The Gregg School Townhill Park House

In 1897 Lord Ivor, First Baron Swaythling, purchased Townhill Park estate from Caleb Gater, for his eldest son, the Hon. Louis Montagu. In 1910, Louis engaged the architect Leonard Rome Guthrie to extend the building. Upon the death of his father, in 1911, Lord Louis became the 2nd Baron Swaythling and in the same year, he commissioned Gertrude Jekyll to design formal gardens to complement the Italian style of the house and his new Arboretum. Gladys, Lady Swaythling, was a friend of Queen Mary who visited the house regularly in the 1920s and would enjoy walking down through the herbaceous borders to the Sunk Garden. In 1927 when the Hon. Stuart Montagu became the third Baron Swaythling, he and Mr Rose, the head gardener, started hybridising rhododendrons, for which they won many RHS Awards of Merit. Their Lilium Giganteum, Camellias and Magnolias were photographed by Country Life for the book ’Lilies: Their Culture and Management’. Lord Stuart loaned the estate to the Red Cross in 1939 for use as a convalescent home for British Soldiers during the Second World War. In 1948, economies forced Lord Stuart to sell the house and 30 acres of grounds to Middlesex County Council ,who used it as a boarding school for underprivileged children. In 1969, the house was sold to Southampton City Council, as a hostel for merchant navy cadets and in 1994, the house and grounds were sold to The Gregg School Trust who restored the beautiful house and gardens that we see today.

Timings & Tours

Sunday 08 September:

1400-1700

Location & directions

Townhill Park House, Atlantic Park View, West End, Southampton, Hampshire, SO18 3RR

Directions:

Please use postcode SO18 3RR

Contact on day:

Luke Enticknap

Telephone number:

+442380472133

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

Accessibility details

Partial wheelchair access on lower ground floor and garden areas. No Lift.

Additional information

Self-guided tour around the house and gardens using the detailed guide (£3 each) or simply follow the signs.

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