Paddockhurst at Worth
Abbey
The first time the name of the property called Paddockhurst occurs is in
1691 when it appears to be part of the Wakehurst estate of Ardingly. A deed of sale of
that year shows that Sir William Culpepper15wk of Wakehurst sold part of what used to be
Wakehurst Place as a separate property known as Paddockhurst. In a five year
period, William, the last of the Wakehurst Culpepers, gambled away all that
his family had accumulated over two centuries. (Details
of William's profligacy.)
Worth School, March 2000
Photo by Warren Culpepper
The Paddockhurst property today is the site
of Worth School, a Benedictine Catholic school for boys. Old Farm Cottages, the
timber-frame cottages in the hollow to the right of the main school gate, are thought to be the
oldest buildings on site (possibly fifteenth century). The buildings up the slope to the
left of the drive are the main house of the original property or, at least, the site of it
(now known as Austin House). Paddockhurst was little more than a farm house. The present
building is probably late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
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Paddockhurst during Victorian times
Worth Abbey, Turners Hill, West Sussex
Location: 30 miles WSW of
Goudhurst, on the B2110, 2 miles W of Turners Hill.
National Grid Coordinates: TQ
317 345
Also see:
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