{{short description|Grade I listed historic house museum in Chichester, UK, ca 1690}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Uppark | native_name = | native_language = | image = Uppark-Sfront-01.jpg | caption = The south front of the house | type = Country house | locmapin = West Sussex | coordinates = {{coord|50|57|11|N|0|53|30|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | gbgridref = SU 77981 17583 | location = South Harting | area = West Sussex | built = ca 1690 | architect = William Talman, Humphry Repton | architecture = William & Mary | governing_body = | owner = National Trust | designation1 = Grade I | designation1_offname = Uppark (National Trust) | designation1_date = 18 Jun 1959 | designation1_number = {{listed building England|1025979}} | 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 = }}
[[Image:Uppark Kip.jpg|thumb|260px|A bird's-eye view of Uppark in the early 18th century by Jan Kip.]]
thumb|260px|Uppark, side view
'''Uppark''' is a 17th-century house in South Harting, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade I listed building<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Uppark (National Trust)|num=1025979|access-date=28 May 2017}}</ref> and a National Trust property.
==History==
The house, set high on the South Downs, was built for Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville (1655—1701), ''circa'' 1690; the architect is believed to have been William Talman. The estate was sold in 1747 to Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, and his wife Sarah. Matthew and Sarah redecorated the house extensively from 1750 to 1760 and introduced most of the existing collection of household items displayed today, much of it collected on their Grand Tour of 1749 to 1751.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Their only son, Sir Henry Fetherstonhaugh, added to the collection and commissioned Humphry Repton to add a new pillared portico, dairy and landscaped garden. In the 19th century stables and kitchens were added as separate buildings, connected to the main building by tunnels for servants' use.<ref name="NT">{{cite book|last1=Rowell|first1=Christopher|title=Uppark|date=1995|publisher=National Trust|isbn=0-7078-0198-2}}</ref> Sir Harry married, at the age of 71, the estate's dairymaid, 21-year-old Mary Ann Bullock, to whom he left Uppark on his death in 1846. She in turn, after considerably upgrading the property, left it to her sister Frances on her own death in 1874. Frances Bullock, under her adopted name of Miss Fetherstonhaugh, was determined to fulfill the trust her sister had passed on. She chose her two friends, Colonel Keith Turnour and Admiral Herbert Meade, to be her heirs in succession. Both were selected as second sons who could, therefore, adopt her name, which both went on to do.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wyndham |first1=Richard |title=Last Look Round |date=1940 |publisher=Batsford |location=London}}</ref>
Admiral Meade's wife, Margaret, became the next mistress of Uppark in 1931. She continued caring for the house and contents as the Bullock sisters had done. After World War II, Admiral Meade-Fetherstonhaugh and his son, Richard, entered into negotiations with the National Trust, the outcome being that Uppark passed to the Trust in 1954. The house is open to the public, except for private apartments leased from the Trust that are still used as a home.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
===Influence on H. G. Wells=== The 20 year-old H. G. Wells spent the winter of 1887/88 convalescing at Uppark, where his mother, Sarah, was housekeeper between 1880 and 1893.<ref name=Pevsner>{{cite book |last=Nairn |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Nairn |author2=Pevsner, Nikolaus |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |title=The Buildings of England: Sussex |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |year=1965 |isbn=0-14-071028-0 |pages=358–60}}</ref> She had previously been employed there between 1850 and 1855, as housemaid to Lady Fetherstonhaugh's sister, and Wells had paid many visits to her during his boyhood. Wells' father Joseph, a gardener, was employed at Uppark in 1851 and he and Sarah married in 1853.<ref name=Wells>{{cite book |title=H.G. Wells: Experiment in Autobiography |url=https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20100511 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Co. |location=New York |year=1934 |first=Herbert G. |last=Wells}}</ref>
