Tedworth House

The first house on the site, on the southwest outskirts of South Tidworth, was well established when it was purchased by Thomas Smith in 1650.{{cite web|title=Tedworth House|url=http://www.drumbeat.org.uk/7383/7487.html|publisher=Drumbeat|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218210634/http://www.drumbeat.org.uk/7383/7487.html|archive-date=18 February 2018}} The estate passed to his grandson, John Smith (1656–1723), who became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then to his son Thomas who died unmarried soon after in 1728.{{Cite web|title=SMITH, Thomas I (1686-1728), of South Tidworth, Hants.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/smith-thomas-i-1686-1728|website=History of Parliament Online|access-date=2020-06-01}} It was inherited (together with the Vaynol Park estate in Wales) by Thomas Assheton (d.1774) of Ashley Hall, Cheshire, nephew of Captain William Smith, another of John Smith's sons.{{sfn|Eardley-Wilmot|1893|p=3}}

Assheton added Smith to his name, and his son Thomas Assheton Smith (1752–1828) was MP for Caernarvonshire and later for Andover.{{Cite web|title=ASSHETON SMITH, Thomas (c.1752-1828), of Faenol, Caern. and Tidworth, Hants.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/assheton-smith-thomas-1752-1828|website=History of Parliament Online|access-date=2020-05-31}} After his death his son, also Thomas (1776–1858), a keen foxhunter who at one time kept 200 hounds, moved here with his horses and hounds.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Smith, Thomas Assheton |volume= 53 |last= Boase |first= George Clement |author-link= George Clement Boase |pages= 134-135 |year= |short=1}} He had the house rebuilt in ornate classical style in 1828–1830.{{sfn|Eardley-Wilmot|1893|p=60}}{{Efn|Historic England give c.1860 for the rebuilding but this conflicts with other sources.|name=|group=}} The new two-storey house, faced in ashlar, has an imposing south front where the three-bay centre has a pediment above four Ionic columns.

It passed to Francis Sloane Stanley, nephew of his widow, who leased it first to Lord Broughton, a cabinet minister, and then from 1871 to Edward Studd, a wealthy indigo planter and racehorse owner, who was the father of the notable cricketer brothers.{{cite web|title=Question: Tedworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Question/Details/35|access-date=3 June 2020|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council}} Studd created a cricket ground and racecourse, then from 1874 until his death in 1876 made the house an evangelical centre.{{cite book|author=Grubb|first=Norman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQAlBQAAQBAJ|title=C. T. Studd: Cricketer & Pioneer|publisher=CLC Publications|year=2014|isbn=978-1-61958-197-5|chapter=1|author-link=Norman Grubb|orig-year=1933}}

The estate was acquired in 1877 by Sir John Kelk, 1st Baronet, a civil engineering contractor, who carried out extensive restructuring in 1878–80. It was inherited by Sir John William Kelk, 2nd Baronet in 1886.

The War Office bought the estate in 1897, and in 1905 the house became the official residence of the General in Command of the Salisbury Plain Military District.{{cite web|title=Last lunch at Tedworth House|url=http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/forces_focus/8830314.Last_lunch_at_Tedworth_House/|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Salisbury Journal|access-date=22 November 2014}}{{cite web|title=Victoria County History: Hampshire: Vol 4 pp391-394 – Parishes: Tidworth, South|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp391-394|year=1911|editor-last=Page|editor-first=William|website=British History Online|publisher=University of London|access-date=28 May 2020}} In 1911 the house stood in {{Convert|500|acre||abbr=}} of grounds, described as a "well wooded park". In the First World War it became the Garrison Officers' Mess for Tidworth Camp, which had been built in the north of the estate, and then accommodation for nurses.

An annual Tidworth Tattoo was held on the polo ground in front of the house from the 1920s until 1972.

During the Second World War the house served as a club for American soldiers, before reverting to its role as nurses' accommodation, then from 1977 was again the Officers' Mess.

In 2011, the house become a recovery centre for service personnel operated by the Help for Heroes charity,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Recovery in the South |url=https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/get-support/how-to-access-our-services/recovery-in-the-south/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519171421/https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/get-support/how-to-access-our-services/recovery-in-the-south/ |archive-date=19 May 2017 |website=Help for Heroes |via=Internet Archive}} which was officially opened in May 2013 by Prince Harry and Prince William.{{Cite web |date=20 May 2013 |title=Prince William and Prince Harry opening Help for Heroes centre |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/10069209/Prince-William-and-Prince-Harry-opening-Help-for-Heroes-centre.html?frame=2568004 |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=The Telegraph}} Alterations had included the building of a three-storey accommodation block.{{cite web|title=Projects: Tedworth House|url=http://www.themortonpartnership.co.uk/projects/tedworth-house/|date=2013-06-10|website=The Morton Partnership|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130053331/https://www.themortonpartnership.co.uk/projects/tedworth-house/|archive-date=30 January 2015}} In 2021, the recovery centre was said to be run by the Ministry of Defence.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-20 |title=Rehab at Tedworth House |url=https://veteranaware.nhs.uk/rehab-at-tedworth-house/ |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance |publisher=NHS}}

The two-storey stable block west of the house was built in the mid-19th century and forms three sides of a square, with an entrance archway in the east side. It is in red brick and has a 20th-century clock tower.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1093198|desc=Stable Block of South Tidworth House|access-date=28 May 2020|fewer-links=yes}}

A single-storey lodge, plain in style but with verandahs, was built at the north entrance to the estate in the early 19th century.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1093203|desc=Lodge to South Tidwort House|access-date=28 May 2020|fewer-links=yes}}

{{Notes}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | title=A Famous Fox Hunter. Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq., or The Pursuits of an English Country Gentleman|url=https://archive.org/details/afamousfoxhunte00wilgoog| last= Eardley-Wilmot| first= Sir John E| author-link=Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 2nd Baronet| edition=5th and cheaper | year=1893 |orig-year=1859| publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co| location= London|access-date=1 June 2020|via=Internet Archive}}

Category:Country houses in Wiltshire

Category:Georgian architecture in Wiltshire

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Wiltshire

Category:Grade II* listed houses

Category:Tidworth

Category:Houses completed in 1830