Sanderstead Court

Sanderstead Court was a country house most often associated with the Atwood family of Sanderstead, Surrey, England. It was located next to the All Saint’s Parish Church (c. 1230) in Sanderstead. This manor house evolved over the centuries to become a significant country house and the seat of power of the Atwood family.

The first mention of the Atwood family in Sanderstead is in 1346 when Justice Peter Atte Wood (Atte Wode) and his wife Laurencia purchased land there Harv |Lewis|1894| p=338. The Atte Wode’s had originally lived nearby in Coulsdon, first at "Hooley House" and then at "Wood Place". Some time in the 15th century they moved to Sanderstead and began improving the property there. By the time John Atwood died in 1525, the family seems to have made the transition to Sanderstead, and he mentions Sanderstead manor in his will Harv |Atwood|1928.

The Atwood family were benefactors to the Sanderstead Parish Church which was adjacent to their home, and John Atwood (Atwodde) and his wife, Denys, have a brass plaque in the church dated 1525. John’s grand son, Nicholas Wood, who died in 1565, is identified as “"of Sandersted Corte who served quene Elizabeth sens the second yearr of her rayne"” on his brass in the church Harv |Stephanson|1919.

Several secondary sources repeat the tradition that Queen Elizabeth I once spent the night at Sanderstead Court while Nicholas Wood was the owner. His service to the queen included being a Sergeant of the Queen's Carriages. There has been no independent corroboration of the Queen's presence at Sanderstead Court, however, so the story remains an undocumented tradition.

Nicholas Wood lost a portion Sanderstead to Sir John Gresham, Lord Mayor of London, when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1536 and conveyed their property to some of his favorites.

After a series of complicated transactions and inheritances, the Atwood’s regained control of Sanderstead Court, and Nicholas Wood's son, Harman Atwood, Jr., transformed Sanderstead into a significant country house in the 1670’s.

Harman Atwood was finished his renovations to Sanderstead Court in 1675. The completed house was a three story, red brick mansion comprised of a central core with two large wings at either end which were adorned with decorated chimneys. The central portion of the house had a great room, two stories in height, supported by fluted columns with Corinthian capitals; this great room was probably originally constructed by an earlier Atwood in the 16th century. Many of the rooms in Sanderstead Court were panelled with wood. The Atwood shield with a lion rampant between three acorns, the initials “H.A.” (Harman Atwood) and the date “1675” were once were carved in stone over the main entry to Sanderstead Court.

Harman Atwood, Jr. (1608-1676) was an attorney (solicitor) in London and Sanderstead was at the center of his vast holdings of real estate. Harman appears to have been a patron of the arts and had a friendship with John Oldham (poet). Oldham's poem, "Pindarique", was written "to the memory of Harman Atwood upon his death." According to Charles Atwood "in a short biography of John Oldham prefixed to his poems...Harman Atwood was his liberal patron, that he died in 1676, that he was of Sanderstead, in Surrey County, England, where the name and family had been of long duration in a lineal descent"Harv |Atwood|1888.

Harman Atwood died childless in 1676 and left Sanderstead Court to his sister Dame Olivia Atwood (1614-1681). Olivia also died childless, and the house passed through a succession of distant Atwood relations until it passed out of the family line entirely in 1759. Later owners included members of the Wigsell family.

John Preston Neal provides a description of Sanderstead Court's grounds as they existed in 1818:

"The site of the Court House is on an eminence, having in front a spacious lawn, skirted by a shrubbery of rich and varied foliage, separated from the adjoining pleasure grounds by a light range of iron palisades. The Park was enlarged by the addition of an Estate, called Place House; and the whole now forms quite a sequestered residence; the grounds, which are extensive, admit the most beautiful prospects: on one side are seen the counties of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire; and on the other, a fine open coutnry for many miles, over all Bansted Downs" Harv |Neal|1818.

In the early 20th century, Sanderstead Court was converted to a hotel and renamed “"Selsdon Court".” During World War II it was used by the Royal Air Force. Sadly, Sanderstead Court burned, leaving only the outside walls in 1944. As of 1947 the mansion was still standing but reduced to ruins, probably never to be repaired, left in the edge of a little village in what is now the outskirts of London.

References

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*Citation |last=Atwood |first=Charles |title=History of the Atwood Family in England and the United Sates, to which is Appended a History of the Tenney Family |year=1888

*Citation |last=Atwood |first=Elijah Francis |title=Ye Atte Wode Annals |publisher=Atwood publishing Co |place=Sisseton, SD |date=1928

*"History of All Saint’s Parish Church", (view online at: http://www.sanderstead-parish.org.uk/html/all_saints_history.html

*Citation |last=Lewis |first=Frank B. |title=Pedes Finium; or, Fines Relating to the County of Surrey |publisher=Surrey Archaelogical Society |place=Guildford |date=1894

*Citation |last=Neal |firs=John Preston |title=Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland |publisher=W. H. Reid |place=London |year=1818

*”Parishes: Sanderstead', "A History of the County of Surrey": Volume 4 (1912), pp. 237-43. (view online at: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43057.

*Citation |last=Stephanson |first=M. |title=A List of Monumental Brasses in Surrey |publisher=Surrey Archaelogical Society |place=Guildford |volume=32 |year=1919

*Citation |last=Walford |first=Edward |title=Greater London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places |publisher=Cassell & Company |place=London |volume=2 |year=1883