Appuldurcombe House

Appuldurcombe House (also spelt Appledorecombe or Appledore Combe) is the shell of a large 18th-century baroque country house of the Worsley family. The house is situated near to Wroxall on the Isle of Wight.

It is now managed by English Heritage and is open to the public. A small part of the large and 1.2 km² estate which once surrounded it is still intact, but other features of the estate are still visible in the surrounding farmland and nearby village of Wroxall, including the entrance to the park, the Freemantle Gate, now used only by farm animals and pedestrians.

History

Appuldurcombe began as a priory in 1100. It became a convent, then the Elizabethan home of the Leigh family. From there, the site came into the ownership of the Worsleys.

The present house was begun in 1702, replacing the large Tudor mansion bequeathed to Sir Robert Worsley, 3rd Baronet. The architect was John James. Sir Robert never saw the house fully completed. He died on 29 July 1747, in his memory a monument was erected overlooking the house on Stenbury Down.

The house was greatly extended in the 1770s by his great nephew Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet of Appuldurcombe. The newly extended mansion was where Sir Richard brought his new wife, whom he married ‘for love and £80,000’. Capability Brown was commissioned in 1779 to design the ornamental grounds at the same time as the extensions. A romantic ruined folly known as "Cooke’s Castle" was built on the hill opposite...
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