Tittenhurst Park
Encyclopedia
Tittenhurst Park was the home of John Lennon
and Yoko Ono
from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr
and family until the late-1980s. It is located on a 72-acre
estate in London Road, Sunningdale
, near Ascot, Berkshire
SL5 0PN, England, close to the Surrey
border. Lennon bought the house for £145,000 from Peter Cadbury
. The estate included spectacular gardens, a Tudor cottage and servants' cottages.
A century earlier, in 1869, the property was owned by Thomas Holloway
, philanthropist
and founder of two large institutions which he built nearby: Holloway Sanatorium
in Virginia Water
, Surrey
, and Royal Holloway College, now known as Royal Holloway, University of London in Englefield Green
.
manor house
after the sale of Kenwood
in Surrey
, his earlier home with first wife Cynthia Lennon
, because of its resemblance to Calderstones Park
in Liverpool
, where he had spent time as a child. He and Ono spent twice the purchase price on renovations, transforming the interior of the house to their liking, commissioning a set of hand-woven Oriental rugs, and installing a man-made lake without planning permission which they could see from their bedroom window.
The last Beatles
photo session took place at Tittenhurst Park on 22 August 1969, and the photos were used for the front and back covers of their Hey Jude
album (a collection of single sides) early in 1970. Also during that year, and in the wake of the Beatles' break-up, Lennon built his own recording studio, dubbed Ascot Sound Studios, in the estate grounds, where he and Ono recorded their next several albums. The matching cover photos of their twin Plastic Ono Band albums were taken at Tittenhurst by the pair, using an Instamatic
camera, and portions of the Imagine movie-length video – which included selections from the Fly
album – were also filmed in the grounds.
During 1970 and 1971, Lennon and Ono began to visit the United States, first for Primal Therapy
at Dr. Arthur Janov
's Primal Institute in California, then for child custody
hearings over Ono's daughter Kyoko Chan Cox, in Houston and New York City
. Ono spent her late teens and twenties living in New York (including Scarsdale
and Greenwich Village
), and felt more at home there than in England – and so did Lennon, once he'd had a taste of Village life, as they rented a Bank Street apartment late that year. On 31 August 1971 the Lennons moved to New York permanently.
In 2004, Peter Dennison, owner of French furniture firm Moth, offered for sale one of the original lavatory seats from Tittenhurst Park. It was displayed in the window of the Brighton Musical Exchange shop in Trafalgar Street, Brighton. Mr. Dennison had bought the seat when his architectural salvage firm was offered furniture by the contractors doing the renovations at Tittenhurst Park. The asking price was £285.
In 2010, the lavatory itself was offered for sale at auction in aid of the Paul McCartney Auditorium at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts. Lennon told builder John Hancock to keep the porcelain lavatory and "use it as a plant pot" after he had installed a new one. It was stored in a shed at Mr Hancock's home for 40 years until he died. The lot carries an estimate of £750 - £1,000. Also offered for sale was a mono copy of Two Virgins, recorded at Tittenhurst Park (estimate £2,500) and Julian Lennon
's harmonica, given to Mr Hancock by the musician who asked him to take it home as "Julian was driving him mad with it". Lennon told Mr Hancock he would tell Julian it was lost (estimate £750 - £1,000).
-based analogue recording studio
, built by John Lennon
and Yoko Ono
in 1970, on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park.
Lennon built the studio, which featured eight recording tracks on one-inch open-reel tape
and a sixteen-channel mixing console, so that he and wife/collaborator Ono could record without the inconvenience of having to book studio time at Abbey Road
or another location. They could also avoid negative pressure from EMI
and Apple Records
staffers, and members of the British public, who disdained Ono's avant-garde stylings and tried to persuade Lennon to make more "sellable" music, as he had with the now-defunct Beatles
. (Chance encounters with other ex-Beatles were likewise avoided.) Technical personnel and outside musicians were summoned as required, kept on standby, or stayed at Lennon and Ono's guest quarters (as they did for the Imagine
and Fly
sessions) if necessary, to make records that satisfied the two.
