Rood Ashton House
Encyclopedia
West Ashton
West Ashton is a village civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is two miles south of Trowbridge, on the A350 road between Melksham and Yarnbrook bypassing Trowbridge....
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county
Counties of England
Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...
of Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. It was once the home of the 1st Viscount Long
Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long
Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long PC, FRS, JP , was a British Unionist politician. In a political career spanning over 40 years, he held office as President of the Board of Agriculture, President of the Local Government Board, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies and...
, and during his residence it was visited by various members of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, including the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, later Edward VIII.
History
Viscount Long's great grandfather Richard Godolphin LongRichard Godolphin Long
Richard Godolphin Long was an English banker and Tory politician.-Background:Baptised at West Lavington, Wiltshire a month after his birth, he was the son of Richard Long and his wife Meliora, descendant of Sir John Lambe. Long was a partner in the Melksham Bank, together with his younger brother...
commissioned architect Jeffry Wyattville
Jeffry Wyattville
Sir Jeffry Wyattville was an English architect and garden designer. His original surname was Wyatt, and his name is sometimes also written as Jeffrey and his surname as Wyatville; he changed his name in 1824.He was trained by his uncles Samuel Wyatt and James Wyatt, who were both leading architects...
to build the house in 1808, replacing an earlier mansion on the estate. It was altered and extended in 1836 by Thomas Hopper, who incorporated some panelling and other material brought from another Long family property, Whaddon House, which had been rescued from the fire there the previous year.
The estate was originally purchased by Edward Long of Monkton
Monkton House
Monkton House in Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire, is a Grade II* listed English 16th century house close to the boundaries of Somerset and Gloucestershire.-History:...
in 1597. In the 19th century a considerable amount of money was spent on improving its agriculture, but the Long family saw little return for their expenditure, and the changes in taxation on agricultural land brought about by the Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
government, made it financially unviable.
In 1914 during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Viscount Long offered Rood Ashton and another of his properties, Culworth House, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
for use as convalescent homes for wounded soldiers and sailors.
Auction
The house and the remaining 4100 acres (16.6 km²) were put to auction by Lord Long's executors in February 1930, six years after his death. The estate included 17 farms, 21 small holdings, 100 cottages, 2 public houses including The Longs Arms, and a square mile of woodland. 2500 acres (10.1 km²) were purchased by a syndicate of his tenants, finally ending 333 years of continuous ownership by the Long family.Decline
The house was used as military accommodation and a hospital during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In the 1950s it was advertised for sale again, and the agents details listed eleven principal bed and dressing rooms, a further thirty five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two lodges, stabling, parkland, a lake and farm of 248 acres (1 km²) with farm house and buildings, all for ₤35,000. The new owner stripped the house of all its assets, the lead roofing and all internal panelling, fireplaces etc, were put into containers and shipped to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, after which time the house, now only a roofless shell, became derelict. In the 1970s the building was demolished except for an eight-bedroomed servant’s wing, which has been restored with reclaimed timbers, and is now a private residence.
Another building of interest is the parish church, St Johns, which contains the family crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
of the Long family.