Woodcote Park#First world war

Epsom (Evesham) is recorded as belonging to the Abbey of Chertsey in the Domesday Book of 1086.{{sfn|Manning|Bray|1804}} The land comprising Woodcote was originally part of the estate of the Manor of Horton, granted by the abbot of Chertsey to John Merston and his wife Rose in 1440. Horton passed through generations of the Merston and Mynne families.{{sfn|Malden|1911}} By the start of the 16th century, the Woodcote land belonged to John Ewell of Horton, remaining in his family until 1591, when the estate was subject to litigation between Agnes Tyther, a descendant of Ewell, and Roger Lamborde. In 1597, the estate belonged to John Mynne, Lord of the manor of Horton.{{sfn|Malden|1911}}

Woodcote was inherited with Horton Manor by Elizabeth, wife of Richard Evelyn who in 1679 built the estate’s main mansion house.{{sfn|Malden|1911}} The house is mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys.{{sfn|Pepys|1667|loc=p. 339: "So to our coach, and through Mr. Minnes wood and looked upon Mr. Eveling's house"}} Elizabeth Evelyn bequeathed both Horton Manor and Woodcote Park to Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, a remote "connexion" of her family and proprietary governor of the colony of Maryland.{{sfn|Manning|Bray|1804}}{{sfn|Malden|1911}} Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic, lost control of the province of Maryland during the Protestant Revolution of 1689.{{Cite book |last=Brugger |first=Robert J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNspu2FxwUwC&pg=PA39 |title=Maryland, A Middle Temperament: 1634–1980 |date=1996-09-25 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5465-1 |pages=39–40 |language=en}}

In around 1712, Woodcote Park was described by Celia Fiennes:

Lord Baltimores in Woodcut Green encompassed with a wall at the entrance, a breast wall with pallisadoes, large courts one within the other, and a back way to the stables where there is a pretty horse pond; the house is old but low, though large run over much ground; as I drove by the side saw broad chimneys on the end and at due distance on the side on both ends the sides of a court which terminated in a building on which there is a lead with railes and barristers.{{cite book |last= Fiennes |first= Celia |author-link=Celia Fiennes |year= 1888 |title= Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary |page= 292 |location= London |publisher= Leadenhall Press |url= https://archive.org/details/throughenglando00fiengoog/page/n310/mode/2up?q=woodcut |access-date= 29 August 2023 }}

In 1715 the third Lord Baltimore died, and Woodcote Park was inherited by Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore. However he died less than two months after his father, on 16 April 1715.{{cite journal |last= Swynfen Jervis |first= Simon |year= 2006 |title= Furniture in eighteenth-century country house guides |journal= Furniture History |volume= 42 |pages= 63–152 |jstor= 23410062}}{{cite ODNB |last= Bickham |first= Troy O. |date= 23 September 2004 |title= Calvert, Benedict Leonard, fourth Baron Baltimore |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/75618 }} On Benedict's death Woodcote was inherited by the fifteen-year-old Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, born in 1699.{{cite ODNB |last= Bickham |first= Troy O. |date= 23 September 2004 |title= Calvert, Charles, fifth Baron Baltimore |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/75619 }} Calvert made many changes to the house, including adding a Palladian facade by John Vardy, though Lord Baltimore's brothers complained that he "pulled down everything" and "finished nothing".{{cite book |last= Yentsch |first= Anne E. |year= 1994 |title= A Chesapeake Family and Their Slaves: A Study in Historical Archaeology |publisher= Cambridge University Press |location= Cambridge |isbn= 0521432936 |pages= 100–105 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ysbfsQQ_gMUC&pg=PA100 |access-date= 29 August 2023 }} On Charles's death in 1751, his son, Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore, inherited the estate. According to Horace Walpole, Frederick spent large sums of money making the interior of the house "tawdry" and "ridiculous" in what Calvert called the "French" style.{{cite journal |last= Toynbee |first= Paget |year= 1927 |title= Horace Walpole's visits to country seats, etc |journal= The Volume of the Walpole Society |volume= 16 |page= 61 |jstor= 41830706 }} Woodcote was sold to various owners; Mr. Monk, Mr. Nelson, and Arthur Cuthbert, until {{circa|1788}} when it was sold to London merchant Louis Tessier. {{sfn|Manning|Bray|1804}}

File:Woodcote Park.jpg's Topographical History of Surrey, 1842.]]

