Port Lympne Mansion

Port Lympne

Port Lympne
Former names Belcaire
General information
Type Country House
Architectural style Dutch colonial Revival
Town or city Lympne
Country United Kingdom United Kingdom
Construction started 1913
Client Philip Sassoon
Landlord The Aspinall Foundation
Technical details
Material Red Brick
Design and construction
Architect Herbert Baker, Philip Tilden and others
Designations Grade II* listed

Port Lympne, at Lympne, Kent is an early twentieth-century country house built for Sir Philip Sassoon by Herbert Baker and Philip Tilden. Completed after the First World War. Following Sassoon's death in 1939 it was bequeathed with its contents, including cars and planes, to Hannah Gubbay, his cousin. It was abandoned after the Second World War. In 1973, it was purchased by John Aspinall as part of an expansion of his Howletts Zoo. The house is a Grade II* listed building as of 29 December 1966.[1]

History

Philip Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, GBE, CMG, purchased the estate in 1913 with the proceeds of the sale of his parents' home (Aline Caroline de Rothschild and Edward Albert Sassoon), Shorncliffe Lodge, in Sandgate, Kent."[2] Scion of a family of wealthy Iraqi merchants.

The Mansion

As the MP for Hythe Philip Sassoon commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to design the house in the Cape Dutch architecture style. It was built for him around 1913/4 "on a superb site looking across Romney Marsh to the sea."[3] Originally named Belcaire, it was renamed Port Lympne after the First World War, echoing Portus Lemanis, a Roman port which was situated nearby. When work recommenced after the end of the War, Sassoon employed Philip Tilden, who also worked for Sassoon's political friends and colleagues, David Lloyd-George and Winston Churchill. "Tilden's job was to enlarge Port Lympne and to make it, in his words, "no more of the modest week-end home, but rather the epitome of all things conductive to luxurious relaxation after the strenuousness of war. It was to be a challenge to the world, telling people that a new culture had risen up from the sick-bed of the old, with new aspirations, eyes upon a new aspect, mind turned to a new burst of imagination,"[4] Tilden's additions and alterations during the early 1920s included doorcases, the east forecourt, the terraces and the amazing external staircase leading to the pool. Internally the ground floor of the passageway, from east to west is decorated with patterned black and white marble in varying concentric curves with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The staircase is flanked by blue marble columns and pink on the first floor. The iron balustrade to the stairs was copied from the principal stair at Caroline Park, Scotland. Sir Philip Sassoon thought it a moderate house, yet it had 4 reception rooms, 2 libraries, 13 principle bedrooms, eight bathrooms as well as 17 staff bedrooms with a further 5 bathrooms. Although complete before The First World War the grand finishing touches, particularly the grounds were executed after 1918 under the guidance of Philip Tilden.

The grounds

The Italian style terraced garden was designed and executed under the guidance of Philip Tilden, these works started after 1918. Tilden added a bachelor's wing with Moorish courtyard, which Lady Honor Channon, (wife of Henry Channon), unkindly described as a Spanish brothel[5] to accommodate young airmen from nearby Romney Marsh flying field - among his other enthusiasms, Sir Philip was himself an aviator - and Tilden's twin swimming pools and monumentally classical garden staircase, a grand flight of steps, crowned with temples (letter removed), led up the cliff at the side of the house were in much the same theatrical spirit.[3] Philip Sassoon thought highly enough of Tilden to recommend him to Churchill to work on his country house Chartwell in Kent.[6]

Cut out of the old sea cliffs there are 15.5 acres of gardens. William Bainbridge Reynolds, who had designed the metal work for the Law Courts, undertook all of the wrought-ironwork in and around the Mansion. The garden planting was designed by Norah Lindsay, who recreated the feel of Italy by setting herbaceous plants against the dark background created by the terraced hedges.[7] Norah also advised Philip on his Trent Park garden, which was thirteen miles from the center of London in New Barnet. When John Aspinall (zoo owner) purchased the house in 1973 he began a ten-year renovation project. The great border which is 135 yards in all was dug over twice by hand and piled with 200 tons of Elephant dung and were redesigned and replanted with 2,500 herbs and shrubs with the advice of Russell Page.

The water used for the gardens comes from natural springs. A unique ram system pumps the water 300 ft. up to a storage reservoir holding approximately 15,000 gallons. Three hydraulic rams work together, driven entirely by water pressure. The system is designed to ensure there is natural fresh water for the gardens throughout the summer, even during a long drought.

The main drive to the Mansion was from the east gate (opposite Otterpool Lane) so visitors could enjoy breath taking views towards the Romney Marsh.

Artists commissioned to work in and around the house

Visitors to the house

August was the month for entertaining. Visitors to the house included the actors Charlie Chaplin, T. E. Lawrence. Royalty Edward, Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson, the Duke of York[12] Lord Louis Mountbatten, Lord Curzon, Lord Rocksavage, who was married to Sybil Sassoon, Philip's sister and a Romanian aristocrat, Princess Marthe Bibesco, a prolific author of novels and memoirs; another novelist, Alice Dudeney; George Bernard Shaw, and Osbert Sitwell[13] Giles Lytton Strachey, a British writer and critic; Sir Harold Nicolson KCVO CMG, an English diplomat, author, diarist and politician along with the writer Vita Sackville-West; Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes and Maurice Baring. Politicians included Sir Douglas Haig, Sir Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine, Prime Minister Asquith, David Lloyd George and Alexandre Millerand; Then there were sports personalities which included Georges Carpentier, a French boxer and the composer Ethel Smyth, Philip's old teacher from Eton.

Other owners/ occupiers of the Mansion

Other properties

Philip Sassoon's other homes included Trent Park and 25 Park Lane (London) and for many years he was the Speyside tenant of the Seafield Estates.

Notes

  1. "List Entry: Port Lympne House". English Heritage.
  2. Stansky, Peter (2003). Sassoon : the worlds of Philip and Sybil. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300095473.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bettley, James (1987). Lush and Luxurious: The Life and Work of Philip Tilden, 1887-1956. London: Royal Institute of British Architects. p. 12.
  4. Powers, Alan (2004). The twentieth century house in Britain: from the archives of Country life. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1845130121.
  5. Aslet, Clive (1985). The Last Country Houses. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300034741.
  6. Buczacki, Stefan (2007). Churchill and Chartwell: the untold story of Churchill's houses and gardens. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0711225350.
  7. Hayward, Allyson (2007). Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 0711225249.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Whistler, Laurence (1985). The laughter and the urn : the life of Rex Whistler. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 159–60. ISBN 978-0297786030.
  9. Cecil, Hugh & Mirabel (2012). In search of Rex Whistler : his life & his work. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd. pp. 76–85. ISBN 978-0711232303.
  10. Aslet, Clive (2012). The Edwardian country house : a social and architectural history. London: Frances Lincoln Limited. p. 84. ISBN 978-0711233393.
  11. The St. Petersburg Times 30 April 1924
  12. Zweigbergk, Britta von (2007). Tony's war: the life and times of a WW2 Typhoon pilot. Cambridge: Vanguard Press. p. 164. ISBN 9781843862918.
  13. The History of Port Lympne Mansion and Gardens, text by Pat Grifths, Design Robert Boutwood. Printed by W. J. Pollock & Co Ltd, Fairview Road, London, SW16 5PT
  14. Robinson, John Martin (1989). The country house at war. London: Bodley Head. p. 167. ISBN 0370313062.
  15. Port Lympne pamphlet

Bibliography

Coordinates: 51°04′32″N 0°59′58″E / 51.07565°N 0.99958°E