About Stansted Park
“Probably the best and most informative country house that I have visited in 50 years” G.C. Sussex
The story of Stansted Park began with a hunting lodge in the Forest of Bere 800 years ago. Royal visitors have been recorded here from Henry II to the present generation.
After several owners and a disastrous fire in 1900, the mansion was rebuilt on the exact footprint of a 17th century house, and the estate became the home of the Ponsonbys, Earls of Bessborough, in 1924. The story of Stansted Park and its owners since the twelfth century is told in Lord Bessborough's book " Enchanted Forest."
The elegant Regency Chapel of St Paul stands on the site of the first great house in Stansted Park (ruined in the Civil War) and re-uses some of its 15th century masonry. Its stained glass windows 'tripple-arch'd and diamonded' directly inspired the poet John Keats who attended its consecration.
“A House seeming to be a Retreat” Daniel Defoe , 1724
A fine collection of 18th century family portraits, fans, tapestries and Irish furniture 'Upstairs' in the delightful State Rooms now illustrates the history of the Ponsonby family. In dramatic contrast are the fully furnished and extensive 'Downstairs' Servants' Quarters, rebuilt in 1901 and largely unchanged, which are a unique and evocative experience for many visitors, and a wonderful teaching resource.
"The best 'Below Stairs' in the country!" B.&V. New Milton, 2009
The house was enjoyed by the families of the 9th and 10th Earls and is now presented to visitors as their family home, with their ancestor's portraits (including works by Kauffman, Lawrence, Hoppner, Reynolds, and Liotard) . The 9th Earl of Bessborough, Vere Ponsonby, was a popular Governor General of Canada in the1930s with his French-born Countess Roberte de Neuflize.
Since 1983 the House and Estate have been owned by the Stansted Park Foundation, an independent charitable trust set up by Frederick [Eric] Ponsonby, the 10th Earl of Bessborough. He was a diplomat, Minister of State, a founder of Chichester Festival Theatre, and a Vice-President of the European Parliament.
" The effect, from every point of view, is strikingly magnificent" Dallaway, 1792
Stansted Park is now open to the public and schools, and also a popular year-round venue for shows, events, weddings, and exclusive corporate functions. The Drawing Room was recently refurbished by Nicky Haslam Design.
Today, sustainable chestnut coppicing from Stansted Forest is used to feed a bio-fuel woodchip boiler that heats the House and all its outbuildings, making Stansted Park carbon-neutral and helping to perpetuate the ancient forest.
"The Prospect from this Seat is beautiful beyond description" G.A.Walpole, 1782