House & Family History: With its circa 1177 Great Hall, Swainston Manor is the oldest domestic building on the Isle of Wight. In the 13th century a manor house was added by Richard of Ely, Bishop of Winchester (the manor belonged to the bishops of Winchester as abbots of the Monastery of St. Swithin at Winchester). Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, popularly known as "Warwick the Kingmaker," supposedly dined at Swainston in the 15th century. In the 18th century the Barrington family added a new house to the existing buildings. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was a repeat visitor to Swainston; the poet wrote "In the Garden at Swainston" after the death of his friend, and Swainston's owner, Sir John Simeon. Tennyson purportedly also wrote "Maud" during a visit to the house. Swainston appears as the fictional Swaynestone in Maxwell Gray's 1886 novel "The Silence of Dean Maitland." The house was gutted (and later rebuilt) by an incendiary bomb that fell on it during World War II. During the 1960s Swainston was the home of the King James I School.

John Bernard (J.B.) Burke, published under the title of A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. II, p. 18, 1853.

House Listed: Grade II*

Park Listed: Grade II

Past Seat / Home of: Richard of Ely, Bishop of Winchester, 1268-80. Sir Fitzwilliam Barrington, 10th Bt., 19th century. Sir John Simeon, 3rd Bt., late 19th century.

Current Ownership Type: Corporation

Primary Current Ownership Use: Hotel

Ownership Details: Today Swainston Manor Hotel

House Open to Public: By Appointment

Phone: 01983-521-121

Email: [email protected]

Historic Houses Member: No