Woolbeding House
WOOLBEDING HOUSE, WOOLBEDING LANE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1221573
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jun-1959
- List Entry Name:
- Woolbeding House
- Statutory Address:
- WOOLBEDING HOUSE, WOOLBEDING LANE
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1221573
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jun-1959
- List Entry Name:
- Woolbeding House
- Statutory Address 1:
- WOOLBEDING HOUSE, WOOLBEDING LANE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WOOLBEDING HOUSE, WOOLBEDING LANE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- West Sussex
- District:
- Chichester (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Woolbeding with Redford
- National Park:
- South Downs
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 87320 22713
Details
SU 82 SE WOOLBEDING WOOLBEDING LANE
11/34 Woolbeding House
(National Trust)
18.6.59
- I
Of the H-shaped Elizabethan house built here by William Aylwin, there survive 2
chimney-breasts, one at the west end of the south front and one on the north side,
some of the walling of the west range and a fire-place in the bedroom in the south
west angle of the building. In 1679 the house passed to the Mill family. The
present house was probably built by Sir Richard Mill Bt between 1711 and 1760 and
was then of quadrangular shape with an open courtyard in the middle. In 1791 it
was sold by his youngest son, the Rev Sir Charles Mill Bt, to Lord Robert Spencer,
third son of the third Duke of Marlborough who occupied the house until his death
in 1831. He made alterations to the house in 1791, roofing over the interior
courtyard. His architect was John White of Marylebone, Surveyor to the Duke of
Portland. Most of the interior decoration dates from this time. During Lord
Robert Spencer's occupation of the house it became one of the principal Whig
centres in England, "a kind of rural Brooks's" (Disraeli). Charles James Fox, to
whom Lord Robert Spencer was so devoted that his epitaph in Woolbeding Church
records that he "lived the friend of Fox", was frequently at the house. This still
contains several portraits and busts of Fox. In the late C19 the east side of the
house was altered by Lord Lanerton and the main staircase inserted in the centre of
the house, previously the courtyard, which had been roofed over by Lord Robert
Spencer. The main front faces south. 2 storeys and attic. 7 windows. 5 hipped
dormers surmounted by ball finials. Coursed Hythe sandstone. Moulded stone stringcourse. Parapet. Hipped slate roof. Glazing bars intact. Chimney-breast east of the western-most window bay. The west or entrance front is half H-shaped, 5 windows
and 5 dormers, the 3 centre ones similar to those on the south front, the outer
ones with pediments over. Coved eaves cornice. The ground floor of the recessed
centre is filled by a portico of 4 fluted Ionic columns with entablature above. In
front of each of the columns is a low stone post intended to protect the columns
from damage by wheels of carriages.
Listing NGR: SU8732522719
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 413417
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 05:37:00.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry