Courtlands, Worthing, West Sussex, England

The house at Courtlands is listed Grade II and is a fine example of a large country house suitable for an estate. The original house was built in 1520 by the Ollivers, an important local family with memorials in Goring Church. In the early-20th century, Paul Schweder purchased the estate and in 1903 almost completely rebuilt the house by purchasing material from Lebanon House at Twickenham, a masterpiece by Robert Adam which had burnt down in 1909.

The remains of Lebabnon House were used to rebuild the interior of Courtlands and replicas were made for features that had been destroyed by fire. Other material was obtained from the Cordwainers Hall in London and from a building next to the Ritz Hotel in Paris. The result was a considerably enlarged and very much grander house, a full storey higher than before with large and ornate reception rooms and a fine garden with lawns sweeping down to a lake.

The original layout of the gardens in the 19th century show a Regency house with grounds laid out in the accepted style of the time. It should be noted that there is what appears to be a glasshouse immediately to the west of the house and glasshouses have remained in this part of the garden until recently. The grandson of Paul Schweder, Captain John Paul Schweder, visited in 1990 and they were still there.

The walls of the formal walled garden, known as the Dutch Garden, are shown on the Parish Tithe Map of 1840 and the Ordnance Survey map of 1875. The existing brick and flint walls appear to be very much older than the gate surrounds and can be taken as forming part of the original estate. Care should be taken to protect these walls and further research carried out as to their age.

Paul Schweder died in 1936 and residential development had already taken place on the east side of the estate. The fine lime avenue was lost to residential development by this time. Various schemes were considered for the house and in 1945 the Worthing Hospital Board of Management Committee decided to purchase Courtlands to provide additional bed space and so relieve pressure on the hospital. Work on conversion took place but it was not until 1950 that patients occupied beds there. The then Princess Elizabeth visited Worthing and Courtlands in 1951. Two of Mr Schweder's sons were introduced to the Princess during her visit.

Mr Schweder's daughter was still alive and living at West Chiltington in 1960 and she confirmed some of the details in Mr Smail's book when commenting on the reported work of Mr Arthur Humphrey, a well-known mason, who had worked on the building of Courtlands. A later published photograph dated 1986 shows that the gardens were still well-maintained.

When the evidence from the photographs, which may be assumed to have been taken at the time of the publication of Henfrey Small's book in 1952, is compared with the present state of the gardens as a whole, and particularly the area around the lake and the formal walled garden, it is clear that a strategy needs to be established to bring the garden back to something of its former condition.