First to be recorded were the twin Plastic Ono Band albums (portions of which were also recorded at Abbey Road), released simultaneously in December 1970. (Lennon's rose to #6 in the Billboard charts, while Ono's - largely recorded in a single night of jamming
with Lennon, Klaus Voormann
on bass and Ringo Starr
on drums - barely made the Top 200.) The following year brought Lennon's best-selling Imagine
, with Phil Spector
as co-producer. George Harrison
joined Lennon and Voormann at Ascot to play on several songs, including "How Do You Sleep?", a song that criticised the odd ex-Beatle out, Paul McCartney
. Ringo Starr
visited the studio during the recording of the song and was reportedly upset, saying: "That's enough, John." The album sessions were extensively filmed, and the footage appears in both the Imagine: John Lennon
documentary and a separate documentary about the making of the album.
Recorded at the same time as Imagine was Yoko Ono's album Fly (whose title song was the soundtrack to their movie of the same name), and these appear to be the last recordings the couple completed at the studio.
, who purchased the property on 18 September 1973.
Renaming the studio "Startling Studios", Starr made the facility available for use by other recording artists. Portions of T. Rex
's film Born to Boogie
were shot there, and the house also saw a social visit from cult folk musician Nick Drake
.
Judas Priest
planned to record their British Steel
album at Startling Studios, but found the house itself more suitable, and moved recording equipment there. Judas Priest's live album Unleashed in the East
was also mixed and completed there.
In 1988, the property was sold for £5 million to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates
and ruler of Abu Dhabi
. Since then further renovations to the manor has been carried out, and the interior no longer resembles the house lived in by Lennon and Starr. The property's value was estimated in 2007 to be £30 million.
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
and family until the late-1980s. It is located on a 72-acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
estate in London Road, Sunningdale
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, near Ascot, Berkshire
Ascot, Berkshire
Ascot is a village within the civil parish of Sunninghill and Ascot, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting...
SL5 0PN, England, close to the Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
border. Lennon bought the house for £145,000 from Peter Cadbury
Peter Cadbury
Peter Egbert Cadbury was a British entrepreneur.He was the son of Sir Egbert Cadbury, a World War I flying ace and managing director of Cadbury Brothers, the chocolate enterprise...
. The estate included spectacular gardens, a Tudor cottage and servants' cottages.
A century earlier, in 1869, the property was owned by Thomas Holloway
Thomas Holloway
Thomas Holloway was a patent medicine vendor and philanthropist from England.-Early life:Holloway was born in Devonport, a district of Plymouth in the county of Devon, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary Holloway , who at the time of their son's birth had a bakery business. They later moved to...
, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and founder of two large institutions which he built nearby: Holloway Sanatorium
Holloway Sanatorium
Holloway Sanatorium was an institution for the treatment of the insane, located on of parkland near the town of Virginia Water, Surrey, within the boundary of the Greater London Urban Area, about south-west of Charing Cross....
in Virginia Water
Virginia Water
Virginia Water is an affluent village, a lake and, originally, a stream, the village being in the Runnymede Borough Council in Surrey and the bodies of water stretching over the borders of Runnymede, Old Windsor and Sunninghill and Ascot, England....
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and Royal Holloway College, now known as Royal Holloway, University of London in Englefield Green
Englefield Green
Englefield Green is a large village in northern Surrey, England. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London, the south eastern corner of Windsor Great Park and close to the towns of Egham, Windsor, Staines and Virginia Water...
.
John Lennon and Tittenhurst Park
Lennon purchased this GeorgianGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
after the sale of Kenwood
Kenwood, St. George's Hill
Kenwood is a house on the St. George's Hill estate, Weybridge, Surrey, England. Originally called the Brown House, it was designed by architect T.A. Allen, and built in 1913 by local builders, Love & Sons. The estate was constructed around the Weybridge Golf Club, which was designed in 1912 by...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, his earlier home with first wife Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lillian Lennon is the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the...
