West Dean House

West Dean House is a large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean, West Sussex, near the historic City of Chichester. This country Estate has approximately 6,350 acres of land and dates back to 1086, with various Royal connections throughout its years. In 1971 the Estate became the home of West Dean College, a centre of study of Conservation, Arts, Crafts, Writing, Gardening and Music.

The Medieval Estate

The earliest known reference to the West Dean Estate is found in the "Domesday Book" in 1086, where it was included in the manor of Singletonas a forest and hunting park. The Earls of Arundel and the Dukes of Norfolk held these lands for almost 500 years until 1572, when the 4th Duke of Norfolk was accused of treason. He was stripped of his possessions, and then beheaded by Elizabeth the 1st. She later relented and restored the properties and honour to the Dukes eldest son Phillip. It was Phillip who built the first manor house at West Dean, West Sussex in 1603, then known as Earl’s Court, later to be renamed Canon House due to its connections to Chichester Cathedral.

The Jacobean Manor

In 1621 Phillip sold the manor and it passed into various ownerships, including the Sussex families of John Aylwin of Lewes and Richard Lewkenor of Stoughton. It was John Lewkenor in 1622 who built the Jacobean Manor house, on the site that was previously occupied by the medieval building. The building was built in an Eshape traditional to many building built in the late 16th century.

The Peachey Family

In 1738 the West Dean Estate passed into the hands of the Peachey family.Sir James Peachey, the 1st Lord Selsey, commissioned the leading architect of time, James Wyatt to rebuild the manor house, creating the core flint mansion seen at West Dean today. Wyatt is also responsible for the Orangery on the West Dean Estate.James went on to gain a vast acreage of land, leaving it to his son, Sir John the second Lord Selsey on his death. John was responsible for laying out the Parkland and Arboretum in West Dean; all of John’s children were heirless so in 1871 the last Peachey heir died.

The James Family

In 1891 West Dean became the home of newly married William Dodge James and Evelyn Forbes; William James was a wealthy land owner with money from American industries and Evelyn Forbes was the daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, a Scottish Aristocrat. When James moved to the West Dean Estate in 1891, he set about altering and greatly extending the house and commissioned Ernest George and Harold Peto to do so. Ernest George helped embellish the state rooms and Harold Peto designed a 300 foot-long Pergola, still a highlight of the Gardens today. West Dean House became one of the largest flint structures in the country. House parties at West Dean were attended by King Edward VII, Edward James’s Godfather. Edward VII was a regular participant of pheasant and partridge shoots on the West Dean Estate. The interior of the house reflects William and his brothers Frank and Arthur’s, passion for big game hunting, with souvenirs of their visits to Africa, Arabia and Afghanistan displayed throughout the house.

William and Evelyn had five children, four girls, Millicent, Alexandra, Silvia and Audrey. In 1907, after 18 years of marriage, theirson and heir Edward James was born.

Edward James

Edward James inherited the West Dean Estate in 1912, aged 4 after the early death of his father in March of that year; however Edward didn’t take control of the Estate until he was 25. After studying at Eton and Oxford, Edward tried to establish himself as a writer and poet. He became more famous being a patron to the arts, particularly the Surrealist movement. The first example of this was when Edward established the ‘James Press’ and published friend, John Betjemen’s first book of poems, ‘Mount Zion’. Edward went on to support various other artists in a wide variety of arts, but particularly artists Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte during the early stages of their careers. In 1939 Edward James wrote to Aldous Huxley expressing his fear that after the war, certain arts, and particularly the techniques of the craftsmen would be lost. As a solution James suggested that his Estate be set up as an educational community where the techniques of craftsmanship could be preserved and taught, whilst restoring old work and creating new art works.

West Dean College

The Edward James Foundation was established in 1964 as a charitable, educational trust which supports and teaches artists and craftsmen and in 1971 the Foundation established West Dean College.


West Dean College offers full-time and short courses. The full-time courses, including MAs and diplomas in visual arts and conservation, are validated by the University of Sussex. The short courses cater for all levels of experience and cover a vast range of subjects including Watercolours, Chair Making, Silversmithing, Bee Keeping, Planting Design, Book Binding and Mosaics. Other parts of the College include the Tapestry Studio and The Sussex Barn Gallery, which exhibits work from renowned and emerging artists as well as students and tutors from the College.

Since the House became a College, extensive alterations and additions have been made to the bedrooms and former service areas of the house, in order to make it suitable for students. Roofing over the former stable yard and the surrounding buildings has enabled arts and crafts workshops to be built. All the work took place over a period of 20 years by architect John Warren, who tried to retain the historical features of the house.

The West Dean Estate

The West Dean Estate has approximately 6,350 acres of land. The Estate holds 136 houses and cottages, as well as more than 100 farm buildings; some are occupied by the staff of the Estate and College, as well as pensioners of the Foundation and local families.

There are 12 farms on the Estate; many of these have been on the Estate for generations. Seven of these farms are let and the other five, are farmed through the Estate’s farming company, Karova Farms LTD (named by Edward James), and their agricultural activates are split between livestock and cereal.

The woodlands compromise around 1,932 acres of the Estate, the main trees being the native beech, found on the South Downs. The woodlands were badly affected by the storms of 1987 and 1990, and the woodland took over a decade to recuperate itself. The woodlands have become increasingly important, particularly when it became the key fuel to provide heating for the Estate in the 1970s. After the old boilers and electric heater proved to be incapable with dealing with the need from the evergrowing West Dean College, other methods were looked into, and wood fuel appeared to be the best alternative and the most eco friendly. 1,200 tonnes of wood chipping is needed to supply not only the West Dean College, but several other residences over the Estate as well including the village church.

External Links

* [http://www.westdean.org.uk West Dean, The Edward James Foundation]