Eye Manor
Eye Manor, at Eye, Herefordshire, is a Carolean or Restoration style manor house between Ludlow and Leominster that was described by Lord Euston as 'The perfect English country house.'
History
The modest square brick shell resting on a Medieval sandstone plinth was finished in 1680, but the impressive panelled interior with its plaster ceilings by the craftsmen who went on to decorate Holyrood may have taken several years to complete. The house stands on what was once a marsh island, beside a 12th century church noted for its 15th Century alabaster tombs. There is a secret passage discovered during the Second World War by Jeremy Sandford that is believed to have been used in the 17th Century to bring Catholic priests into the house, but which was mysteriously still in use at the time of the Protestant Gorges family. The original mullioned windows were changed for wooden sash windows when the house was remodelled probably during the 17th Century. The present house probably replaced a medieval house.
The house was built by Ferdinando Gorges, a prominent merchant and owner of sugar plantations in the West Indies and his wife, Meliora Gorges. According to Pevsner, Ferdinando Gorges was known by contemporaries as 'The King of the Black Market' owing to his profitable involvement in the slave trade. Ferdinando Gorges was the godson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the colonial entrepreneur and the founder of the US province of Maine and brother of Richard Gorges, Governor-General of New England. In his early commercial activities, Ferdinando Gorges is believed to have chartered the ship, The Mayflower. Ferdinando's son and grandson, Richard and Henry Gorges served as Members of Parliament for Leominster. Ferdinando Gorges's daughter, Barbara was married to the statesman Thomas Coningsby 1st Earl Coningsby, but the marriage led to a noted litigation and divorce case.
In the 18th Century the house became part of the adjoining Berrington Hall estate of the Lords Rodney (descended from Admiral Rodney and later of the Lords Cawley (Berrington Hall is now owned by the National Trust), before returning to separate ownership.
In the 20th Century Eye Manor was the home of the acclaimed publisher Christopher Sandford of the Golden Cockerel Press and his wife Lettice Sandford, a noted artist and proponent of traditional country crafts. Their son Jeremy Sandford, the writer, broadcaster and director of the award-winning television documentary, Cathy Come Home grew up at the house and wrote of his childhood in Herefordshire. Christopher Sandford's mother-in-law, the propular Irish writer Mary Carbery wife of Algernon 9th Baron Carbery of Castle Freke, County Cork lived and died in the house. Lady Carbery spent much of her early life crossing Europe in Creeping Jenny a caravan drawn by white oxen which at one stage was parked in on the lawns of Eye Manor. Lady Carbey's son, John, 10th Baron Carbery was an Irish nationalist and member of the Kenyan Happy Valley set. During the Second World War the house was the HQ of the English Resistance who were intended to go underground in case of a German invasion and then emerge to engage in acts of sabotage.
In the late 20th Century Eye Manor was home to the distinguished amateur gardener, Margary Moncrieff, who laid out the present gardens in an intricate series of 'rooms' in the style of Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst.
References
- Eye Manor, A souvenir Guide with Historical Notes, by Christopher Sandford, John Roberts Press
- A Herefordshire Childhood, Jeremy Sandford.
- Times Article on Eye Manor