Cowdray House facts for kids
Cowdray Ruins
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Quick facts for kids General information |
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| Town or city | Midhurst, West Sussex |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 50°59′16″N 0°43′54″W / 50.9877°N 0.7317°W |
| Construction started | c. 1520 |
| Destroyed | 24 September 1793 |
| Owner | Viscount Cowdray |
Cowdray House is a famous ruined Tudor mansion in England. It was once as grand as other large palaces and country homes of its time. You can find it in Easebourne, near Midhurst, West Sussex, right by the River Rother. A big fire on September 24, 1793, sadly destroyed most of it. Even as ruins, Cowdray House is very important historically.
The house was also known for its detailed paintings. These paintings showed events from the Tudor period. Even though the original paintings were lost in the fire, we know what they looked like from copies made over the years.
Contents
The Story of Cowdray House
Early Beginnings: A Fortified Manor
The very first building on this site was a strong manor house. Sir John Bohun built it between 1273 and 1284. It was across the river from Midhurst. He called it Coudreye, which is a Norman word for the hazel woods nearby.
Building the Great Tudor House
In the 1520s, Sir David Owen began building the Cowdray House we see today. He was the uncle of King Henry VII. Sir David started building on the spot where the old Coudreye manor stood. He had received the land when his wife, Mary Bohun, passed away in 1496.
In 1529, Sir David's son, Henry, sold Cowdray to Sir William Fitzwilliam. In 1533, Henry VIII allowed Fitzwilliam to create a large park of about 600 acres. He also gave permission to build defenses at "Cowdry."
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, Sir William received the nearby Easebourne Priory. In 1538, his half-brother, Anthony Browne, inherited Cowdray and also received Battle Abbey. There's a story that a monk from Battle Abbey, who lost his home, put a curse on the family and the house. The curse said, "by fire and water, thy line shall come to an end and it shall perish out of this land."
Royal Visitors at Cowdray
Cowdray House was a popular place for royalty to visit.
- Henry VIII visited five times: in August 1538, July 1539, and August 1545.
- Mary of Guise, the queen of Scotland, stayed a night in October 1551.
- Edward VI visited in July 1552.
- Queen Elizabeth I came in August 1591. There were special speeches and shows for her visit.
In November 1538, Lady Margaret Pole, a relative of King Richard III, was held at Cowdray. She was later moved to the Tower of London.
In 1548, Anthony Browne's son, Sir Anthony Browne, inherited Cowdray. He later became the 1st Viscount Montague. This happened when Queen Mary I married King Philip of Spain.
Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, was born at Cowdray House in 1573. He was a courtier and supported writers. He is famous for being the person Shakespeare dedicated his poem Venus and Adonis to. He is also thought to be the "fair youth" in Shakespeare's Sonnets.
Cowdray Engravings: Pictures of History
In the 1500s, Sir Anthony Browne ordered wall-paintings for the hall at Cowdray House. These paintings showed important events from that time. The original paintings were destroyed in the 1793 fire. Luckily, copies of them were made into etchings before the fire. These copies help us see what the paintings looked like.
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The English and French fleets fighting in July 1545.
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King Henry VIII leaving Calais on July 25, 1544.
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King Henry VIII's camp at Marquison in July 1544.
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King Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne in 1544.
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King Edward VI's coronation procession from the Tower to Westminster in 1547.
Cowdray in the 1600s
In 1592, Anthony-Maria Browne inherited Cowdray. He was the grandson of the 1st Viscount. During his time, Guy Fawkes worked briefly at Cowdray House. The 2nd Viscount was even put in prison for a short time. This was because he didn't go to Parliament on November 5, 1605, after getting a warning about the Gunpowder Plot.
During the English Civil War in the mid-1640s, two-thirds of the Cowdray estate were taken from Francis Browne, 3rd Viscount Montagu. Soldiers from Parliament used the house as a base. You can still see marks on the walls of the main courtyard. People believe these marks are from musket balls fired by soldiers during that time.
The Great Fire of 1793
In 1770, Capability Brown, a famous landscape designer, worked on the gardens. This was when the 7th Viscount Montague owned the house.
On September 24, 1793, a terrible fire broke out. It started in the carpenters' workshop in the North Gallery. Some hot charcoal fell onto sawdust and wood shavings. The family's furniture and treasures were also stored in the North Gallery. This was because the house was being redecorated. Only three paintings and a few small pieces of furniture were saved. Everything else, including items from Battle Abbey, was lost in the flames.
Less than three weeks later, the 8th Viscount Montague died in an accident. The title then went to Mark Browne, a relative. He later died without children, and the family title ended. Many people believed these two sad events were the end of the curse from the monk, which was supposedly placed on the family 250 years earlier. The estate was then inherited by the 8th Viscount's sister.
Cowdray in the 1800s and 1900s
In the early 1800s, Cowdray House was left to fall apart. Plants, especially ivy, grew all over it, making it decay faster. Some small changes were made to the Kitchen Tower, but no one lived there. After William Poyntz died, his three daughters inherited the estate. They couldn't agree on how to share it, so it was sold in 1843. The 6th Earl of Egmont bought it.
In 1908, the 8th Earl of Egmont sold the estate to Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson. He later became the 1st Viscount Cowdray. The Viscount stopped the decay of the ruins. He had the ivy carefully removed and made sure any unsafe parts were fixed. He also ordered a full survey of the ruins.
Cowdray Today
The Viscount Cowdray family still owns Cowdray House. The 4th Viscount Cowdray inherited it in 1995. After a big project to preserve and protect the ruins in 2006, Cowdray House was opened to visitors on March 31, 2007.
The historical romance novel Green Darkness by Anya Seton (1972) features Cowdray House.
See also
- Cowdray Park, West Sussex, the newer house nearby.
