Wormsley Park
Encyclopedia
Wormsley Park is a 2,500 acre (10 km²) estate and 18th century country house between Stokenchurch
and Watlington
in the Chiltern Hills
of Buckinghamshire
, England. It is the former home of the philanthropist Sir Paul Getty
who moved to Wormsley in 1986. He undertook a restoration which lasted until 1991, and lived there until his death in 2003. It is now the home of home of Mark Getty
and his family and the site of the cricket field
known as Sir Paul Getty's Ground.
family since the late 16th century the estate belonged to Colonel Adrian Scrope
the regicide
. The house and estate was passed to his grandson John Scrope
a baron of the Exchequer and as Scrope died without issue, his estate of Wormsley passed to the descendants of his sister Anne (died 1720), who had married Henry Fane of Brympton
. Their second son, Thomas Fane
, also a Bristol merchant, succeeded his uncle as Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis, beginning the Fane family's long association with the parliamentary seat of Lyme Regis
. Fane also succeeded a distant cousin and became 8th Earl of Wesmoreland in 1762.
The Fane family retained ownership of the house and estate until 1986 when they sold it to Sir Paul Getty
. After he acquired the 18th century house Paul Getty spent much time on restoring the house and estate back to its former glory. Getty also had a library added to the house to accommodate his book collection, and a theatre where performances were held for invited guests. In the summer months, Garsington Opera
's annual festival is held on the grounds of the park.
Wormsley Park operates as an organic farm. The area is known for its population of Red Kite
s. Once extinct in England and Scotland, the birds were reintroduced into England beginning in 1989. The area was never planned to be the first release site. It was originally intended to be Windsor Great Park
, but at the last minute the landowner pulled out and the project nearly collapsed. Getty stepped in and offered Wormsley Park as an alternative, thus saving the project.
introduced him to cricket
, Getty formed such an affection for the sport that in 1992 he had a replica of The Oval
built on the grounds, with a mock-Tudor pavilion. Queen Mother
and prime minister John Major
attended the first match, along with Michael Caine
, Denis Compton
and Brian Johnston
. Over the final decade of his life, Getty invited teams to play at what is now known as "Sir Paul Getty's Ground"; the teams ranged from world-class sides to youth sides. Amongst those who have played there are cricketers Andrew Flintoff
, Imran Khan
, Mike Gatting
, Michael Atherton, Mark Ramprakash
, Derek Randall
, and Mike Brearley
and entertainment figures such as Peter O'Toole
, Tim Rice
, and Rory Bremner
. Touring international sides regularly play at Wormsley. In recent years Wormsley has welcomed the Australians, West Indians, Sri Lankans and South Africans.
Stokenchurch
Stokenchurch is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire and west of High Wycombe. The village is a popular place to live, due to its rural location and ease of access to London and Birmingham...
and Watlington
Watlington, Oxfordshire
Watlington is a market town and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Christmas Common and Greenfield, both of which are in the Chiltern Hills. The M40 motorway is from Watlington.-History:...
in the Chiltern Hills
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England. It is the former home of the philanthropist Sir Paul Getty
Paul Getty
Sir John Paul Getty KBE , born Eugene Paul Getty, was a wealthy American-born British philanthropist and book collector. He was the elder son of Jean Paul Getty, Sr...
who moved to Wormsley in 1986. He undertook a restoration which lasted until 1991, and lived there until his death in 2003. It is now the home of home of Mark Getty
Mark Getty
Mark Getty , is a British businessman. A member of a family which originally made its money from oil, he is the son of American-British billionaire philanthropist Sir Paul Getty.-Career:...
and his family and the site of the cricket field
Cricket field
A cricket field consists of a large circular or oval-shaped grassy ground on which the game of cricket is played. There are no fixed dimensions for the field but its diameter usually varies between 450 feet to 500 feet...
known as Sir Paul Getty's Ground.
