Uppark is a fine example of a 17th-century country house, crowning the South Downs ridge in West Sussex. Cherished by generations of families, Uppark has attracted a succession of colourful owners, residents and visitors including the Fetherstonhaugh family, Emma Hamilton and a young H.G. Wells.
Origins
This prominent section of the South Downs ridge has attracted people since early human history. Archaeology has revealed Neolithic and Bronze Age (4000–700 BC) objects in the surrounding area along with evidence of later Iron Age and Roman settlements (800 BC–AD 410). Early ‘Up Park’ was a medieval deer park.
Housebuilding in the 17th century
The house we see today was built around 1690 for Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville (1655–1701) who inherited the estate from his mother Catherine Ford (1634–82). As a royal supporter, joint sovereigns William and Mary rewarded Ford with a place on the Privy Council and the earldom of Tankerville. He built his new house in the fashionable Anglo-Dutch royal court style. An engraving by Johannes Kip, published in ‘Britannia Illustrata’ (1707), shows the earliest image of the house and formal gardens.
Making an 18th-century home
The opulent interiors and collections are largely associated with the Fetherstonhaugh family. Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh (1714–74) bought Uppark for £19,000 from Charles Tankerville in 1747, just months after marrying Sarah Lethieullier, Lady Fetherstonhaugh (1722–88) and gaining his baronetcy. Matthew’s Northumbrian family acquired their money through the coal and wine trades, and Sarah came from a wealthy, influential, London Huguenot family.
The couple spent over £16,000 (around £1.8 million today) transforming the house. The architects involved may have been Daniel Garrett and James Paine who designed their Whitehall house in 1754. During a Grand Tour of Europe from 1749–51, the couple bought many works of art including paintings by Pompeo Batoni and Joseph Vernet. Sarah also brought to Uppark, from her family, one of the best surviving 18th-century English dolls’ houses (currently on loan to the Huguenot Museum, Rochester).
In addition to a parliamentary career, Matthew was one of the largest shareholders in the East India Company at the time. He also made major financial investments in the Grand Ohio Company which acquired vast tracts of land from the Indigenous Peoples of North America with the aim of forming new colonies. On the Uppark estate, Matthew built a folly named the ‘Vandalian Tower’ after a short-lived British colony in what is today West Virginia in the United States of America. There are also possible links with Up Park Pen in Jamaica, a plantation worked by enslaved people and once owned by the Pink family of the local village of South Harting.
Regency party house
In 1774 the Fetherstonhaughs’ only child, Sir Harry (1754–1846), inherited Uppark. Sir Harry sold the family's London and Northumberland homes to pay off debts, partly due to his excessive lifestyle, but he kept Uppark. By the 1780s Sir Harry was good friends with the Prince Regent, future George IV, and hosted numerous parties at Uppark. In 1784, food for one event included ‘2 Bucks. A Welsh sheep, a doz. Ducks, – 4 Hams, dozens of Pigeons, and Rabbits, Flitches of Bacon, Lobsters and Prawns; a Turtle of 120 lbs.’
Harry bought significant works of art in Paris, both for himself and on behalf of the Prince Regent. Many items are still in the Royal Collection today. He also commissioned the designer Humphry Repton to make substantial alterations to the house and gardens.
Harry had numerous relationships throughout his life, including with Emma Hart (later Lady Hamilton). Emma lived at Uppark in 1781 until she became pregnant, at which point Harry sent her away and refused to support her. He remained a bachelor until 1825 when, aged 70, Harry married his 20-year-old dairymaid, Mary Ann Bullock (1805–74). The marriage lasted over twenty years until Sir Harry’s death in 1846.
Uppark was at its most sociable during Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh's ownership, with a string of parties that attracted royalty and high society.
As his father had before him, Sir Harry sat for Batoni, and that painting still hangs in the Red Drawing Room. Unlike his father, he had little interest in keeping accounts. His mother, who managed his household for him, discovering that he'd spent £3,324 in just a few months abroad, equal to about £286,000 today.
In 1780, he met the socialite Emma Hart who, aged just 15, worked as an entertainer in London. She lived on the estate and attended many of Sir Harry’s parties until 1781 when she was sent away, penniless and six months pregnant. Sir Harry was the assumed father but he would not respond to her many letters asking for help. Fortunately Emma went on to achieve great success, she become Lady Hamilton and had a famous relationship with Admiral Lord Nelson.
Sir Harry's parties were legendary. When the Prince of Wales visited in 1784 and 1785 the parties lasted for three days and included gambling, fine cuisine, and horse racing on West Harting Down, complete with silver-gilt prize cups.
