Red Rice, Hampshire

For other uses, see Red rice (disambiguation).
Red Rice
Red Rice
 Red Rice shown within Hampshire
OS grid referenceSU3379942084
DistrictTest Valley
Shire countyHampshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Andover
Postcode district SP11
Dialling code 01264
Police Hampshire
Fire Hampshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentNorth West Hampshire
List of places
UK
England
Hampshire

Coordinates: 51°10′37″N 1°31′04″W / 51.176995°N 1.51788°W / 51.176995; -1.51788

Red Rice is a hamlet south-west of Andover, Hampshire, England. The name may originate from:

Red Rice House and park

Red Rice has a house built in an early Georgian park. Probably built around 1740. The outside is faced with Clipsham stone. It has a slate roof and arched windows. There are 13 bays and a porte cochere of 4 Tuscan columns. The stables areas include a clock tower and an arch of rubbed bricks. The park was extended by the diversion of a local road and the building has been extended. William Burn re-modelled the house in the mid 19th century. More buildings were added when the site became a school in 1961. The gate lodge and gatepiers are designated English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II.[4][5][6]

View from the front drive
View from the front drive
Front of Building
Front of Building
The front of the House
The front of the House
View of main corridor
View of the main corridor
View of the main corridor
View of the main corridor
A drawing room
The location of the building's original reading room
A drawing room
The location of the building's original reading room
chapel
The Grand Hall (ballroom), converted into a Chapel
Rear of building
Rear of the 'Nursery wing', showing the remains of a larger walled enclosure
clock tower
Entrance to the Stable area
The Gatehouse
The Gatehouse

Historical significance

Red Rice was home of the Errington family, associated with the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), in a secret and illegal marriage to the Roman Catholic mistress, Maria Anne Fitzherbert. The building was used during World War II by American forces and used for various secret and high level planning. This included the reserve headquarters of the D Day Landings, should the primary location become unserviceable.

Early history

The current House was built around 1740 with red brick. A water-supply system was installed during the period, but it is not clear where the supply originated. The parts examined in 1960 by Mr Wilfred Carpenter Turner, an expert on older buildings, were found to be still operating and in very good condition.[1]

Errington family

Mansion and grounds. 49 acres, 14p.
Garden. 2 acres, 2r, 16p.
Paddock pasture. 1 acre, 3r, 34p. (occupier: J. Parsons).
Rents:
Pasture and Wood. Arable land 6 UKP 10 shillings and 6 pence.
Gardens - walled gardens, Cottage and gardens. 1 UKP 17 shillings and 6 pence.

Lords Berwick

At times before 1913, the external walls were rendered with cement. Creepers were planted. There were Flemish gables and sashes of cavernous plate-glass.[1] The road at the front was diverted. A stable block (with a mounting block) and archway was built of red brick. A wide variety of trees were planted. It is not clear who was living in the House after 1819. It probably remained to be owned by Thomas, the childless 2nd Baron Berwick. Thomas died in 1832, leaving his estate to his brother, the new Baron.

Best family

At least two generations of Thomas Best lived there. Rev Thomas Best purchased it. He was a Magistrate, a Clerk and Lord of the Manor. Either his son or grandson was Captain Thomas George Best, who eventually became the new Lord of the Manor; and then sold it.[23] In 1844, they planned to divert the road that ran in front of the park (to make a more imposing drive leading to the house), build stables, start an arboretum, create pleasure grounds and develop a large, productive kitchen garden. The legacy of those early trees provided sequoias, mighty green and copper beeches, cedars, a rare weeping beech (outside Errington House) and innumerable elms. At the back of the house a great variety of trees were planted in such a way that a large number of different species of tree could be seen individually from the house.

Grantley family

Lord Grantley's son suggests his father purchased Red Rice for shooting, rather than hunting.[35] The family removed a number of rooms on two floors to construct a very fine Great Hall with plasterwork in a coved ceiling and pillared entrance. A new ceiling, in the style of Adam, was added to the dining-room. Several marble fireplaces were installed. General Edwardian alterations included plaster cherubs in the morning-room. More trees were added.[1]

Miller-Mundy family

The family made many changes and repairs to the building. Outbuildings were built to accommodate estate workers involved in the family's interests in sport, shooting and rearing pheasants and livestock. Four tennis courts and a secluded Japanese water-garden, trees and a path leading to two discreet rose-gardens, each containing a fountain, were built. In 1933 there were major renovations. The old, decaying, grey rendering was removed and the red brick walls were encased in honey-coloured Clipsham stone with the ground floor boldly rusticated and a beetling cornice at the top. All windows replaced by chain-hung sashes with proportioned panes. The roof was renewed and drains re-designed. Fire hydrants and static water-tanks were built around the house, fed from the original Regency water-supply system. Almost all internal timber was replaced due to damage from death-watch beetle and woodworm. Rooms were grouped into suites, plumbing and bathrooms improved, electrical outlets were added. They built some form of early oil-fired central heating. The interior was decorated throughout with a durable paint of beige colour. A nursery wing was built onto the main House, linking it to the stables. The new floorspace was used for a 'studio and a boudoir', and working and living areas for the senior house servants.

