Easthampstead Park

Henry VII and his son Arthur, Prince of Wales arranged the latter's marriage to Catherine of Aragon at the lodge, and later rode out from here for their first meeting with the princess on Finchampstead Ridges.

Sir John Mason (1503-1566) became Keeper of Easthampstead Park in 1548 and King James I enlarged and improved the estate, which was well stocked with deer.

Sir William Trumbull befriended Alexander Pope the poet, who lived in Binfield and was a frequent visitor to Easthampstead Park.

The archive, which features letters by Stuart kings, Philip II of Spain, Marie de Medici, Bacon, Donne, Dryden, Fenton, Pope and Weckherlin, had been on loan to Berkshire county record office.

..."[2] Easthampstead house was only one of the properties of the Marquess of Downshire, who owned large estates of 115,000 acres (465 km2) in Northern Ireland.

In 1860, the fourth Marquess, confusingly called Arthur Wills Blundell Sandys Trumbull Windsor Hill (1812–1868) demolished the old mansion, leaving only a stable block, and built the present house which was completed in 1864.

At about the same time as the present mansion was erected, the Marchioness provided for the rebuilding of St Michael's parish church, Easthampstead where there are memorials to the Trumbull and Downshire families and to the poet, Elijah Fenton.

One of his handwritten letters, dated from the Park 18 June 1885, has been offered for sale by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas [1].

The sixth Marquess and his son employed a large staff of gardeners and others, and took great personal interest in the estate, even assisting with the upkeep of the roads with their own steam roller.

Until 1945, masters and boys lived in Crowthorne, lessons took place in Easthampstead Park, while Wellington College lent playing fields and laboratories.

After repairs following a fire in 1949, a training college for women teachers was opened, the mansion was altered and extended, and a new gymnasium and study block, now known as the Whitfield building was erected.

[3][citation needed] In 1984 SEBEV Search and Rescue moved into the basement area of the mansion which was already being used as a government nuclear fallout shelter.

Inside the mansion, rooms are named after the Trumbull, Sandys, Hill and Downshire families and their estates, and former staff of the college such as Wylie and Lewis.