In 1828 the house was described in the following terms:

The mansion is situated in a vale, at the foot of a well wooded eminence, which rises rather abruptly to the south. The east or entrance front is represented in the view given, as seen from the opposite eminence. The basement is cased with stone, and the remainder of the building is stuccoed. It consists of a centre with wings extending in a curvilinear form, and presents an extensive and very imposing frontage. A flight of steps, with balustrade, conducts to the hall which is of good dimensions, and is adorned with coupled Corinthian columns supporting a frieze. Amongst the principal apartments, of which five are en-suite, are two withdrawing-rooms; the walls of the smaller were decorated and painted, as also the ceiling, by foreign artists. The library is a very splendid room, being ornamented with a profusion of gilding on a blue ground. On the ceiling is painted Ganymede, by Verrio. An apartment, styled the painted room, has its walls covered with designs illustrative of the Greek romance of Daphnis and Chloe. At the west end of the building an apartment, formerly used as a chapel, has a painted ceiling representing the Resurrection, by Verrio. On the first floor is a room 40 feet by 28, and 18 feet high. The park lies about a mile south of the village of Epsom, and contiguous to the race-course; it contains about 350 acres.{{cite book |last= Prosser |first= George Frederick |year= 1828 |title= Select Illustrations of the County of Surrey: Comprising picturesque views of the seats of the nobility and gentry |pages=125–126 |publisher= C. & J. Rivington |location= London |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4PcGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP125 |access-date= 29 August 2023 }}

In 1913 the house was purchased by the Royal Automobile Club, which had been seeking a country club with the potential for a golf course for its members.[https://books.google.com/books?id=nwWH3KSt7s4C&dq=woodcote+park+calvert&pg=PA229 Harris, John, p.230, Moving Rooms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622155522/https://books.google.com/books?id=nwWH3KSt7s4C&pg=PA229&dq=woodcote+park+calvert&hl=en&ei=mHCuTP6GKIf6swPRmbiHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=woodcote%20park%20calvert&f=false |date=22 June 2021 }} Retrieved October 2010 Most of the fine interiors commissioned by the Calverts were then removed by the RAC; the club instructed one Harold G. Lancaster of 55 Conduit St to remove the historic rooms and sell them at auction.

In 1914, during the First World War, the War Office requisitioned Woodcote Park for a military training camp for the Universities and Public School Brigade (18th–21st (Service) Battalians, Royal Fusiliers).{{Cite web|url=https://www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.uk/places/surrey/epsom_ewell/epsom/|title=Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers. A Surrey Heritage (Surrey County Council) project}}{{Cite web|url=https://rgjmuseum.co.uk/photo-archive-item/woodcote-park/|title=Woodcote Park Convalescent Camp 1916|website=Royal Green Jackets}}{{Cite web|url=https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25040|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230825073809/https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25040|archive-date=25 August 2023|title=Woodcote Park Camp|publisher=Epsom and Ewell History Explorer}}{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2023}} With construction beginning in November 1914, the camp was built in two sections, 'The Farm Camp' and the 'Ridge Camp'.{{cite book|last1=Oldfield|first1=Paul|title=Victoria Crosses on the Western Front|date=14 December 2020 |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |isbn=978-1-4738-8494-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RgQVEAAAQBAJ&dq=Woodcote+Park+Convalescent+Hospital&pg=PT209}}{{cite book |last1=Messurier |first1=Paul Le |title=Surrey's Military Heritage |date=15 July 2019 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-8963-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvSiDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22construction+began+in+November+1914%22&pg=PT58}} Built with over 100 huts, to accommodate 5,400 men and 200 officers, the camp was complete with facilities including water, sanitation, roads, mess halls, a recreation hall, chapel, post office and general store.

