Built / Designed For: George Smith
House & Family History: Paddockhurst is a large mock Tudor house built, 1869-72, for George Smith, a London property developer. The House was later the home (1881-94) of Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the torpedo. In 1933 the 3rd Viscount Cowdray sold the House and 500 acres to Abbot John Chapman, who changed Paddockhurst's name to Worth Abbey and founded a Benedictine monastery and school (Worth School) on the site. The Cowdray family retained 4,500 acres around the House after the 1933 sale. Paddockhurst is noted for its Great Room, which measures 45 by 20 feet and sports pavonazzo and alabaster fireplaces and a stucco frieze by Walter Crane representing the history of locomotion from the ox-wagon to automobiles.
Collections: The contents of Paddockhurst were sold on July 12, 1915.
Architect: Aston Webb
Date: 1897Architect: Francis Pollen
Date: Circa 1964
Title: Buildings of England: Sussex, The
Author: Pevsner, Nikolaus; Nairn, Ian
Year Published: 1973
Reference: pgs. 642-643
Publisher: London: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0140710280
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade II
Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: George Smith, 1862-81. Robert Whitehead, 1881-94. Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, until 1927; Pearson family here from 1894 until 1933.
Current Ownership Type: School
Primary Current Ownership Use: School
Ownership Details: Since 1933 Worth School (originally Downside School), a Benedictine school associated with Worth Abbey.
House Open to Public: No
Phone: 01342-710-200
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.worthschool.co.uk/
Historic Houses Member: No