listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
British
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 ...
in the parish of
Stedham with Iping
Stedham with Iping is a civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It is approximately two miles (3 km) west of Midhurst and comprises the two villages of Stedham and Iping. There are two churches in the parish: St Jam ...
near
Midhurst
Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester.
The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...
,
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 ar ...
. The house was built in 1874–1876 by architect
Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
, in the
Tudor Revival style
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
, more commonly known as "Mock Tudor". It has been added to considerably since. It was a private house from its construction until 1939; from 1939 onwards it has housed several schools.
Private house
The house was built in 1874-1876 by architect
Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
for Alexander Scrimgeour, a stockbroker. Architectural historians
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
and
Ian Nairn
Ian Douglas Nairn (24 August 1930 – 14 August 1983) was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised criti ...
were underwhelmed by the house: they called it "heavy and hearty", "not very good" and "limp and mechanical", adding that the best thing about Wispers is the site.
In 1892 Scrimgeour's widow, Anne Esther Scrimgeour, died, and her will showed that she owned Wispers along with other properties in the area.
In 1928 Wispers and its estate was bought by the
Bedford Estate
The Bedford Estate is an estate in central London owned by the Russell family, which holds the peerage title of Duke of Bedford. The estate was originally based in Covent Garden, then stretched to include Bloomsbury in 1669.Dame Mary Russell, the wife of
Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford
Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, (19 February 1858 – 27 August 1940) was an English politician and peer. He was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, daughter of George Sack ...
. Russell used Wispers as a weekend retreat: she was a keen
aviator
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
and flew her
Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
from the family seat at
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, a ...
to Wispers, where she had a hangar constructed in the 1930s at the same time as the large eastern wing was being added to the house. She used a nearby field as a landing strip. The Duchess was killed in a flying accident in 1937, and the house was sold in 1939.
First school at the site
The first school was established at the property in 1939. The hangar that the Duchess had built for her plane was converted into the school gymnasium.
Wispers School
A new girls' boarding secondary school moved to the site in 1947. The school was part of Herries School at Cookham Dean in Berkshire, and was initially known as Herries School at Wispers. It was renamed
Wispers School
Wispers School was a British independent boarding school for girls aged between 11 and 18 which was founded in 1947 and which closed in 2008 after 61 years' operation. For the first part of its life it was based at Wispers, a large country house ne ...
for the start of the autumn term 1949, taking its name from the house. The school remained here for nine years until it moved to a new site at
West Dean House
West Dean House is a large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean, West Sussex, near the historic City of Chichester. This country estate has approximately of land and dates back to 1086, with various royal connections throughout the ye ...
in 1956.
St Cuthman's School/West Sussex Council
St Cuthman's School was established at Wispers in 1956 or 1957, when the Wispers estate was bought by
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 7 ...
who ran a mixed-sex boarding school there for children aged from 7 to 16 with special needs. During its life it was known both as St Cuthman's Special School (i.e. in 1968 it is referred to by this name in official documents) and as St Cuthman's School. It closed on 31 August 2004, with 54 pupils on the roster.
After closure, the house was sold by the Council and a planning application lodged to convert the main house into 7 flats with other buildings on the estate being either converted or demolished. The 35-acre estate was for sale under the name of St Cuthmans, and comprised Wispers, a pair of traditional cottages, a former coach house, a farm house, a stone and brick barn and a pair of 1970s cottages.
Durand Academy
The house lay empty for 6 years, and was sold in April 2010 for £3 million (against an original asking price of £4.5 million) with 20 of the original 35 acres to Durand primary school, near Brixton, South London. Renamed Durand Academy, the school aimed to use Wispers as a weekly boarding environment for secondary age pupils, funding the purchase from the profits from its successful leisure and student accommodation business. In 2010 Durand applied for a £25 million grant from central Government to develop the site.
In May 2011 it was announced that the Government committed up to £17.34 million towards the capital costs; the remainder being found by the school. Durand will fund the furnishing of the middle school and will pay for the construction of sixth form accommodation for older children. It was hoped that the first pupils would start to arrive from September 2012; however in April 2013 the Academy had still not opened, with 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 ...
expressing doubts about the development's environmental impact in an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
; some residents in the area opposing its opening; and queries over the funding: "Opponents of the scheme, who have consulted Melvyn Roffe, headmaster of a state boarding school in Norfolk, argue that the school's financial estimates are unrealistically low or to quote Roffe, talking to the Independent, "ludicrous". Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, has asked the National Audit Office to investigate the DoE's "investment decision" and the basis upon which the £17 million grant was made."
In December 2013 planning permission for the development of the site was refused. The
South Downs National Park Authority
The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamps ...
successfully argued that the 375-pupil Durand Academy was too big and its impact on the landscape would be "inappropriate".
in 2019, after increasing losses, the building was sold and the Trust wrote off £1.6 million that it had spent on lease adjustments and furniture and fittings.