Hamstead Park (Hamstead Marshall) had a Tudor building in it as well as three castle “mottes”. The Parliamentarian army were there during the first battle of Newbury and are reputed to have trashed the house/area. In 1663 Construction was started on a house in the German style. It was eventually completed but burned down in 1718 and although there were plans to rebuild, this never happened There is a large hunting lodge, Hamstead Lodge, existing in the park which was expanded in 1740. There is no information as far as I know about the house that was there in 1646 but as the Parliamentarians had probably ruined it, Fairfax might have given it a wide berth. The Hunting Lodge could have been an option.
All these locations are just Fairfax guesswork as is Benham-Valence so, no provenance there as they say.
Just for the sake of completeness regarding the house in Benham Park, it was as we said before originally called Benham-Valence as the gifted manor to the Valence family and it was they who built the original house which was not surprisingly called Benham-Valence house. This structure was burned to the ground and rebuilt as Benham-Valence house by the Cravens in 1775. The picture which FF discovered is in fact shown from the East side of the house. It was probably the left hand block that Dodgy was born/lived in but it was demolished in the fifties because of lack of maintenance and a badly decaying structure. So she was talking about the same house all along as the name did get shortened to Benham House. The main house was much modified in Victorian times and the South facing entrance seen was replaced with a much grander set of columns which we see today. I believe the house was virtually unoccupied from the late thirties onwards apart from a short association with the Americans during the Second World War. As we know, it was renovated for Norsk Data and it comes complete with its own ghostly appararition in the form of a woman with a mop cap and a child. So, Dodgy after a bit of investigation, we're talking about the same building.
I am sure that our memories don't go back that far, but this seemed to be the most obvious place for this request:
Sir,
I am writing Vol 2 of my biography of Sir Thomas Fairfax. I know that he brought the army to Newbury on 27 April 1646. The author Tony MacLachlan recently described him as "travelling in semi-Regal style".
My question is a simple one; can you identify a 'semi-regal' house where he might have stayed?Please?
Yes, the name was 'BENHAM HOUSE'-boy did I struggle to get that one out! I never did say I was born/lived there, but that my Mother and Father both worked at 'BENHAM HOUSE' for Toby Sutton.. My father was a chaufeur and my mother a house maid.. So there...!!! Plopity plop!
Yes you do otherwise you wouldn't bother posting. It's damn anyway
You spell it how you were told and I'll spell it the way I want..OK! I must admit I am slightly bothered over everyone's reference to the 'Internet', as if that's the be all and end all..Oh bugger, what am I saying, I'm actually using it now..sod it I am what you think..go on enjoy yourselves........ BENHAM HOUSE!! End of...bring it on...wicked..absolutely... sides...fries...cool..and all those other crap words added to our repertoire (s'pect I spelt that wrong too!)
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