, because of its resemblance to Calderstones Park
Calderstones Park
- External links :* * * * *...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where he had spent time as a child. He and Ono spent twice the purchase price on renovations, transforming the interior of the house to their liking, commissioning a set of hand-woven Oriental rugs, and installing a man-made lake without planning permission which they could see from their bedroom window.
The last Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
photo session took place at Tittenhurst Park on 22 August 1969, and the photos were used for the front and back covers of their Hey Jude
Hey Jude (album)
Hey Jude is a 1970 collection of non-album Beatles singles and B-sides, as well as "I Should Have Known Better" and "Can't Buy Me Love", two singles released by Capitol Records whose only previous American album appearance had been on the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album which had been released...
album (a collection of single sides) early in 1970. Also during that year, and in the wake of the Beatles' break-up, Lennon built his own recording studio, dubbed Ascot Sound Studios, in the estate grounds, where he and Ono recorded their next several albums. The matching cover photos of their twin Plastic Ono Band albums were taken at Tittenhurst by the pair, using an Instamatic
Instamatic
The Instamatic was a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning in 1963. The Instamatic was immensely successful, introducing a generation to low-cost photography and spawning numerous imitators....
camera, and portions of the Imagine movie-length video – which included selections from the Fly
Fly (Yoko Ono album)
Fly is the second album by Yoko Ono. It was produced by John Lennon and Ono, and released in 1971. It was a complete avant-garde/Fluxus package in a gatefold sleeve that came with a full-size poster and a postcard to order Ono's book Grapefruit. Notable songs include the singles "Midsummer New...
album – were also filmed in the grounds.
During 1970 and 1971, Lennon and Ono began to visit the United States, first for Primal Therapy
Primal therapy
Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argues that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness and resolved through re-experiencing the incident and fully...
at Dr. Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long-repressed childhood pain. Janov directs a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa...
's Primal Institute in California, then for child custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
hearings over Ono's daughter Kyoko Chan Cox, in Houston and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Ono spent her late teens and twenties living in New York (including Scarsdale
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...
and Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
), and felt more at home there than in England – and so did Lennon, once he'd had a taste of Village life, as they rented a Bank Street apartment late that year. On 31 August 1971 the Lennons moved to New York permanently.
In 2004, Peter Dennison, owner of French furniture firm Moth, offered for sale one of the original lavatory seats from Tittenhurst Park. It was displayed in the window of the Brighton Musical Exchange shop in Trafalgar Street, Brighton. Mr. Dennison had bought the seat when his architectural salvage firm was offered furniture by the contractors doing the renovations at Tittenhurst Park. The asking price was £285.
In 2010, the lavatory itself was offered for sale at auction in aid of the Paul McCartney Auditorium at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts. Lennon told builder John Hancock to keep the porcelain lavatory and "use it as a plant pot" after he had installed a new one. It was stored in a shed at Mr Hancock's home for 40 years until he died. The lot carries an estimate of £750 - £1,000. Also offered for sale was a mono copy of Two Virgins, recorded at Tittenhurst Park (estimate £2,500) and Julian Lennon
Julian Lennon
John Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
's harmonica, given to Mr Hancock by the musician who asked him to take it home as "Julian was driving him mad with it". Lennon told Mr Hancock he would tell Julian it was lost (estimate £750 - £1,000).
Ascot Sound Studios
Ascot Sound Studios was a tapeMagnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
-based analogue recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, built by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
in 1970, on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park.