History
Originally owned by the ScropeScrope
-Origin of name:The name may be derived from the old Anglo-Norman word for "crab" and that it began as a nickname for a club-footed illegitimate son of an English princess by a Norman knight. A crab moves sideways and so the name could fit a child with club feet...
family since the late 16th century the estate belonged to Colonel Adrian Scrope
Adrian Scrope
Colonel Adrian Scrope was the twenty seventh of the fifty nine Commissioners who signed the Death Warrant of King Charles I. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Charing Cross after the restoration of Charles II.-Early life:...
the regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
. The house and estate was passed to his grandson John Scrope
John Scrope
John Scrope was a British lawyer and politician.He was the son of Thomas Scrope, a Bristol merchant, the third son and ultimate heir of Colonel Adrian Scrope of Wormsley in Oxfordshire, hung drawn and quartered after the restoration as one of the regicides of Charles I.Scrope was educated at the...
a baron of the Exchequer and as Scrope died without issue, his estate of Wormsley passed to the descendants of his sister Anne (died 1720), who had married Henry Fane of Brympton
Henry Fane of Brympton
Henry Fane of Brympton, Somerset was a great-grandson of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland and father of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland....
. Their second son, Thomas Fane
Thomas Fane
Thomas Fane may refer to:*Sir Thomas Fane Wyatt rebel, High Sheriff of Kent and MP*Sir Thomas Fane , Member of Parliament for Maidstone*Thomas Fane, 6th Earl of Westmorland...
, also a Bristol merchant, succeeded his uncle as Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis, beginning the Fane family's long association with the parliamentary seat of Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis (UK Parliament constituency)
Lyme Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1868, when the borough was abolished.-1295-1629:...
. Fane also succeeded a distant cousin and became 8th Earl of Wesmoreland in 1762.
The Fane family retained ownership of the house and estate until 1986 when they sold it to Sir Paul Getty
Paul Getty
Sir John Paul Getty KBE , born Eugene Paul Getty, was a wealthy American-born British philanthropist and book collector. He was the elder son of Jean Paul Getty, Sr...
. After he acquired the 18th century house Paul Getty spent much time on restoring the house and estate back to its former glory. Getty also had a library added to the house to accommodate his book collection, and a theatre where performances were held for invited guests. In the summer months, Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera is an annual open air summer opera festival founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams. For twenty one years it was held in the gardens of Leonard Ingrams' home at Garsington Manor in Oxfordshire. Since 2011 the festival is now held in Wormsley Park, the home of the Getty family near High...
's annual festival is held on the grounds of the park.
Wormsley Park operates as an organic farm. The area is known for its population of Red Kite
Red Kite
The Red Kite is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species is currently endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe and northwest Africa, though formerly also occurred just...
s. Once extinct in England and Scotland, the birds were reintroduced into England beginning in 1989. The area was never planned to be the first release site. It was originally intended to be Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a large deer park of , to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century...
, but at the last minute the landowner pulled out and the project nearly collapsed. Getty stepped in and offered Wormsley Park as an alternative, thus saving the project.
Cricket ground
When Mick JaggerMick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
introduced him to cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, Getty formed such an affection for the sport that in 1992 he had a replica of The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
built on the grounds, with a mock-Tudor pavilion. Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
and prime minister John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
attended the first match, along with Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and Brian Johnston
Brian Johnston
Brian Alexander Johnston CBE, MC was a cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC from 1946 until his death.-Early life and education:...
. Over the final decade of his life, Getty invited teams to play at what is now known as "Sir Paul Getty's Ground"; the teams ranged from world-class sides to youth sides. Amongst those who have played there are cricketers Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
, Imran Khan
Imran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
, Mike Gatting
Mike Gatting
Michael "Mike" William Gatting OBE is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988...
, Michael Atherton, Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ravin Ramprakash is an English cricketer, playing for Surrey and England. A right-handed batsman, he initially made his name playing for Middlesex, and was selected for England aged 21...
, Derek Randall
Derek Randall
Derek William Randall is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s....
, and Mike Brearley
Mike Brearley
John Michael Brearley OBE is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08.-Early life:...
and entertainment figures such as Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
, and Rory Bremner
Rory Bremner
Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire...
. Touring international sides regularly play at Wormsley. In recent years Wormsley has welcomed the Australians, West Indians, Sri Lankans and South Africans.