Perhaps as a result of his acquaintance with the prince, he became friends with Humphry Repton, the renowned architect and landscape designer. In 1810, Repton set out proposals for alterations to Uppark in one of his famous red books.
As part of these plans the main entrance was moved to the north front in 1812-13, where a Portland stone portico was added, leading via a stained glass-lit corridor to the crimson baize door that opens onto Staircase Hall.
Meeting Mary Ann
At the age of 71, the bachelor life finally lost its appeal. Having been charmed by the sound of singing coming from the dairy, he one day told the maid he found within, a 20-year-old Mary Ann Bullock, that he wanted to marry her.
She was speechless and he told her ‘Don't answer me now. But if you will have me, cut a slice out of the leg of mutton that is coming up for my dinner today’. When the mutton arrived, the slice was cut. The proposal may have been unconventional, but the marriage lasted nearly 20 years until Sir Harry's death in 1846, aged 90.
Inheriting in 1774, Sir Harry sold the family's London and Northumberland homes to pay off debts, partly due to his excessive lifestyle, but he kept Uppark. By the 1780s Sir Harry was good friends with the Prince Regent, future George IV, and hosted numerous parties at Uppark.
Sarah began working at Uppark in 1850 as a maid, and later became housekeeper. Her youngest son ‘Bertie’ grew up to be the writer Herbert George (H. G.) Wells (1866-1946).
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Victorian household management
For almost three decades Mary Ann, Lady Fetherstonhaugh, managed the estate with her younger sister Frances Bullock (1819–95) who later changed her name to Fetherstonhaugh. Mary Ann was reputedly a fair landowner and wrote that ‘It is a very good thing, to be a downstairs person as well as an upstairs person.’ At Christmas gifts were laid out for the servants and inhabitants of South Harting, including ‘piles of red flannel petticoats and mounds of red rounds of beef and Christmas pies and puddings.’
The census for 1851 lists a total of 203 servants at Uppark. One servant was Sarah Wells (1822–1905) who began her career at the house in 1850 as maid for Frances Fetherstonhaugh and later returned as housekeeper. Her youngest son ‘Bertie’ grew up to be the writer Herbert George (H. G.) Wells (1866-1946). Uppark had an enduring impact on Wells as the inspiration for the fictional estate of Bladesover in his novel ‘Tono-Bungay’ (1909).
20th-century owners
With no legitimate heir, Uppark was left to a friend of the family, Col. Keith Turnour (1848–1930). As a condition of the inheritance, he was obliged to take on the Fetherstonhaugh family name. Financial troubles led him to sell part of the collection in 1911. Many of these pieces can now be found in major museums in the United States.
Uppark then passed to Admiral Sir Herbert Meade (1875–1964) who also took on the Fetherstonhaugh name on inheriting the property. When the Meade-Fetherstonhaughs moved to Uppark in 1931, they undertook major repairs to the property. Lady Margaret Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (1888–1977) embarked on many years of conservation work, becoming internationally respected for her work with textiles.
In 1954 the Meade-Fetherstonhaugh family transferred the ownership of Uppark, with land to protect its setting, to the National Trust who opened the property to the public. Several members of the Meade-Fetherstonhaugh family continue to live at Uppark.
Survival story
From its creation, Uppark has built upon generations of craftsmanship, from the interiors to the landscaped gardens. The most significant period of craftsmanship for Uppark was following a major fire in 1989. The £20 million restoration project for the main house required the work of specialist craftspeople, drawing on their expertise and, in many cases, reviving historic techniques and learning new skills.
More than thirty years on, the impressive craft skills deployed in the restoration of Uppark continue to inspire visitors. Over the next few years, major repairs and conservation work on more buildings across the site will continue this legacy.
Further reading
Books and articles:
Wallis, Rebecca, ‘Uppark House & Garden’, National Trust Guidebook, 2019.
Cannadine, David, and Musson, Jeremy, ed. ‘The Country House: Past, Present, Future: Great Houses of The British Isles’, 2018.
Rowell, Christopher, and Martin, John, ‘Uppark Restored’, National Trust, 1995
Marshall, Peter, ‘Lord Hillsborough, Samuel Wharton and the Ohio Grant, 1769-1775’, The English Historical Review, Oxford University Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/i224352, pp. 717-739
The Palladian-style 18th-century dolls’ house at Uppark is one of only a surviving few. Built on a grand scale, it features opulently decorated rooms and beautifully dressed dolls.
Take a look inside this classic historical house, filled with exquisite furnishings from all over the world, and discover what life was like below stairs for serving staff.
Free to visit, these intimate and colourful gardens offer a scented garden, amphitheatre, architectural flourishes and panoramic views across the South Downs.
