WARNHAM COURT.
WE have chosen Warnham Court to form one of our present series, not because it is, strictly speaking, a “Stately Home,” nor because its history is a stirring one, or the family to whom it belongs can boast of high antiquity in descent, or of nobility in extraction; but simply because it is a good and pleasing and fine example of a modern Elizabethan home, the characteristic features of which have been made suitable for the tastes and requirements of the present day. Its beauties are manifold, but they are purely of that quiet domestic character that is utterly opposed to ostentation and show, and that give it an air of comfort possessed by but few of its more pretentious neighbours.
Sussex is a county of “many mansions,” and they are as varied in their style and their architectural character as they are in the periods in which they have been erected; but few can, out of the whole, compare with Warnham Court in pleasantness of situation, in beauty of external surroundings, or in comfort of internal arrangements. It is a house fitted for hospitality, and for the enjoyment of the guests its owner delights to have around him.
Warnham Court lies near the village of Warnham, which is about three miles from Horsham, and it has a station on the Horsham line of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. The village—and a pretty Sussex village it is—consists mainly of one long street, running north and south, and it has many pleasant residences in its neighbourhood. The Church, dedicated to St. Margaret, is of Norman foundation, but was enlarged and altered in 1848. It consists of “a nave, with north and south aisles, with three chancels, the north of these latter portions being divided from the south aisle by a fine Gothic oak screen. It has a square embattled tower, with clock and six bells. The interior contains several monuments” to the Carills and others.
Distant View from the Lake.
The Court was built in the Elizabethan style, in place of an older house, in the beginning of this century, by Henry Tredcroft, Esq., of Horsham—a fine old Sussex squire—and, at his death, was sold to Sir Thomas Pelley, Bart., who made it his residence. The whole estate passed, by purchase, from the executors of Sir Henry Pelley, in 1866, to its present owner, Charles T. Lucas, Esq., the head of the well-known firm of Lucas Brothers, the eminent builders and contractors. By Mr. Lucas the house has been remodelled and considerably enlarged, its Elizabethan character being, however, carefully preserved in every detail. He has also built new stabling, lodges, gardener’s house, terraces, garden appliances, &c., at a very large outlay, which, however, has been most judiciously expended.
Mr. Lucas, who is the eldest son of the late James Lucas, Esq., was born in 1820, and in 1840 was married to Miss Tiffin, by whom he has, with other issue, a son, Charles James Lucas, born in 1853, and educated at Harrow. Mr. Lucas is Lord of the Manor of Warnham, a governor of Christ’s Hospital, and a magistrate for the county of Surrey. He is brother to his partner, Thomas Lucas, Esq., of Eastwicke Park, Surrey, who was born in 1822, and in 1852 married Mary Amelia, daughter of Robert Chamberlain, Esq., of Cotton Hall, Norfolk, by whom, with other issue, he has a son, Arthur Charles Lucas, born in 1853, and educated at Harrow: he is a J.P. and D.L. for Suffolk, and a magistrate for Middlesex and Westminster. Both are gentlemen highly esteemed and honoured, and few are more thoroughly entitled to the lofty positions to which, by honourable industry, great ability, and high character, they have attained.