The Vyne was built in the 16th century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII's Lord Chamberlain. It then became home to the Chute family for more than 300 years.

Through the artistic and aesthetic interests of its various owners, it has been at the cutting edge of the development of country house architecture, interior design and taste.

The house has a long and subtle history, which has been respected and imaginatively re-interpreted by a succession of owners over the last five centuries.

The Vyne is unusual in that the furnishings and personal affects are indigenous to the House, given to the National Trust in 1958.

Like many medieval foundations, The Vyne stands on low-lying ground and near water. The Shir brook was transformed into a spectacular lake setting for the north front in the 18th century.

The irregular pattern of brickwork, ranging in colour from pale to deep red, reveals how much the exterior has been altered, with symmetrical sash windows imposed on an earlier, more random arrangement.

In the mid-17th century, it acquired the classical portico on the north front (believed to be the first of its kind on a domestic building in England). In the late 18th century a dramatic Palladian staircase hall was designed by the owner, John Chute.

back to top

The chapel
The fascinating Tudor chapel houses Renaissance stained glass, exquisite 16th-century Flemish Majolica tiles and an elegant 18th-century tomb chamber. There is also a wealth of fine furniture, textiles and oak panelling dating back to c1521.

The chapel, built between 1518 and 1527, is of a magnificence not recorded outside the royal palaces of Tudor England. The early 16th-century stained glass in the east windows rivals that commissioned by Henry VIII for King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

Other interesting features at The Vyne include the double galleries, one set above the other. The upper Oak Gallery is one of the very few long galleries surviving from the first half of the 16th century and the most richly decorated. Each of the linen-fold oak panels is embellished with carved emblems of the senior figures of the court of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

The Stone Gallery
The lower Stone Gallery occupies the ground floor of the west wing and may have been a single space since Tudor times. Recent archaeological work has revealed a doorway leading to a demolished octagonal tower at the south-west corner which once gave access to the Oak Gallery and larger Tudor windows, now partially blocked up, on the east and west walls.

Since Tudor times, it was probably used as a dormitory for guests' servants. In 1753,  Anthony Chute had it paved with Portland stone 'with Black marble Dotts' and a black marble border.

Orange and myrtle trees were kept there and guests remarked on how pleasant it was to walk in 'the greenhouse' in the winter. When Wiggett Chute moved to The Vyne in 1842, he repaired the floor and installed the heating system. The room quickly became a playroom for his children.