The rise and fall of New Milton country estate Fernhill Manor

After the Norman Conquest the land was acquired by Earl Robert of Shrewsbury and was managed by someone called Nigel.

The king had seized two virgates for inclusion into the forest so the manor holdings were reduced in size and value.

Records show that there was enough land on the estate for one plough to cope with, and that the farming was carried out by a villein, who was a tenant and was also the property of the landowner. A villein, while not free, was above the status of a slave.

Richard de Redvers, the Earl of Devon, was granted by King Henry I (1068-1135) a large number of estates and parcels of land in Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and six manors in Hampshire including Fernhill.

William, the 6th Earl of Devon, granted the estate to Richard de Fernhill for the compulsory service of one man-at-arms for duty at Christchurch Castle for eight days a year.

Fernhill passed through three generations of the same family until ownership passed to John Fromond when he married Richard de Fernhill’s great-granddaughter Maud.

John Fromond was a steward of the Manors of Winchester College. In this role he looked after the land and property the college owned to ensure that they could benefit from them.

On his death in 1420, with no children to inherit, he bequeathed Fernhill Manor Estate (in this time period spelt ‘Farnhill’) to the college. The rent from the land was intended to pay for the clothes of 16 of the college choir boys. In addition, the monies raised from the manor paid for a chantry building in the college.

Winchester College retained ownership of most of the estate until 1874. During that time it leased the manor house and farmland out to tenants.

The Fernhill Manor estate in this period stretched from what is now Bashley Crossroads, but was formerly known as Fernhill Gate, down to Old Milton Road.

The modern-day recreation ground area was then a farm, and remained so until 1920.

In the west the college land went as far as Stem Lane through to Ashley Common in the east. The college also owned plots of land in the Barton area. It is thanks to Winchester College that the manorial records of Fernhill are preserved.

The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner describes the manor house as “late 17th century constructed in fine brick of five bays, wooden cross windows and a hipped roof”.

Thomas White and his wife Frances lived in the manor house in the early 1700s. He originated from Fiddleford in Dorset where his family held land and property. White was a renowned soldier who had served three kings and was the commander of the bodyguard of Queen Anne.

He fought in the wars in Flanders and Ireland and was wounded in action. On his death in 1720 his widow presented St Mary Magdalene Church in Milton with a silver chalice and plate in his memory.

It is possible to get some idea of how Thomas White may have looked when he was a soldier. His effigy, clad in armour, can be seen in the porchway entrance to St Mary Magdalene Church in Milton. Next to his bust is his sword, believed to be made by Andrea Ferrara, a renowned swordsmith of the age. Thomas White is buried alongside his first wife in the porch below his effigy.

The tenancy of Fernhill passed through a number of hands until Thomas Beckley, a surgeon from Lymington, acquired it in 1764. He sub-let the farmland to Hugh Budden, who was a yeoman farmer.

The Beckley family retained the tenancy for many years. The 1841 tithe allocation book lists the landowner for the large number of Winchester College holdings as “Reverend Thomas Beckley. Leasehold under the wardens, fellows and clerks of St Mary College Winchester”.

The Rev. Thomas Beckley (1790-1872) was a Fellow of New College Oxford and was ordained as a priest in 1814.

He was elected mayor of Lymington for the years 1817, 1822 and 1833, and of Christchurch for the years 1820 and 1825.

He lived in Lymington until 1839 when he sold his household effects. Newspaper accounts in 1862 record that his livestock and equipment held at Ossemsley Farm to the west of Bashley were sold by auction.

By 1870 the lease for the Fernhill Manor Estate was in the possession of a Mr John Chinery, a farmer from nearby Wootton.

Four years later on 5th August 1874, Winchester College put up for auction a large portion of the Fernhill Manor Estate. The purchaser was a Mr Henry Hewitt Kennard (1811-78), a banker and investor from London.

He and his brother, John Pierce Kennard, were directors of Denison, Heywood and Kennards and Co, of 4 Lombard Street, London. Later this became Consolidated Bank with H. H. Kennard as the chair. The two brothers, using their own money, had invested heavily in developing new railways.

John Pierce Kennard purchased Hordle House in Milford while Henry Kennard bought the nearby Rookcliff House. Both appear to have been very philanthropic towards the villagers of Milford, and there was a charity set up in the name of Henry Hewitt Kennard with the aim of funding apprenticeships for young people in Milford and for relieving the suffering of the poor in the village.

