Danny House
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Danny is an impressive Elizabethan Mansion near Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex and at the Northern foot of Wolstonbury Hill and one of the finest stately houses in Sussex, with 56 bedrooms and 28 apartments.
The present house was built 1593-95 by George Goring, slightly to the east of the old house.
It is set in eight acres (32,000 m²) of gardens at the foot of the South Downs.
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[edit] History
[edit] Iron Age
The name Danny is a corruption of the Saxon Dane(g)hithe, meaning 'valley and haven'. The site has been used ever since early Iron Age men came down the steep sides of their camp on the top of Wolstonbury Hill in search of game and fresh water.
[edit] Roman times
A Roman pavement has also been unearthed in the grounds of Danny.
[edit] Domesday Book
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that 'Robert holds Herst of William', i.e. that Robert de Pierpoint held the land from William de Warenne, who was a son-in-law of William the Conqueror.
[edit] 13th century
There has been a house of some sort on this site since the 13th century, originally little more than a hunting-lodge, when the medieval Park of Danny was enclosed by the last Sir Simon de Pierpoint in 1343
[edit] Late 16th century
The house in its present form dates from 1593.
It was designed in the shape of the letter E top represent the Queen (Elizabeth I of England) who had been on the throne for 60 years at the commencement of work and is a fine example of Elizabethan architecture.
The current house has two main fronts, the east 16th Century, the south early Georgian. The brick-built east frontage is monumental, the south front stately, the whole building a prominent element in views from the downs. There is also a well preserved ice house in the grounds.
[edit] Mid 17th century
After four generations of Gorings, Danny was sold to Peter Courthope in 1650.
In 1652 Danny Great Park was 54 ha (135 acres) with arable land and meadow amounting to about 170 ha (420 acres). The parkland still contains large, noble oaks of varying ages and growth patterns and is used today for a variety of recreational activities.
In 1702, Barbara Courthope married Henry Campion, and in 1725 they made Danny their home, and soon undertook extensive alterations, as is confirmed by the date 1728 and their initials on the leaden water-pipes. Several generations of Campions followed.
[edit] War Cabinet
The house has many historical links, the main one being in 1918, when it was rented for six months to Prime Minister David Lloyd George. He lived here with his dog, his wife Margaret and his secretary/mistress Frances Stevenson. He held regular meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet in the Great Hall, where on 13 October they agreed the terms of the armistice with Germany at the end of the Great War. There were some letters, written from Danny, from Lloyd George to Frances Stevenson, one of which read:
"My darling Pussy. You might phone from the Treasury on Friday if you can come. Don't let Hankey see you. If Saturday impossible, what about Monday? Fondest love to my own."
D. (Hankey was then Cabinet Secretary).
Soon after the war Danny became a school, Montpelier College, which had been transferred from Brighton, but this closed down in 1950. The house was taken over by Mutual Households Association (later Country Houses Association) a few years later. It was bought by Richard and Rachael Burrows in 2004, to maintain it asserviced apartments for retired people and as a family business. In 2007, Danny House will be celebrating 50 years as a retirement home. Hauntedness
The grounds surrounding the main house (especially the nearby Danny pond) have been famed for being haunted. There is a tale that the pond is haunted by a young woman who drowned there in the Victorian era.