The house and the social hierarchy it embodied had an important effect on Wells' outlook. The deep class divisions he observed there helped to inspire many of his meritocratic, liberal and socialist views.<ref>Michael Sherborne, ''H.G. Wells: Another Kind of Life'' (London: 2010), pp. 40-42.</ref> This development was further encouraged by his discovery, in Uppark's large library, of works by philosophers and radicals such as Plato, Voltaire and Thomas Paine.<ref>Sherborne, ''H.G. Wells'', pp. 50-51.</ref> These impressions were reflected in his later work: for example, the contrast between the sunny and carefree world of the Eloi and the dark caves of the Morlocks in ''The Time Machine'' is commonly regarded to have been inspired by the inequalities Wells observed at Uppark.<ref>Sherborne, ''H.G. Wells'', p. 104.</ref> Also significant was Wells' discovery of a telescope in the house's attic, which gave the future author of ''The War of the Worlds'' his first opportunity to examine the night sky in detail.<ref>Wells, ''Experiment in Autobiography'', p. 106</ref>
===Fire=== On 30 August 1989 the building was devastated by a fire caused by a workman's blowtorch whilst repairing lead flashing on the roof, just two days before the work was due to be completed.<ref name="independent">{{cite news|last1=Glancey|first1=Jonathan|title=High price of keeping up with 'heritage mania': The National Trust is|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/high-price-of-keeping-up-with-heritage-mania-the-national-trust-is-pursuing-a-building-firm-for-up-1453992.html|access-date=12 December 2016|work=The Independent|date=8 April 1993}}</ref> The fire broke out during opening hours. Many works of art and pieces of furniture were carried out of the burning building by members of the Meade-Fetherstonehaugh family, National Trust staff and members of the public. Although the garret and first floors collapsed onto the lower floors and the garret and first-floor contents were lost completely, the floors largely fell clear of the ground-floor walls and much of the panelling and decoration survived.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Much of the contents of the ground floor were crushed but not burned; metalwork was able to be straightened and cleaned, crystal chandeliers were able to be reassembled, and even the elaborate tassels on the chandelier ropes were able to be conserved. The decision to restore the house came after it was determined that restoration would be a cheaper insurance settlement than complete payout for a total loss.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Most of the pictures and furniture in the house were saved. The building has since been completely restored with many lost crafts relearned in the restoration process, and it reopened its doors in 1995.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/restoration-of-mansion-consigns-1991-fire-to-faded-memory-firedamaged-uppark-has-been-recreated-in-meticulous-detail-writes-oliver-gillie-1414771.html|title=Restoration of mansion consigns 1991 fire to faded memory|last=Gillie|first=Oliver|date=19 July 1994|work=The Independent|access-date=2 June 2012}}</ref> Some "critical markers" remain where visitors can still see the history of the fire, for example many of the floorboards on the principal ground floor retain burn marks.<ref>Musson, J., [https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=69167§ion=4.2 Interview], in ''OpenLearn'', ''Exploring philosophy: faking nature'', Week 3, section 4.2, accessed 17 July 2023</ref>
==Public access== The house is open to the public four days a week for most of the year other than Christmas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Opening Times (Uppark)|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/place-pages/345/pages/opening-times-calendar|website=National Trust|access-date=28 May 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Meade-Fetherstonhaugh, Margaret & Warner, Oliver. ''Uppark and its People'' (George Allen & Unwin, 1964) * Robinson, John Martin & Rowell, Christopher. ''Uppark Restored'' (National Trust, 1996) * Nicolson, Adam. ''The Fire at Uppark'' (National Trust, 1990)
==External links== {{commons category|Uppark}} * [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/uppark-house-and-garden Uppark information at the National Trust] * [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata%3AWikiProject_sum_of_all_paintings%2FCollection%2FUppark Wikidata List of paintings at Uppark] *{{NHLE |num=1025979}}
Category:Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex Category:Country houses in West Sussex Category:National Trust properties in West Sussex Category:Museums in West Sussex Category:Historic house museums in West Sussex Category:Grade I listed houses Category:William Talman buildings Category:1980s fires in the United Kingdom Category:1989 disasters in the United Kingdom Category:Building and structure fires during construction or renovation Category:Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom