The private made public

In the second of two articles, John Goodall traces the 20th-century evolution of this outstanding house and its current revival in the care of an independent charitable trust

- Paul Highnam

AT about 8.30pm on August 3, 1900, after the social exertions of the Goodwood races, Mr and Mrs George Wilder, the owners of Stansted Park, were roused from the dinner table by a fire alarm; a coachman and manservant had spotted flames rising from one corner of the house. A hose was immediately connected to an emergency water supply, but the lead roof made it impossible to fight the blaze effectively and a fierce gale fanned the flames. By the time the combined fire brigades of Emsworth and Havant had arrived at about 10pm, the conflagration was beyond control and-in the words of a breathless report in The Bexhill Chronicle-it 'became evident that the beautiful mansion was doomed'.

All efforts, therefore, turned to the rescue of the contents. 'Firemen, police, servants of the house, workmen on the estate and scores of bystanders'-the report continued—‘were quickly lending a hand in removing valuable furniture, rich carpets and miscellaneous effects from more accessible parts of the burning mansion… By 2 o’clock in the morning every floor in the mansion had gone… And when the flames had died away by five or 6 o’clock on Saturday morning, nothing remained of its former glory but charred and blackened ruins.’ It amused the crowds who came to survey the smouldering remains that a family of sparrows nesting in the joint of a water pipe were undisturbed by the whole episode.