In May 1915, the Fusilier battalions left Woodcote Camp for Clipstone in Nottinghamshire, and Salisbury Plain, for further training before leaving for France. In June, 1915, under orders of Southern Command, the camp was converted to a military convalescent hospital.{{Cite web|url=https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/the-evacuation-chain-for-wounded-and-sick-soldiers/military-hospitals-in-the-british-isles-1914-1918/|title=Military hospitals in the British Isles 1914–1918}}{{cite web|archive-date=2023-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828195948/https://wartimecanada.ca/sites/default/files/2023-05/Woodcote%20Park%2C%20MCH.pdf|title=Military Convalescent Hospital, Woodcote Park|url=https://wartimecanada.ca/sites/default/files/2023-05/Woodcote%20Park%2C%20MCH.pdf}} Initially, the hospital had 500 beds in Farm Camp section of the site, but this was soon expanded to receive the first patients who were Australian and New Zealand troops from the Gallipoli campaign. In the first year (June 1915 to June 1916), over 20,600 patients were admitted to the Woodcote Park Convalescent Hospital, including British (10,600) soldiers and troops from Imperial territories including Canada (4,500), Australia (4,100), New Zealand (1,400), and South Africa. By July 1916 there were over 3000 convalescents at the hospital, including many Canadian troops from the Battle of the Somme.{{harvnb|Stuttard|1995|pp=118–119}} Such were the numbers of Canadian casualties during the Somme offensive that in August 1916 the entire site was handed over to the Canadian Army Medical Corps {{cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/005/f2/005-1142.29.002-e.pdf|title=Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: Canadian Army Medical Corps|pages=142|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230826165309/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/005/f2/005-1142.29.002-e.pdf |archive-date=26 August 2023 }} and was the largest of the eight convalescent hospitals for Canadian personnel during the war with 3,900 beds.{{cite book |author1=Andrew Macphail |author1-link=Andrew Macphail |title=Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914–19: The Medical Services |date=1925 |publisher=The Minister of National Defence |url=https://archive.org/details/medicalservices00macpuoft/page/n239/mode/2up |quote=Woodcote Park Convalescent Hospital}} On 17 June 1919, up to 800 Canadian soldiers from the camp rioted, attacking Epsom police station and leaving the station sergeant dead.{{cite book|last1=Gardner|first1=Nikolas|editor1-last=Mantle|editor1-first=Craig|title=The Apathetic and the Defiant: Case Studies of Canadian Mutiny and Disobedience, 1812 to 1919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPFHCyfbnhwC&pg=PP1|date=2007|publisher=Canadian Defence Academy Press|location=Kingston, Ont|isbn=978-1-55002-710-5|pages=439–462|chapter=Disaffection and Disobedience in the Aftermath of the First World War: The Canadian Assault on the Epsom Police Station, 17 June 1919}} Subsequently, the Canadian hospital was closed on 30 June 1919 and repurposed as Queen Mary's Convalescent Centre for the treatment and training of ex-servicemen.

{{Gallery|File:Postcard of Woodcote Park during the First World War - 2.jpg|No. 2 Company 21st Battalion Royal Fusiliers marching out of Woodcote Park Camp|File:Main entrance of Woodcote Park.jpg|Convalescent soldiers walking up the central path to the main entrance|File:Postcard of Woodcote Park during the First World War - 5.jpg|Interior view of barracks|File:Postcard of Woodcote Park during the First World War - 7.jpg|Interior of one of the hospital's convalescent huts|File:Postcard of Woodcote Park during the First World War - 6.jpg|Interior of the camp kitchen |File:Recreation Hall at Woodcote Park during the First World War.jpg|The camp's recreation hall}}

In 1923, the estate was returned from the War Office to the RAC. In 1927, the interior of one of the mansion's drawing rooms, noted for its excellent carved wood panelling and other decorations in the style of Thomas Chippendale (possibly originally designed for Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore), was shipped to the United States and installed in the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, Massachusetts.{{cite web |url= https://collections.mfa.org/objects/326396 |title= Paneled Drawing Room from Woodcote Park |author= |date= |publisher= Museum of Fine Arts Boston |access-date= 22 June 2021 |archive-date= 22 June 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210622160255/https://collections.mfa.org/objects/326396 |url-status= live }}

