Holmshurst Manor


Holmshurst Manor is a Jacobean country house located near Burwash in East Sussex, England. In 1970 it was purchased by Roger Daltrey of The Who.

Description

Holmshurst is located north of Burwash Common, near Witherenden Hill, and is surrounded by farm land. The house is built of brick with stone dressing and has twenty rooms and seven bedrooms. It features a tile roof, clustered chimneys, stone fireplaces, stained glass windows, oak paneling and a gallery seventy feet in length. Daltrey maintained the Jacobean style of the house, but also installed a sauna and Persian carpets. In the mid-1970s Daltrey designed and built Lakedown Fishery on the manor farm, and also installed a recording studio in one of the barns.
The grounds include a number of outbuildings, including two oast houses, meant for roasting hops as part of the process for brewing beer, and a granary which Daltrey converted to a garage. The manor house, oast houses and granary are listed as Grade II historical structures by English Heritage. Two cottages on the property are also listed as Grade II structures.

History

Holmshurst Manor was originally built by Goddard Hepden in 1610 and bears his initials "GH" carved in a coat-of-arms on the lintel. Hepden is thought to have been born in Burwash in about 1550, the son of John Hepden and Joan Wenham. He married Anne Frye, thought to have been born about 1552 in Ringmer, the daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth Frye. The couple married around 1580 and raised twelve children.
The Burwash War Memorial lists Richard Walker of Holmshurst, the son of Charles W. Walker, who was a horse breeder. Richard Walker was a lieutenant of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and died 9 August 1916 at the age of 33.