Lennon built the studio, which featured eight recording tracks on one-inch open-reel tape
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....
and a sixteen-channel mixing console, so that he and wife/collaborator Ono could record without the inconvenience of having to book studio time at Abbey Road
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
or another location. They could also avoid negative pressure from EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Apple Records
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...
staffers, and members of the British public, who disdained Ono's avant-garde stylings and tried to persuade Lennon to make more "sellable" music, as he had with the now-defunct Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. (Chance encounters with other ex-Beatles were likewise avoided.) Technical personnel and outside musicians were summoned as required, kept on standby, or stayed at Lennon and Ono's guest quarters (as they did for the Imagine
Imagine (album)
Imagine is the second album by John Lennon. Recorded and released in 1971, the album tended toward songs that were gentler, more commercial and less avant-garde than those on his critically acclaimed previous album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album is considered the most popular of his works...
and Fly
Fly (Yoko Ono album)
Fly is the second album by Yoko Ono. It was produced by John Lennon and Ono, and released in 1971. It was a complete avant-garde/Fluxus package in a gatefold sleeve that came with a full-size poster and a postcard to order Ono's book Grapefruit. Notable songs include the singles "Midsummer New...
sessions) if necessary, to make records that satisfied the two.
First to be recorded were the twin Plastic Ono Band albums (portions of which were also recorded at Abbey Road), released simultaneously in December 1970. (Lennon's rose to #6 in the Billboard charts, while Ono's - largely recorded in a single night of jamming
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
with Lennon, Klaus Voormann
Klaus Voormann
Klaus Voormann is a German Grammy Award-winning artist, noted musician, and record producer. He designed artwork for many bands including The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet and Turbonegro. His most notable work as a producer was his work with the band Trio, including their worldwide hit "Da Da...
on bass and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
on drums - barely made the Top 200.) The following year brought Lennon's best-selling Imagine
Imagine (album)
Imagine is the second album by John Lennon. Recorded and released in 1971, the album tended toward songs that were gentler, more commercial and less avant-garde than those on his critically acclaimed previous album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album is considered the most popular of his works...
, with Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
as co-producer. George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
joined Lennon and Voormann at Ascot to play on several songs, including "How Do You Sleep?", a song that criticised the odd ex-Beatle out, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
visited the studio during the recording of the song and was reportedly upset, saying: "That's enough, John." The album sessions were extensively filmed, and the footage appears in both the Imagine: John Lennon
Imagine: John Lennon
Imagine: John Lennon is a soundtrack album of popular music composed by John Lennon for the 1988 documentary film, Imagine: John Lennon...
documentary and a separate documentary about the making of the album.
Recorded at the same time as Imagine was Yoko Ono's album Fly (whose title song was the soundtrack to their movie of the same name), and these appear to be the last recordings the couple completed at the studio.
Startling Studios
Deciding to stay long-term in the United States, Lennon sold Tittenhurst Park to a longtime friend, who could make use of the grounds and the recording studio – his former bandmate Ringo StarrRingo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, who purchased the property on 18 September 1973.
Renaming the studio "Startling Studios", Starr made the facility available for use by other recording artists. Portions of T. Rex
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
's film Born to Boogie
Born to Boogie
Born to Boogie is a 1972 concert film based around a concert at Wembley Empire Pool starring Marc Bolan and T. Rex. Directed by Ringo Starr, the movie was released on The Beatles' Apple Films label...
were shot there, and the house also saw a social visit from cult folk musician Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
.
Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
planned to record their British Steel
British Steel (album)
British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980. It saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine however; this time, they abandoned many of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their...
album at Startling Studios, but found the house itself more suitable, and moved recording equipment there. Judas Priest's live album Unleashed in the East
Unleashed in the East
Unleashed in the East is Judas Priest's first live album, recorded live in Tokyo, Japan during the Hell Bent for Leather Tour in 1979...
was also mixed and completed there.
In 1988, the property was sold for £5 million to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
and ruler of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
. Since then further renovations to the manor has been carried out, and the interior no longer resembles the house lived in by Lennon and Starr. The property's value was estimated in 2007 to be £30 million.
External links
- John Lennon's homes 1963-71 - house photo at bottom of Carousel's web page
- Beatles final photo session - held at Tittenhurst Park in 1969
- Photoblog for John Lennon at Tittenhurst Park
- IMDb - filming at Tittenhurst Park
- Tittenhurst Park is at coordinates 51.40645°N 0.63452°W