Woburn Farm, Chertsey, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Woburn Farm once formed part of the estate of Chertsey Abbey. Woburn, meaning 'crooked stream', could still describe the stream known as The Bourne which forms the northern boundary of the site. Philip Southcote (around 1697/8-1758) married the rich Dowager Duchess of Cleveland in 1732 which enabled him to purchase Woburn (or Wooburn) Farm, alias Cocks Lands, lying between Chertsey and Weybridge, from a Mrs Hornby in about 1735. As a Catholic, Southcote was required to live more than ten miles from the City of London. Southcote had spent several years in France prior to his marriage but on his return to England established a wide circle of friends and acquaintances which included Alexander Pope (1688-1744), William Kent (1685-1748), and Joseph Spence (1699-1768); he was also related to the talented botanist and plantsman, Lord Petre (1713-43). In about 1748 he commissioned William Kent to design a new house to replace the existing gentleman's residence at Woburn.

Joseph Spence, a clergyman and Professor of Poetry at Oxford University who recorded conversations with Southcote and literary figures from 1726, attributes the invention of the ferme ornée to Southcote (Symes 1988). The land at Woburn was not particularly scenic or notable but Southcote set out to create a working landscape that was also picturesque, using techniques borrowed from art. Southcote aimed to hide the boundaries so that the extent of the relatively modest 47 hectare site (later enlarged to about 60 hectares) was not obvious, and used a broad perimeter circuit walk to give access to all parts of the grounds. A planting plan by Southcote, reproduced by Spence, shows a wide border of herbaceous plants and rows of shrubs stepped up to an existing hedgerow (Garden Hist 1974). Spence described how each area of the grounds had a foreground, middle ground, and distance, and from the hill within the site, the sides of which he planted with trees, were views out to local landmarks such as St Anne's Hill and Windsor Castle. In 1750 the view was enhanced by the construction of Walton Bridge, a feature also visible from the neighbouring Oatlands Park (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register), two kilometres to the east. Woburn was much admired by contemporaries, who referred to it as Southcote's Paradise (Garden History 1974). They were impressed not only by the planting, which included the extensive use of flowers, and the scattering of temples, but also the atmosphere of a peaceful, rural life.

Following Southcote's death in 1758, the estate was maintained by his second wife and continued to be visited by travellers, several of whom wrote accounts of the experience. The visitors included Richard Pococke (1704-65), an Irish cleric, in April 1757 and John Parnell (1744-1801), another Irishman, in 1763 and 1769, the latter writing a particularly detailed description of the site. Mrs Southcote died in 1783, leaving the estate to Lord Petre's son. It was leased out, but still of interest as Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) recorded in his Memorandums Made on a Tour to some of the Gardens in England (1786). In 1814 it was sold to Charles Stirling, Vice Admiral of the White, who owned the estate, now known as Woburn Park, until 1834. The subsequent owner, the Dowager Lady King, was responsible for enlarging the original mansion. The next owner, the Earl of Kilmorey, built the present entrance lodge, replacing Southcote's octagonal lodge. In 1884 the estate passed back into the hands of the Petre family when Monsignor William Petre, twelfth baron, moved St George's College, founded by the Josephite Community in Croydon in 1869, to the site. The eastern two thirds of the site is now occupied by an extensive range of school buildings and sports facilities. By 1897 the north-west centre part of the site contained three large residential properties, Woburn Chase, Woburnhurst Park, and Brackendene. These have since been subdivided and some redevelopment has taken place. In the 19th century the kitchen garden was moved to the western boundary of the site; this is now used as winter quarters for showmen and is known as Woburn Park Farm. To the north is a late 20th-century BMX track. The site is now (2001) in divided public and private ownership.