The war years

After the war

With the death in 1960 of Major Miller-Mundy, the main entity of Redrice was divided into two main parts, the house and immediate grounds, and Home Farm.

Home Farm

On 28 April 1961, the farming side of the hamlet (approximately 850 acres) was purchased by the Scott family. This was farmed with their relatives the Barnes-Gorell family.

This included the parkland to the south east of the main house, 16 farm workers cottages, the market garden, farm buildings, outlying barns and woodland. Over the years, the houses were improved and modernized. Several were knocked into larger accommodation to increase the quality of the homes. The farm infrastructure was improved and in 1967 the dairy herd was sold and the output switched solely to arable crops. Unusually the farm retained extensive soil, climate and other key data from every growing season. This enabled it to be competitive by specializing in growing seed crops for the major seed producers.

Before the First World War, the farm employed 40 men and about 80 horses. There were required for all aspects of the farming process. The introduction of traction engines did little to reduce their numbers. When they were being used, up to 8 horses were required to pull the water bowsers from the Pill Hill Brook, a tributary of the River Anton that runs through the Clatfords, to Red Rice to keep their boilers supplied. The introduction of modern tractors reduced the number of horses required.

In 1963, the Scott family built their family home in the Horse Meadow field. It was aptly named Horse Meadow. Mary Scott was an internationally acclaimed sculptress, whose work includes the plaque commemorating the battle at Gallipoli during the First World War which is found in the Crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London. Her husband, Edward Scott was part of the small photographic unit that recorded the devastation from Britain's atomic weapons test in Montebello in 1952.

The family sold the majority of the farm land and Home Farm in 2004, and retained their home, a cottage and surrounding lands of 40 acres around the family home, and a small paddock and 18 acres of woodland to the south of Redrice House called Home Covert.

Redrice School

The H-shaped estate workshop buildings and most of the stable block perimeter wall were removed. The stable yard was reconstructed to provide three classrooms and two day-rooms, together with changing rooms, ablutions and a housemaster's study below, and upstairs dormitories for 28 and studies for 30, as well as bathrooms and three master's rooms. The courtyard was floored with paving and chippings. A refectory area was created and roofed in over the old backyard of the house, between the kitchen and the house's 1933 wing. Trees were cleared for playing fields.

Recent history

After 1982, several new buildings have been added for Farleigh School.

Legends and associated stories

A local legend about the avenue tells of a ghostly coach and horses on the road between Red Rice and Abbotts Ann.[52] This is almost certainly a reference to a Roman mosaic unearthed in the nearby field by "Squire" Errington, depicting a "coach and a pair of galloping horses".[53] In the house itself, one boy who used to practise on the chapel organ was sure he had seen a 'Grey Lady' walking up the aisle. Two of the school staff, accommodated in the upper floor of the stable courtyard, (previously occupied by grooms and domestic servants of the estate), told of overwhelming feelings of terror at night experienced in one particular corner. Three stories could account for this. One tells of a drunken fight between two grooms, which ended with one of them killed by a fall down a steep staircase. The second relates to a shooting episode in 1886. The third is told by Lord Grantley in his autobiography 'A Silver-plated Spoon';[54] One evening the butler, appropriately named Butler, came in and announced that he intended to 'do himself in,' but that he had made arrangements for his duties to be taken over by the senior footman. The family's reaction was 'Poor old Butler, drunk again,' but they found him dead next day.[1][55]

Eliza Carthy named her 1998 Mercury Music Prize nominated album 'Red Rice'[56] after travelling in the area.

Paintings and photographs

Until the House became a School in 1961, the House contained many portraits. In 1893, a local history society reported there was a portrait of General Pitt in Thomas Best's house.[57] When Eisenhower visited during the war, it was noted that the mansion was "hung with ancient paintings".

A photograph of the Great Hall (now a Chapel) in 1945 shows the original "Cupid & Psyche" [58] by John Hoppner hanging with many other paintings.[59]

