Wings Place
| Wings Place | |
|---|---|
Wings Place
|
|
 Wings Place, Ditchling
|
|
| Former names | Ditchling Garden Manor |
| Alternative names | Anne of Cleves House |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Tudor |
| Classification | Grade I listed |
| Location | Ditchling, East Sussex, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 50°55′16″N 0°6′59″W / 50.92111°N 0.11639°W |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Timber frame, Pegtile roof |
Wings Place, formerly Ditchling Garden Manor, also known as Anne of Cleves House, is a Grade I country house in Ditchling, East Sussex, England. It is a Tudor house, said to be one of the best examples in the country.
Wings Place was one of the properties which was part of the manor of Ditchling Garden, one of five manors in the parish of Ditchling. Ditchling Garden Manor dates to 1095 or earlier, when it was mentioned as part of the Priory of St. Pancras in Lewes and was described as a "garden with houses and the land which is between the two roads, with the wood adjoining it". After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII came into possession of it and granted Anne of Cleves the estate following their divorce. After her death in 1557, it was given back to The Crown, but by the 1570s it was owned by Henry Poole, a former Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Wootton Bassett, who had moved to Ditchling after his marriage. Poole died in 1580, and the house may have been rebuilt after that: its present appearance is largely 16th-century. The Browne family acquired the property in 1688, and later residents included William Pitt and the Duke of Wellington. The rooms in the upper floors also were the venue for conducting secret Catholic services. During the Brownes' ownership, part of the house was converted into a public library. By the mid-19th century, the building was divided into cottages or tenements, but in 1936 it was restored to its original layout as a single house after being auctioned the previous year. Later in the 20th century, it was owned for about 30 years by a reclusive American businessman and then for about 10 years by television presenter Jamie Theakston, who put it on sale in 2014 for a reported £2 million. After the asking price was reduced in early 2015, Theakston completed the sale in August 2015.
...
Wikipedia