Highcliffe Castle, during the classic car event August 2017, Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe, Dorset. England.
Highcliffe-on-Sea ( usually shortened to Highcliffe ) is a small town in the borough of Christchurch, Dorset in southern England. It forms part of the South East Dorset conurbation along the English Channel coast. The town lies on a picturesque stretch of Solent coastline with views of the Isle of Wight and its Needles rock formation. In 1838 a large ship the Herman Julius 336 tons, was wrecked at Chuton ( Chewton ) Bunny. The crew of 11 were saved, one was lost overboard before she struck. Bemister and Holloway purchased the wreck.
Highcliffe Castle is a Grade I listed building now owned by Christchurch Council, and described as the most important remaining example of the Romantic and Picturesque style of architecture. It holds events open to the general public throughout the year open, and can be used for weddings and other private events. Highcliffe Castle, situated on the cliffs at Highcliffe, Dorset, was built between 1831 and 1835 by Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay in a Gothic Revival style on the site of High Cliff house, a Georgian Mansion designed for the 3rd Earl of Bute ( a founder of Kew Gardens) with the gardens laid out by Capability Brown. The design, by William Donthorne, a founder member of RIBA, incorporated large quantities of carved Medieval stonework salvaged from the Norman Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Jumieges and the Grande Maison des Andelys. The Earl's fourth son, General Sir Charles Stuart sold the estate apart from the nearby smaller Bure Homage House.
All that remains of the original High Cliff are the two entrance lodges, now used as a restaurant, also some of the garden walls and features in the lands. The son of Sir Charles Stuart, also Charles Stuart, decided to buy his grandfather's estate and build a new house there. In 1828 Sir Charles Stuart became Lord Stuart de Rothesay. Early retirement from the diplomatic service meant Lord Stuart could now start on the project to build the new house and by 1830 he had purchased much of the eastern end of the estate. The castle is built on an L shaped plan, oriented on a south-east axis, so the oriel window is central on the south east elevation, providing a vista across the landscaped gardens to a panorama of the needles and Isle of Wight. The house remained in the family until 1950 when much of the estate was sold and eventually developed up to the castle walls. For a time from 1950 to 1953 the Castle was a children's home before being sold to Claretian Missionary fathers as firstly a noviciate, then for use as a seminary. The castle was put up for sale in 1966, after many years of uncertainty and neglect the castle was eventually restored. Today the Castle’s renovated exterior is testimony of the remarkable skills of craftsmen and women who carried out a huge repair and conservation programme in the 1990s, jointly funded by Christchurch Borough Council, English Heritage and a £2.65 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
All that remains of the original High Cliff are the two entrance lodges, now used as a restaurant, also some of the garden walls and features in the lands. The son of Sir Charles Stuart, also Charles Stuart, decided to buy his grandfather's estate and build a new house there. In 1828 Sir Charles Stuart became Lord Stuart de Rothesay. Early retirement from the diplomatic service meant Lord Stuart could now start on the project to build the new house and by 1830 he had purchased much of the eastern end of the estate. The castle is built on an L shaped plan, oriented on a south-east axis, so the oriel window is central on the south east elevation, providing a vista across the landscaped gardens to a panorama of the needles and Isle of Wight. The house remained in the family until 1950 when much of the estate was sold and eventually developed up to the castle walls. For a time from 1950 to 1953 the Castle was a children's home before being sold to Claretian Missionary fathers as firstly a noviciate, then for use as a seminary. The castle was put up for sale in 1966, after many years of uncertainty and neglect the castle was eventually restored. Today the Castle’s renovated exterior is testimony of the remarkable skills of craftsmen and women who carried out a huge repair and conservation programme in the 1990s, jointly funded by Christchurch Borough Council, English Heritage and a £2.65 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Highcliffe lies close to the historic town of Christchurch, the resort town of Bournemouth, and the New Forest National Park. Highcliffe's position on the middle of England's south coast gives it a climate with milder winters than inland areas and less rainfall than locations further west. This helped establish the town as a popular health and leisure resort during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. What is now regarded as Highcliffe has developed over the last several hundred years from the hamlet of Slop Pond, the Chewton Estate, and Chewton Common. The latter two also contained large farmsteads. Slop Pond was a collection of thatched cottages, named from the large pond on its common. The cottages wereoccupied by farm workers and fishermen, who engaged in the smuggling and poaching trade now notorious in local history. When the area became a more popular tourist destination in the Victorian era, Slop Pond was renamed Newtown. It was later then changed to Highcliff, after the first High Cliff house, and soon became known as Highcliffe on Sea.
Chewton Bunny Nature Reserve is an ancient wooded river valley which forms the county boundary between Dorset and Hampshire. The Walkford Brook flows through the site, entering a culvert and eventually flowing out to sea. A chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding coastal cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word chine originates from the Saxon Cinan meaning a gap or yawn. The word is in still use in central Southern England; in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight to describe such topographical features. However, bunny is also used to describe a chine in Hampshire, Chewton Bunny is designated as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest and is rich in woodland wildlife, including a number of Ancient Natural Woodland Indicator species. The mill house in the centre of the site previously used a waterwheel in the Brook to mill grain and the cover given by the site made it a convenient smuggling route for contraband in the past. At the north end of the site the Brook also passes under the first ever reinforced concrete bridge.
