filming location for several productions. One of the earliest was '' The Counterfeit Plan'' (1957). The

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

also lists : '' A Dandy in Aspic'' (1968), '' The Legacy'' (1978), '' Midsomer Murders'' (1997 TV series), ''

The Worst Witch ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. The first, ''The Worst Witch'', was ...

'' (1998 TV series), ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...

'' (1998 TV series) ''

Agatha Christie's Marple ''Agatha Christie's Marple'' (or simply ''Marple'') is a British ITV television programme loosely based on the books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the firs ...

'': '' Why Didn't They Ask Evans?'' (2008) and ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs'' (2006), ''Stately Suppers'' (2006 TV series), ''

Sense and Sensibility ''Sense and Sensibility'' is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; ''By A Lady'' appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (age 19) a ...

'' (2008 miniseries), '' Emma'' (2009 miniseries) and '' The Special Relationship'' (2010). In 2016, the house was featured in the Netflix series ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

''. The films ''

The Favourite ''The Favourite'' is a 2018 Historical drama, period black comedy film co-produced and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, from a screenplay by Deborah Davis (screenwriter), Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (writer), Tony McNamara. Set in early 18th ...

and Rebecca'' were both partly shot here. In 2020, the television series ''Belgravia'' filmed some scenes here.

References

External links

*{{Official, http://www.loseleypark.co.uk
Loseley Park guideMultimap
Country houses in Surrey Gardens in Surrey Historic house museums in Surrey Grade I listed buildings in Surrey Elizabethan architecture Grade I listed houses Locations in Guildford