Shabden Park

The earliest records of Shabden Park are from 1263, when "Alured de Shepinden" is recorded as living there and the Surrey Subsidy Rolls of 1332 mention "Walter de Shependen" as a resident.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=13}} The name "Shabden" is thought to mean "sheep hill", the "{{endash}}den" suffix having a similar derivation to the {{langx|ang|dun}}.{{sfn|Gover|Mawer|Stenton|1969|p=291}} During the late medieval period, the land is thought to have been divided between two copyhold tenancies.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=13}}

John Fanshawe, father of the poet, Catherine Maria Fanshawe, bought Shabden Park in the early 1760s.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=28}} By this time, the estate covered around {{convert|500|acre}} and the mansion was the largest house in Chipstead.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=6}} Fanshawe was responsible for creating the Long Plantation, along the boundary with the neighbouring Eyhurst estate, and may also have planted Tickner's and Poorfield Woods.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=28}}{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=6}} He is also thought to have commissioned the building of the house depicted in a painting by John Hassell in 1821.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=45}}{{cite journal |last1= Batley |first1= James C. |last2= Moss |first2= Gerard P. |year= 1984|title= A Catalogue of Pictures of Surrey and Elsewhere by John Hassell (1767-1825) and his son Edward (1811-1852) |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume= 75 |pages= 3–53 |doi= 10.5284/1069071 |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_75/surreyac075_003-055_batley.pdf |access-date= 27 January 2025 }}

On Fanshawe's death in 1816, Shabden Park was bought by Archibald Little. The 1841 census records six members of his family (two of whom were soldiers) living in the mansion, along with 14 servants.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=28}} After Little's death in 1844, the estate was owned by John Cattley, a director of Royal Exchange Assurance.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=54}} His son, John Garrett Cattley, who inherited Shabden in 1862, commissioned Edward Middleton Barry to rebuild and enlarge the existing mansion house.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=28}}{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=54}} The architectural critics, Nikolaus Pevsner and Ian Nairn, describe Barry's house as being "very Victorian" and the style as being "uncompromising symmetrical French Renaissance", also noting the "elephantine timber porch".{{sfn|Nairn|Pevsner|1962|p=382}}

The final private owner was Horace Brooks Marshall, a newspaper publisher who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1918-19. Marshall developed shooting on the estate.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=28}} After Marshall's death in 1936, the mansion and the surrounding {{cvt|560|acre}} of land were offered for sale.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|page=6}}{{cite news |title= Shabden Park |date= 16 July 1936 |work= Sutton and Cheam Advertiser |page= 7 }} Surrey County Council bought Shabden Park for £65,000 that December,{{cite news |title= Surrey County Council secures Shabden Park for the Green Belt |date= 19 December 1936 |work= Winnipeg Evening Tribune |volume= XLVII |issue= 304 |page= 22 }} turning the mansion into a geriatric hospital for elderly ladies.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|page=6}}{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=29}} Around half of the estate, comprising {{cvt|275|acre}} of agricultural land, was leased to London County Council. In the late 1970s, the geriatric hospital closed and Surrey County Council divided the house into apartments, which were each allocated a share of the grounds.{{sfn|Pringle|1984|p=71}}

File:Shabden_Park_horse_wheel_-_geograph.org.uk_-_556683.jpg at Greys Court in 2007]]

A horse wheel, originally installed at Shabden Park in the 1870s, was relocated to Greys Court in Oxfordshire in the early 1970s. A ceremony to mark the completion of the project to restore the wheel took place on 8 June 1975.{{cite web |title= Greys Court Horse Wheel Preservation and Restoration |publisher= Berkshire Industrial Archaeology Group |url= http://biag.org.uk/greys-court-horse-wheel-preservation-and-restoration/ |access-date= 8 January 2025 }}

• Catherine Maria Fanshawe (1765–1834) poet – born at Shabden Park{{cite ODNB |last1= Courtney |first1= W.P. |last2= Mills |first2= Rebecca |date= 23 September 2004 |title= Fanshawe, Catherine Maria |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/9147 }}
• Horace Brooks Marshall (1865–1936) newspaper publisher and Lord Mayor of London – lived at Shabden Park from 1910 until his death{{sfn|Pringle|1984|pp=28-29}}{{cite news |title= Death of Lord Marshall |date= 3 April 1936 |work= Surrey Mirror and County Post |issue= 3035 |page= 11 }}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Gover |first1=J.E.B |last2=Mawer |first2=A. |author-link2=Allen Mawer |last3=Stenton |first3=F.M. |author-link3=Frank Stenton |year= 1969 |orig-year=1934 |title=The Place-names of Surrey |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{cite book |last1= Nairn |first1= Ian |author-link1= Ian Nairn |last2= Pevsner |first2= Nikolaus |author-link2= Nikolaus Pevsner |year= 1962 |title= Surrey |series= The Buildings of England |publisher= Penguin Books |location= Harmondsworth }}
• {{cite book |last= Pringle |first= C.E. |year= 1984 |title= A History of Chipstead |publisher= Chipstead Village Preservation Society |location= Chipstead |isbn= 978-0-95-095200-0 }}

{{refend}}

{{commons category|Shabden Park}}

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{{Surrey Wildlife Trust }}

Category:Surrey Wildlife Trust