Stansted Park

Stansted Park stands near Chichester in West Sussex, an Edwardian country house set in a Grade II* listed park of 1,800 acres. The house itself is Grade II* listed and shows Carolean revival decoration. The park mixes woodland with open land where deer graze. It sits on land first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Medieval records mention hunting and timber production here. The estate has been shaped by royal visits from Henry II to Edward VI. A hunting lodge once belonged to Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Arundel, before 1094. The house has been rebuilt after a fire in 1900 and altered by later owners. Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough, bought it in 1924. During World War II the house sheltered Southsea orphans. Queen Elizabeth, consort of George VI, stayed one night in 1939. Anne, Princess Royal, visited in 1962 and swam in the grounds. Since 1983 the estate has been owned by a charitable trust preserving it for the nation. Visitors walk through formal gardens and radiating avenues laid out in the 17th century. The Monarch’s Way long-distance footpath crosses the park from west to east. The Grade I listed Chapel of St Paul, built in 1812–16, contains a unique east window with Christian and Jewish symbols. A miniature light railway opened in 2005 and now runs over a girder bridge with an engine shed. Early cricket matches were played here in 1741, when over 5,000 spectators watched Slindon Cricket Club. The park’s cricket club still plays fixtures in summer.