Cowdray House, (also known as Cowdray Ruins), Midhurst, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The Bohun family owned Cowdray from about 1185 to 1492, Sir John Bohun building a new house on or near the site of the present Cowdray House in the late 13th century; his former house on St Ann's Hill to the south was probably demolished in the early 14th century. Sir John's son-in-law, Sir David Owen, rebuilt the Bohun house in the early 16th century before selling the estate to Sir William FitzWilliam, created Earl of Southampton in 1537, who was granted a licence in 1532-3 to impark land to make the present park at Cowdray. On the Earl's death in 1542, the estate passed to his half brother Sir Anthony Browne, then in 1548 to Browne's son, another Anthony, who in 1554 was created Viscount Montague. The Earl and his Viscount nephew probably laid out the formal walled gardens around the house (Cowdray archives).

The estate passed successively between 1592 and 1717 to the second, third, fourth and fifth Viscounts, the sixth Viscount continuing his father's sale of outlying properties (including, in 1719, that of Battle Abbey - see description of this site elsewhere in the register) to clear debts. The seventh Viscount, Anthony Joseph, succeeded in 1767 and made many alterations to the park and to the house, attempting 'to render the vicinity of the park, which is sterile and capable of little improvement, more agreeable by plantations of fir which in some measure have the desired effect' (Roundell 1884). He employed Lancelot Brown (1716-83) to work for him from 1768 to 1774, Brown's account book recording payments of £3459 for 'Montague Lord Vist' between those dates. Although the accounts make no reference to which estates were concerned and no other primary sources confirm fees being related to Cowdray, several secondary sources refer to Brown having worked there. The seventh Viscount died in 1787 and was succeeded by his son George Samuel.

On 25 September 1793, fire reduced the house to its present ruined state, and the eighth Viscount died shortly after in the same year. The title passed to a fourth cousin and was extinguished on his death in 1797 while Cowdray passed to George Samuel's sister, who in 1794 married William Stephen Poynz. They did not rebuild the house but moved to a remodelled cottage, Cowdray Lodge, and embarked upon improvements and new planting on the estate. Following William Poynz' death in 1840, the estate was purchased in 1842 by the sixth Earl Egmont, in whose family it remained until 1909, the seventh Earl building the present house known as Cowdray Park on the site of the former Lodge in around 1875. The estate was bought in 1909 by Sir Weetman Pearson who in 1910 was created Baron, and in 1917, Viscount Cowdray. The estate passed to his descendants, who have continued to develop the gardens around Cowdray Park, and it remains (1998) in private hands.