In 1960, purchasers saw many family portraits and engravings of ladies, which were not part of the sale; and taken by the vendor; and some were sold by Auction at Christies.[60] In the 1920s the sale of the property is believed to have included a printed prospectus which included photographs. The earliest known existing photograph is an aerial photograph; probably taken between 1933 and 1960.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Unpublished research by Veronica Stokes in 1961.
  2. 1 2 Harry Dexter White papers, Box 7, Princeton University Library.
  3. The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Published 1861
  4. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1230472)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  5. http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/index2.php?option=com_parksandgardens&task=site&id=3836&preview=1&Itemid=292>
  6. Buildings of England; Hants and I.O.W., (Pevsner and Lloyd), pp.51
  7. 1 2 "Rev Stephen Bachiler". Miner Descent. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  8. Domesday records http://www.domesdayextracts.co.uk
  9. 1 2 3 4 British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56825
  10. A handbook for Travellers in Surrey, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. By R J King. 1865. Page 306.
  11. Family Records http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I45487&tree=Nixon
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The Early History of Redrice. By Richard Arnold-Jones. Redrice School magazine 1966.
  13. 1 2 3 4 US Archive http://ia700309.us.archive.org/13/items/mrsfitzherberta01wilkgoog/mrsfitzherberta01wilkgoog_djvu.txt
  14. Geography Department, Portsmouth University http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantsmap/hantsmap/taylor4/ty35.htm
  15. Mrs Fitzherbert and George IV. Book. https://archive.org/stream/mrsfitzherbertge01wilkiala#page/84/mode/2up/search/errington
  16. Geography Department, Portsmouth University http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantsmap/hantsmap/milne1/mln45.htm
  17. Book. Mrs Firzherbert and George IV 1905
  18. Barry Sharples. "::: A Short History of English Maps :::". Bsswebsite.me.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  19. Geography Department, Portsmouth University http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantsmap/hantsmap/ordnce6/oss25.htm
  20. Geography Department, Portsmouth University http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantsmap/hantsmap/grnwood2/grw45.htm
  21. Archives https://archive.org/stream/threegeneration00russgoog/threegeneration00russgoog_djvu.txt
  22. "Re: William Noel Hill 3rd Lord Berwick and Hester Stanhope". Newsgroups.derkeiler.com. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  23. "Parishes - Upper Clatford | A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4 (pp. 359-365)". British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  24. The peerage and baronetage of the British empire, by Edmund Lodge 1989.
  25. "The New sporting magazine". p381. James Morrell Esq.
  26. Family history records
  27. The Farmer's Magazine, volume 73.
  28. History, gazetteer and directory of the county of Hampshire 1878 http://www.worldcat.org/title/history-gazetteer-and-directory-of-the-county-of-hampshire-including-the-isle-of-wight-and-comprising-a-general-survey-of-the-county-and-separate-historical-statistical-and-topographical-descriptions-of-all-the-hundreds-parishes-townships-chapelries-towns-ports-villages-hamlets-unions-the-diocese-of-winchester-the-seats-of-the-nobility-and-gentry-magistrates-and-public-officers-and-a-great-variety-of-other-archological-architectural-agricultural-biographical-botanical-and-geological-information/oclc/2003087
  29. London Gazette http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/25612/pages/3698/page.pdf
  30. UK National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=D3623
  31. Western Gazette 10 Aug
  32. Western Gazette 20 April
  33. (Western Gazette 24 April
  34. UK National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=007-trmes&cid=13-29#13-29
  35. Book./ Silver Spoon. Publisher: Hutchinson 1954. ASIN B0017AIV44
  36. The Times, Friday, 16 May 1913; pg. 6; Issue 40213
  37. Family records http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index603.htm
  38. UK National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=1585-est01_1&cid=422#422
  39. UK National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=041-17m73&cid=8-367#8-367
  40. Shipley Hall records http://www.ilkcam.com/Specials/Miller-Mundy/Miller-Mundy%2008.html
  41. http://www.myfamilysilver.com/pages/crestfinder-crest.aspx?id=161543&name=Mundy
  42. "WW2 People's War - Tending Cows in the Land Army". BBC. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  43. Wartime memories http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/airfields/middlewallop.php
  44. 1 2 Family records http://thepeerage.com/p7880.htm#i78792
  45. Obituary http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23786120.html
  46. UK National Archives http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C7160251
  47. British Army Officers 1939-1945 http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_M02.html
  48. http://www.sopse.org.uk/asset_arena/image/2000/hs/hl/hs-hl-hs2698-i-00-000.jpg
  49. Country Life Volume 128
  50. Anton Rotary Club. http://www.antonrotary.org.uk/html/previous_club__events.html
  51. http://www.admes.org.uk/page2.php ADMES website
  52. 1937. Doings, sayings, and interests, past and present Hampshire Federation of Women's Institutes. Published by the Hampshire Federation of Women's Institutes
  53. Roman mosaics of Britain: South-east Britain - Volume 3 - Page 163. Published by: Illuminata Publishers for the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2002.
  54. Publisher: Hutchinson 1954. ASIN B0017AIV44
  55. A newspaper extract in the Sydney Morning Herald - 7 January 1954
  56. http://mainlynorfolk.info/eliza.carthy/records/redrice.html
  57. Berkshire Archaeological Society, Berkshire archaeological and architectural society, Reading - 1893
  58. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1671394&partId=1
  59. Private collection. Farleigh School.
  60. The Times. London. 24 October 1961; pg. 20; Issue 55220)

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