In 1934 the house was gutted by fire, leaving very little of the Evelyn mansion and losing works of art by artists including Rubens, Verrio, and Zuccarelli.{{cite web|url=https://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/about-the-club/history/history-of-woodcote-park/|

archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230825113037/https://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/about-the-club/history/history-of-woodcote-park/|archive-date=25 August 2023|title=History of Woodcote Park|publisher=Royal Automobile Club}}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Epsom R.A.C. Burnt Out |date=3 August 1934 |page=3 |issue=46823}} Fortunately the outer pavilions of the house and many agricultural buildings remained intact, as well as the entrance steps, balustrades and colonnades. The architects Mewès and Davis were commissioned to rebuild the house, and the façade of the house was restored as close to the Evelyn original as was possible.{{cite web|title=Woodcote Park|publisher=Epsom and Ewell History Explorer|url=https://eehe.org.uk/?p=29903|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230826193111/https://eehe.org.uk/?p=29903|archive-date=26 August 2023}}{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2023}}

File:Hurricane mk1 r4118 fairford arp.jpg a Hawker Hurricane aircraft was forced to land on the club golf course.]]

During the Second World War, Woodcote Park was again taken over for military use, being pressed into service as a training centre. The ornamental gardens were ploughed up to grow food for the war effort. In the summer of 1940, during the height of the Battle of Britain, a Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft was forced to land on the golf course of Woodcote Park. The pilot received medical assistance in the RAC clubhouse, having first proved that he was not an enemy airman by waving a packet of Players cigarettes at nearby golfers.

Woodcote Park serves as one of two club houses of the RAC private members club; the other being at 89–91 Pall Mall, London. It is a grade II* listed building {{NHLE|num=1288718|desc= The Royal Automobile Country Club (RAC), entrance steps, curved colonnades, and outer pavilions of Woodcote Park (old house)|accessdate=10 November 2014}} and features two 18-hole downland golf courses on its {{cvt|350|acre}} estate.

• Baron Baltimore

{{Reflist|2}}

{{refbegin}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=utSeO6I_VWoC&dq=woodcote+park+calvert&pg=PA443 Hayton, David, p.443, The House of Commons 1690–1715, Volume 2] Retrieved October 2010
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=nwWH3KSt7s4C&dq=woodcote+park+calvert&pg=PA229 Harris, John, Moving Rooms] Retrieved October 2010
• {{cite book |chapter=Parishes: Epsom|title=A History of the County of Surrey|volume=3|editor1-last=Malden|editor1-first=H.E.|location=London|year=1911|publisher=British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp271-278|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831112801/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp271-278|archive-date=2023-08-31|pages=271–278|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book | title=The history and antiquities of the county of Surrey : compiled from the best and most authentic historians, valuable records, and manuscripts in the public offices and libraries, and in private hands; with a facsimile copy of Domesday, engraved on thirteen plates| last1 = Manning | first1 = Owen |last2 = Bray |first2 = William| location = London| publisher = John White |year = 1804 |chapter = Epsom|pages=609–625 |url=https://eehe.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ManningBray-Epsom.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901055406/https://eehe.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ManningBray-Epsom.pdf|archive-date=2023-09-01|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book |last1 = Pepys |first1= Samuel |year=1667| editor-last1=Latham|editor-first1=Robert|editor-last2=Matthews|editor-first2=William|title=The Diary of Samuel Pepys|volume=8|location=London|orig-year=1983|publisher=Bell and Hyman|isbn=0713515589}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last= Stuttard |editor1-first= J.C. |year= 1995 |title= A history of Ashtead |location= Leatherhead |publisher= Leatherhead & District Local History Society |isbn= 978-0-95-060092-5 }}
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=ysbfsQQ_gMUC&dq=woodcote+park+calvert&pg=PA358 Yentsch, Anne E, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994)] Retrieved September 2010

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Woodcote Park}}

• [https://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/woodcote-park/ Woodcote Park at RAC website]

Category:Country houses in Surrey

Category:Calvert family residences

Category:Epsom and Ewell

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Surrey