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Anderson Manor is a
.
at www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014. Its listing describes it as a Jacobean manor house; due to its completion date. But it appears the house was started in the 1590s by Sir John Moreton and purchased in 1613 by Tregonwell, who completed it. It is clearly partly
at www.dorsetlife.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014.
at www.gillinghamdorsetbusiness.com. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014
Anderson Manor is a Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
in the Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
village of Anderson in England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It was built in 1622 for John Tregonwell
Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was a Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.C.S. Gilb ...
. Today it is privately owned, but its gardens are open to the public under the National Gardens Scheme
The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...
. The gardens are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England
{{R from move ...
{{R from move ...History
Anderson Manor was built in 1622 for John Tregonwell. It was restored around 1912 and listed in 1955.''Anderson Manor, Anderson''at www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014. Its listing describes it as a Jacobean manor house; due to its completion date. But it appears the house was started in the 1590s by Sir John Moreton and purchased in 1613 by Tregonwell, who completed it. It is clearly partly
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
– to which many of its features, such as the E-shaped floor plan, bear witness.
The manor remained in the Tregonwell family until 1902, when it was purchased by a Mrs Gratrix. When she died the house contents were sold by auction and, unfortunately, all the bespoke furniture and Tregonwell artefacts were removed. Other owners were the Tabors and the Cholmondeleys; finally, in 1975, the manor was bought by its present owners.
During the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the manor was requisitioned, initially, as the headquarters of the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) attached to 62 Commando and became the planning centre for Operation Pinprick
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
, a series of raids designed to force the Germans to waste valuable manpower defending a multitude of targets. In 1943 the SSRF were disbanded and the house was commandeered by the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...
. There is still evidence of this wartime use in the building.
Description
The listing describes the building as a three-storey manor house with a symmetrical front and projecting gabled wings. It has brick walls in garden wall bond with burnt headers, and stone dressings, on aflint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
plinth. The roofs are tiled, with moulded copings to its parapets and gables. There are ball finial
A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...
s to the gables at the apex and springing. The house has 2 brick stacks. It has a so-called "double-pile plan" with parallel roofs.
Rather more prosaically Treves describes Anderson Manor House as ''"a remarkably fine and stately building. It is of faded red brick faced with stone, has high gables and towering chimneys, handsome stone mullioned windows, and a general bearing of great dignity and charm. The village has vanished, so that the manor house and the church are left alone, one on either side of the faithless stream."''White, Steve and Hannay, Clive (2012). ''In the footsteps of Treves: the Winterbornes''at www.dorsetlife.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014.
Gardens
For several years Anderson Manor Gardens have been open to the public on a few days each year in order to raise money for the Macmillan nurses' charity or for the maintenance St Michael's Church, Anderson. The gardens are set within the old walls and maturetopiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
of the 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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
. Typical flowers include snowdrops and daffodils in the spring, wisteria and blossoms in May and June, old roses and peonies in midsummer and herbaceous borders in the autumn.
The historic formal garden
A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a form ...
s contain mature box
A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...
and yew topiary, a pleached lime walk, a bowling green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
, two stone gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands.
In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...
s and an old rose walk by the River Winterborne. The walled garden has a parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...
garden, herbaceous beds and an orchard. Beyond the garden the enclosed pasture is gradually being converted to woodland.
The 12th century church of St Michael's is now a private chapel, but is also open to the public.''Anderson Manor Gardens''at www.gillinghamdorsetbusiness.com. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014
References
{{coord, 50.7779, N, 2.1713, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Manor houses in England Country houses in Dorset Grade I listed houses in Dorset Grade II listed parks and gardens in Dorset 1622 establishments in England Training establishments of the Special Operations Executive