Plumpton Place

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use British English|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox historic site | name = | native_name = | native_language = | image = Plumpton Place.jpg | caption = | type = Manor house | locmapin = East Sussex | coordinates = {{coord|50.9044|-0.0666|type:landmark_region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | gbgridref = TQ 36045 13453 | location = Plumpton | area = East Sussex | built = 1568 | architect = | architecture = Elizabethan | governing_body = | owner = | designation1 = Grade II* | designation1_offname = Plumpton Place | designation1_date = 17 March 1952 | designation1_number = {{Listed building England|1274171}} | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_date = | designation2_number = | designation3 = | designation3_offname = | designation3_date = | designation3_number = | designation4 = | designation4_offname = | designation4_date = | designation4_number = | designation5 = | designation5_offname = | designation5_date = | designation5_number = }} '''Plumpton Place''' is a Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house in Plumpton, East Sussex, England.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Plumpton Place|num= 1274171 |accessdate=6 Jun 2020}}</ref>

==Description== Plumpton Place looks onto the nearby north-facing escarpment of the South Downs, with Plumpton College (formerly Plumpton Agricultural College) and the 11th-century church of St Michael's and All Angels immediately adjacent to the west and the villages of Plumpton, East Sussex and Plumpton Green some {{cvt|0.5|km}} and {{cvt|1.5|km}} to the north. There is an entrance formed of two cottages designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with a Palladian porch and this leads to his modern bridge over the moat.

It was built in 1568 on the site of an earlier house which was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The North and South parts of the house date from the 1400s, some of which incorporates local flint.

Various building materials have been used in the construction of the house. It is believed that the north wing is the earliest, as there is a date-stone of 1568 with the initials I.M. The west wing seems to date from a later period, circa 1600. Over a hundred years later there was a period of rebuilding in brick and some additions by Lutyens. There are lakeside gardens by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, within large grounds, that include both woodland and pasture.

==Past owners== Plumpton Place was formerly the home of George Miles Watson, 2nd Baron Manton (1899–1968), who maintained a race-horse stud there.

In 1927, it was purchased by Edward Hudson, the founder of ''Country Life'' magazine. Hudson initiated a major restoration of the property, which had gone into a state of disrepair, by hiring Lutyens to revamp the main house and mill house, and Jekyll to oversee the 60 acres of land and lakes.<ref name="Salewicz/JimmyPage">{{cite book|first=Chris|last=Salewicz|author-link=Chris Salewicz|title=Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London|year=2018|isbn=978-0-00-814931-4|page=231}}</ref>

In 1969, a doctor bought the property after the previous owner – a woman with a distaste for longhaired rock stars – refused to sell it to George Harrison of the Beatles and his wife Pattie Boyd. Three years later, however, the same doctor sold it to Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.<ref name="Salewicz/JimmyPage" /> The latter owned the property from 1972 to 1985.<ref name="STimes1">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6736074.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220012737/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6736074.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 February 2011|title=£60m floats Tom Perkins' 289ft boat|publisher=-Sunday Times|date=2009-08-02|accessdate=2009-08-02 | location=London | first=Emma | last=Smith}}</ref> The American financier Thomas Perkins owned Plumpton Place for many years.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hewitson|first1=Jessie|title=A house with royal approval|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/KGVSPO510845225/TTDA?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=f70268ee|accessdate=14 October 2022|work=The Times|issue=71455|date=13 March 2015|page=107}}</ref>

The roof was badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987, necessitating the sale of decades long-held leases in order to pay for the repairwork.<ref name="Sellgren">John and Adrian Sellgren: "The great storm 1987: an assessment of its effects upon visual amenity and implications for the management of new growth." Landscape Research 15.1 (1990): 20-28.</ref> Due to the building's historic status, permanent repairs required approval from heritage authorities (such as English Heritage, now Historic England).<ref>English Heritage, "Supporting Document to Listed Building Application no.2942", March 1990.</ref> These required detailed proposals, first-hand impact assessments, and lengthy consultations to ensure compliance with conservation principles, significantly delaying the restoration work.<ref>Plumpton Council, Internal Review of Upgrade and Development Work on Historic #2 Listed Property 1274171 (Plumpton Place), June 1990</ref><ref>East Sussex Council, Approval Document for Development Initiative (Category: Conservation and Aesthetic Enhancement) to Plumpton Residence (Details Enclosed), Signed by The Right Worshipful Lord Mayor of Brighton and Hove, August 2 1989</ref> Temporary tarpaulin coverings remained in place for several years until the final repairs were completed in October 1991.<ref>''The Argus'', "Plumpton Place Fully Restored after Four-Year Old Storm Damage Finally Repaired", January 1992. David Williams (editor). Archived at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/</ref>

==References== {{Commons category|Plumpton Place}} {{Reflist}}

Category:Country houses in East Sussex Category:Grade II* listed buildings in East Sussex Category:Works of Edwin Lutyens in England Place