Rotherfield Park

{{Infobox building

| name = Rotherfield Park

| image = Rotherfield Park - geograph.org.uk - 109081.jpg

| caption = House of Rotherfield Park

| location_town = East Tisted, East Hampshire

| location_country = England

}}

Rotherfield Park is a country house and estate located in East Tisted, East Hampshire in England. The park originated as a medieval hunting park, which may have been predated by a settlement and was later in the 18th century turned into pleasure grounds. The land owned by the park stretches across much of East Hampshire and includes fields in Colemore, Priors Dean, East Tisted and other parishes. In 1815–21 large changes were made to the older estate house; the designs were made by architect Joseph T. Parkinson{{cite web|title=Rotherfield Park, Winchester, England|url=http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/2853/history|website=Parks and Gardens UK|access-date=19 June 2016}} and is a Grade I listed building.

History

Rotherfield Park is an ancient estate first mentioned in 1015 as HrytherafeldCatalogue of the Stowe manuscripts in the British museum, 1895 available at: https://archive.org/details/cataloguestowem01unkngoog/page/706/mode/2up?q=Hrytherafeld meaning 'the open land for cattle.'https://maps.hants.gov.uk/historicenvironment/herResults.aspx?monuid=38985 There was likely settlement here predating the medieval hunting park which is first mentioned in the 16th century. The evidence for the park can still be seen today as a complex of ditches running around the estate.[https://web.archive.org/web/20230812141353/https://maps.hants.gov.uk/historicenvironment/herResults.aspx?monuid=51536 Historic environment] The estate has undergone a number of changes over the centuries, the first major one being the creation of pleasure grounds there in the 18th century, of which many features still exist. A detailed map of the estate was made at some point in the 1600s (see right), it is likely stored in the Rotherfield Park Estate Archives along with a wealth of other records which has unfortunately been kept hidden from researchers and historians.

File:1600s Rotherfield Map.jpg

Archaeology

Near to the park is a large amount of artifacts of prehistoric activity. Large flint scatters from the Neolithic were uncovered during field walking in the 1970s,[https://web.archive.org/web/20230812141232/https://maps.hants.gov.uk/historicenvironment/herResults.aspx?monuid=30282 Historic environment] and prehistoric ceramic finds [https://web.archive.org/web/20230812141559/https://maps.hants.gov.uk/historicenvironment/herResults.aspx?monuid=34165 Historic environment] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230812141352/https://maps.hants.gov.uk/historicenvironment/herResults.aspx?monuid=19034 Historic environment] dot the area, suggesting settlement. This along with other flint concentrations in nearby Chawton and Ropley suggests a potentially broad area of prehistoric settlement which requires more archaeological attention from local archaeological groups.

Points of interest

The house was owned by the local MP and High Sheriff of Hampshire, James Winter Scott, in the 1860s.{{cite web |title=The Archive's Earliest Photo Taken by a Woman {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/women-photographers-in-historic-england-archive/earliest-known-photograph-by-woman-in-archive/ |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=9 March 2019}}

It was used as a filming location for the 1983 feature film House of the Long Shadows, the 1997 TV remake of du Maurier's Rebecca,Rebecca (1997 TV series) and the 2006 Agatha Christie's Poirot episode After the Funeral.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tvlocations.net/afterfuneral.htm|title = On Location with Poirot - After the Funeral}} Rotherfield Park was also used in the fourth season of Grantchester (2019), for the scenes around the manor house owned by the new vicar's parents.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9470322/locations?ref_=tt_ql_dt_5|title=Filming & Production|website=imdb.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BuIyXvnAFuu/?igshid=12y1dqlile75b |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/instagram/huttonimages/1984057169850424238 |archive-date=2021-12-26 |url-access=registration|title=Behind the scenes on Grantchester 4 |website=huttonimages}}{{cbignore}}

People

References

External links

[http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/gardenfinder/garden.aspx?id=588 National Garden Scheme | Rotherfield Park]

Category:Country houses in Hampshire

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Hampshire