HINTON AMPNER GARDEN

Hinton Ampner - A Hampshire Manor

Writing in the mid 1960's Ralph Dutton described Hinton Ampner as "This little community which consists of the traditional group of parish church, manor house and cluster of cottages, with the addition of a rectory and a farmhouse or two, remains anonymously buried in the countryside.

It must, I think have been the peaceful prospect which first led to the building of a house at Hinton, and which persuaded a succession of owners not to abandon the site in spite of the various reverses that occurred. It was certainly the prime influence in my own building operations.

When farming was in the doldrums in the years between the wars, it was assumed that from chalk land a farmer could barely scratch a livelihood, just as it was by many supposed that those living on chalk might as well abandon all effort to have a decent garden. In both cases the defeatism has now very definitely changed, and with new methods these chalk and clay lands can vie with the best corn-growing areas in the country; while for gardeners there is no longer any cause for despair, and they can take heart from the achievements of Mr. Lewis Palmer at Headbourne Worthy, near Winchester.

The house at Hinton Ampner stands at the fairly modest elevation of 360 feet (110 metres), but since the high road in the valley is 100 feet (30 metres) lower, the contrast gives an increased sense of altitude. From the house there is a wide view southward over the placid landscape, with barely a building in site. In the middle distance lies the village of Kilmeston , but it is completely concealed by trees and the folds of the ground. Beyond those trees the ground rises to the long down-like ridge of the Millbarrow hills which, under various names stretch from the valley of the Meon in the east to the valley of the Itchen in the west. Away to the east, rising above woodlands and beyond the Meon valley, can be seen the bold outline of Old Winchester Hill, one of the highest downs in the county. How it came by this name is unknown, for as the crow flies, it is 12 miles or more from the city.

The Georgian House at Hinton Ampner was by no means the first on the site. It had been built in 1793 when a Tudor house, standing 60 yards (55 metres) to the north, had been demolished. And the Tudor manor had replaced a very dimly recorded medieval building which was said to have been destroyed by fire in the early 16th century. Thus it can be fairly said that the site has been occupied domestically for five centuries and possibly much longer although the house standing there has been destroyed or demolished five times.

While the Tudor house existed the stable buildings lay at right angles to the south-west of it; when the Georgian house rose on the site further south the stables came to the north-west and were at a slightly obtuse angle to it. And thus it remains as the house is today.

The new house was simple and straightforward. It was solidly built in a pale yellow brick and was fairly spacious but it would seem that my ancestor Lord Stawell expended little money on the elaborate decoration. It consisted of a square block with a pedimented doorway on the north with a single window on either side. On the south there were five windows on the ground and first floor while behind the parapet which ran round the house were dormer windows in the mansard roof. These details I know from a very few surviving photographs taken by my grandmother about 1860 and also from the aquatint of the Hampshire Hunt, which is dated 1819 and shows the house in the background.

It was the sort of house which is now looked on as 'desirable' for without being large it must have had a certain dignity. The contents of the Tudor house, such as survived, were presumably transferred to the new building, and Lord Stawell, like his father, used it rather occasionally when he came to shoot over the estate.

In 1820 Henry, Lord Stawell, died at his house in Grosvenor Place in London, and with him the peerage expired for the second time. Like his predecessors he was buried at Hinton, the last to enter the vault under the chancel. He was the fifth owner of Hinton to be buried there since Sir Hugh Stewkeley in 1642, while the great majority of widows and a great number of of children joined their respective spouses and parents, so that the crowd must be considerable. It is curious that however neglectful of Hinton they may have been in their lives, they remained faithful to it in death.

Lord Stawell's will, dated 12th September 1810, contains no surprises. All the properties went under the entail to the young son of his uncle, Heneage Legge, and the remainder of the property was bequethed to Heneage's daughter Mary. On the death of her brother at the age of three, Mary Legge came to be known as 'the Hampshire Heiress'. As such she must have been a highly sought-after young woman, but she was 23 years old before my great-grandfather, John Dutton, persuaded her to fall into his arms. How he secured the prize I do not know, but it was a case of money marrying money for John was the only son of the 1st Baron Sherborne and heir to very large properties in Gloucestershire.

I imagine that during these first years at Hinton my grandfather spent much time considering how he would convert his plain, moderate-sized house into something more suited to the taste of the period. The first intention was to demolish the existing house entirely and to start afresh on the same site. Plans were produced by a competent architect - there was a slight Tudor flavour - but they were rejected, possibly my grandfather felt that the 40 or so bedrooms slightly beyond his financial status. The second design seems to have come from another hand, but the presentation was simpler and once again the design came from an architect who knew what he was about.

Once again however my grandfather was not satisfied and he decided to abandon architects altogether and simply employ a capable builder. His choice fell on a Mr Kemp of Alton who had erected a number of particuarly hideous buildings in the neighbourhood. As a builder there was nothing amiss with his work: as a planner and designer his ignorance was abysmal, and I fear I should add that my grandparents cannot have been much better.

My grandfather died in 1884, but ten years or more before that event my father had been living contentedly at Hinton, after a few years in the Rifle Brigade, perfectly happy to spend his life quietly in the country with his hunting and shooting. He looked to his brother to carry on the line, unluckily however, his brother died in 1886 and my father, then just 40, felt he should search for a bride. A year later he became engaged to my mother, Blanche Cave, who was exactly half his age.

When making this proposal he said: 'Will you make this house your home', thus modestly offering the house rather than himself. Had my mother been sensitive to architecture she might well have said: 'I will take you, but I can't face the house.'

The above text is derived from Hinton Ampner - A Hampshire Manor, by Ralph Dutton the rights to which are owned by the National Trust.

Ralph Dutton was born at Hinton Ampner and could trace his ancestry to the locality to before 1600. Ralph was a well known writer on history and topography and although he was modest about his skills as a gardener, it was his vision of tranquilty which united a formal design with varied and informal plantings to provide year round interest.

© The National Trust