Highcliffe Castle, during the classic car event August 2017, Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe, Dorset. England.
Highcliffe-on-Sea ( usually shortened to Highcliffe ) is a small town in the borough of Christchurch, Dorset in southern England. It forms part of the South East Dorset conurbation along the English Channel coast. The town lies on a picturesque stretch of Solent coastline with views of the Isle of Wight and its Needles rock formation. In 1838 a large ship the Herman Julius 336 tons, was wrecked at Chuton ( Chewton ) Bunny. The crew of 11 were saved, one was lost overboard before she struck. Bemister and Holloway purchased the wreck.
Highcliffe Castle is a Grade I listed building now owned by Christchurch Council, and described as the most important remaining example of the Romantic and Picturesque style of architecture. It holds events open to the general public throughout the year open, and can be used for weddings and other private events. Highcliffe Castle, situated on the cliffs at Highcliffe, Dorset, was built between 1831 and 1835 by Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay in a Gothic Revival style on the site of High Cliff house, a Georgian Mansion designed for the 3rd Earl of Bute ( a founder of Kew Gardens) with the gardens laid out by Capability Brown. The design, by William Donthorne, a founder member of RIBA, incorporated large quantities of carved Medieval stonework salvaged from the Norman Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Jumieges and the Grande Maison des Andelys. The Earl's fourth son, General Sir Charles Stuart sold the estate apart from the nearby smaller Bure Homage House.
All that remains of the original High Cliff are the two entrance lodges, now used as a restaurant, also some of the garden walls and features in the lands. The son of Sir Charles Stuart, also Charles Stuart, decided to buy his grandfather's estate and build a new house there. In 1828 Sir Charles Stuart became Lord Stuart de Rothesay. Early retirement from the diplomatic service meant Lord Stuart could now start on the project to build the new house and by 1830 he had purchased much of the eastern end of the estate. The castle is built on an L shaped plan, oriented on a south-east axis, so the oriel window is central on the south east elevation, providing a vista across the landscaped gardens to a panorama of the needles and Isle of Wight. The house remained in the family until 1950 when much of the estate was sold and eventually developed up to the castle walls. For a time from 1950 to 1953 the Castle was a children's home before being sold to Claretian Missionary fathers as firstly a noviciate, then for use as a seminary. The castle was put up for sale in 1966, after many years of uncertainty and neglect the castle was eventually restored. Today the Castle’s renovated exterior is testimony of the remarkable skills of craftsmen and women who carried out a huge repair and conservation programme in the 1990s, jointly funded by Christchurch Borough Council, English Heritage and a £2.65 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
All that remains of the original High Cliff are the two entrance lodges, now used as a restaurant, also some of the garden walls and features in the lands. The son of Sir Charles Stuart, also Charles Stuart, decided to buy his grandfather's estate and build a new house there. In 1828 Sir Charles Stuart became Lord Stuart de Rothesay. Early retirement from the diplomatic service meant Lord Stuart could now start on the project to build the new house and by 1830 he had purchased much of the eastern end of the estate. The castle is built on an L shaped plan, oriented on a south-east axis, so the oriel window is central on the south east elevation, providing a vista across the landscaped gardens to a panorama of the needles and Isle of Wight. The house remained in the family until 1950 when much of the estate was sold and eventually developed up to the castle walls. For a time from 1950 to 1953 the Castle was a children's home before being sold to Claretian Missionary fathers as firstly a noviciate, then for use as a seminary. The castle was put up for sale in 1966, after many years of uncertainty and neglect the castle was eventually restored. Today the Castle’s renovated exterior is testimony of the remarkable skills of craftsmen and women who carried out a huge repair and conservation programme in the 1990s, jointly funded by Christchurch Borough Council, English Heritage and a £2.65 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Highcliffe lies close to the historic town of Christchurch, the resort town of Bournemouth, and the New Forest National Park. Highcliffe's position on the middle of England's south coast gives it a climate with milder winters than inland areas and less rainfall than locations further west. This helped establish the town as a popular health and leisure resort during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. What is now regarded as Highcliffe has developed over the last several hundred years from the hamlet of Slop Pond, the Chewton Estate, and Chewton Common. The latter two also contained large farmsteads. Slop Pond was a collection of thatched cottages, named from the large pond on its common. The cottages wereoccupied by farm workers and fishermen, who engaged in the smuggling and poaching trade now notorious in local history. When the area became a more popular tourist destination in the Victorian era, Slop Pond was renamed Newtown. It was later then changed to Highcliff, after the first High Cliff house, and soon became known as Highcliffe on Sea.
Chewton Bunny Nature Reserve is an ancient wooded river valley which forms the county boundary between Dorset and Hampshire. The Walkford Brook flows through the site, entering a culvert and eventually flowing out to sea. A chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding coastal cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word chine originates from the Saxon Cinan meaning a gap or yawn. The word is in still use in central Southern England; in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight to describe such topographical features. However, bunny is also used to describe a chine in Hampshire, Chewton Bunny is designated as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest and is rich in woodland wildlife, including a number of Ancient Natural Woodland Indicator species. The mill house in the centre of the site previously used a waterwheel in the Brook to mill grain and the cover given by the site made it a convenient smuggling route for contraband in the past. At the north end of the site the Brook also passes under the first ever reinforced concrete bridge.