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Wotton House
View of grounds around entrance towards front courtyard
Type	Country house
Location	Guildford Road, Wotton
Coordinates	51°12′39″N 0°23′44″W / 51.21093°N 0.39567°W / 51.21093; -0.39567Coordinates: 51°12′39″N 0°23′44″W / 51.21093°N 0.39567°W / 51.21093; -0.39567
Area	Surrey
Built	17th century
Owner	Principal Hayley Group
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Wotton House
Designated	11 March 1987
Reference no.	1189814
Location of Wotton House in Surrey

Wotton House is a hotel, training centre and former country house in Wotton near Dorking, Surrey, England. Originally the centre of the Wotton Estate and the seat of the Evelyn family, it was the birthplace in 1620 of diarist and landscape gardener John Evelyn, who built the first Italian garden in England there.^[1]

Construction

The house was built in the early 17th century by the Evelyn family who extended it in the later 17th century. In the 18th century it was extended eastwards by William Kent. Further extensions and alterations were made in the early 19th century by Francis Edwards. Following a fire in the 1870s the house was restored and enlarged by Henry Woodyer for William John Evelyn in 1877.^[2]

Its architectural features include distinctive terracotta decorations on brickwork, octagonal turrets and stacks, winged gryphons on the porch, and plaster wall panels by Kent painted in Chinese style by Belgian Jean Derraux.^[2] The old orangery (now the centre's bar^[3]), has a decorative parapet and banded piers. Many of the doors feature small paintings above them.^[2]

The estate

Wotton House, rear view showing terraced gardens, 2003

John Evelyn (1620–1706) and his elder brother George created the first Italian garden in England. Work on it started in 1643, was completed by 1652,^[1] and it is the house's most famous feature.^[2] The grounds are unusually highly listed as Grade II* and have two grottoes close to the house.^[2][4][5][6]

The River Tillingbourne flows through the estate, which had its own mill at one time. The mill was originally used for the manufacture off gunpowder, a major source of the family's fortune. Later the mill was adapted for use as a wire-works and copper mill.^[7]

Notable residents

Wotton House was the family seat of the Evelyn Family. John Evelyn, a diarist, landscape designer and collector, was born in a room still in existence there. He inherited the house and estates on the death of his brother George in 1699.^[2]

The descendants who inherited the house in turn included Conservative politician William John Evelyn (1822-1908), who was elected MP for Western Surrey from 1849 until 1857 and became MP for Deptford in 1885 until resigning in 1888.

Post-war use

Between 1947 and 1981 the house was leased to the Home Office and used as the Fire Service College.^[8][9]

Grade II* listed status was given to the garden in 1984, and the house and its two garden grottoes became Grade II* listed in 1987.^[10]

Twenty-first century

Wotton House being used as a wedding venue

In 2003, having been fully refurbished following a period of relative neglect, Wotton House was re-opened as a hotel, wedding venue, training and conference centre.^{[11][2][10][3]} The property is currently owned and run by the Principal Hayley Group.

Notes

References

• 
  CentralR staff (2011), Wotton House Venue, CentralR (Central Reservations Limited), retrieved 8 May 2012
  


• 
  Fire Service College staff (2009), Heritage and History, Fire Service College
  


• 
  PHG staff, Wotton House, Dorking, Principal Hayley Group Limited, retrieved 14 September 2011
  


• 
  Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (1971) [1962], Cherry, Bridget, ed., Surrey, Buildings of England (2, illustrated, revised, reprint ed.), Penguin
  

External links

• De Vere Wotton House

Further reading

• 
  Banerjee, Jacqueline (31 August 2008), Wotton House, Surrey, Victorian Web, retrieved 14 September 2011