In the early 1880s the London and South Western Railway was building a new direct line to Bournemouth from Brockenhurst. The route went via Sway and created a new station at Milton, and at Hinton Admiral where the permission of Sir George Meyrick for the line to go through his land was crucial to the success of the project.

The line also went through Mr Kennard’s land on the Fernhill Estate. The construction of the new line was completed in 1888.

It should be noted that Kennard Road in New Milton is not named after H. H. Kennard but his nephew Colonel Edmund Hegan Kennard, who was the MP for Lymington (and Milton Parish) from 1874-85.

The Kennard family sold off plots of land for development around the new railway station. The Hampshire Chronicle dated 26th April 1890 reported the sale of the initial plots. Manor Road and Avenue Road were among the first to be developed for housing.

Among the many investors was Winchester brewer Hugh Wyeth. He realised that there was a great interest in developing new healthy country and seaside resorts. Nearby Bournemouth was developing rapidly and plans were being drawn up to enhance Milford. He built a hotel next to Milton railway station which would be used by prospective purchasers of land and property in the Milton area.

The Hampshire Chronicle report on the first sale of plots of land at Fernhill mentions that Mr Wyeth provided catering for 430 people in a large marquee near the hotel. Special trains were laid on to bring potential purchasers to Milton.

The 17th century Fernhill Manor House was occupied by the Kennard family or their employees. From 1874 to 1898 James ‘Daddy’ Tee, the bailiff for the Kennard family, lived in the house.

Members of the Kennard family lived there until just after the First World War. In 1919 two ladies, Miss Clarke and Miss Macnamara relocated their girls school from a house called Branksome, in Ashley Road, to the Manor House. The school was renamed Fernhill Manor school for girls. It later merged with the nearby Edinburgh House school and together they became Ballard School in 1995.

The area of Fernhill known as Great Ballard was acquired by a wealthy Anglo-American family, the Ubsdells. Miss Genevieve Eads was left a considerable fortune by her adopted father, James Buchanan Eads, a renowned American structural engineer.

In 1865 she married a prosperous merchant named John Arnold Ubsdell II. The Ubsdell family originated from Hampshire. John had been born in Winchester, and the family spent time in both the US and England. Genevieve and John Ubsdell had three sons who were all educated in this country, reinforcing the British links of the family.

In addition to the areas of Great Ballard and Little Ballard, the Ubsdells had rights over land in what is now Kennard Road, New Milton. They had three large houses built which were named Idlewild, Brooklyn and Grey Gables.

Sadly, only Grey Gables survives today.

Work on Great Ballard House commenced in 1904. The architect was Sydney Kelway-Pope of Southampton. The total cost of the build would be valued today at over £1m.

The design was heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts architect C. F. A. Voysey. A good example of this influence is the conical porch at the main entranceway and the bronze studded front door.

The fireplaces are by the famous Teale company whose products are identified by their duck motif. Much of the internal door furniture and stained-glass windows survive and have the most wonderful colours.

When Genevieve’s husband, John Ubsdell, died in 1909 she continued to live in Great Ballard and was described as “living on her own means”.

The First World War changed life in Britain irrevocably. The period of the English country house was coming to an end. By 1915 Genevieve Ubsdell had rented Great Ballard to a Mrs Wood, and by 1918 was living in the lodge house at the end of the drive.

Genevieve tried to sell the estate in 1918 but was successful only in disposing of the contents. She tried again in 1922 but it failed to reach the asking price.

In 1924 the Ubsdell family leased the building and the grounds to Great Ballard School. The main house and outbuildings were converted to make them more suited to that of an educational premises.

Great Ballard Preparatory School remained in residence until 1940 when the building and grounds were commandeered by the army for the duration of the war.

Genevieve Ubsdell’s youngest son, Lt Col. Thurlow Richardson Ubsdell, had moved to Great Ballard Lodge in 1939. He gave Great Ballard Lake to the local authority with a restrictive covenant against any form of development.

Just before his death, the family were in dispute with Lymington Borough Council which wanted the lake to be filled in and the site turned over to housing.

In 1946 Edinburgh House School for boys took over the lease at Ballard. After the 1995 merger with Fernhill Manor School, Great Ballard House remained a school.

The Fernhill Manor site was sold, with the grounds developed for housing, while the main house became a private dwelling.

Some fragments of the Fernhill estate still survive, with Ballard Lake and the nearby water meadow popular recreation areas for Miltonians.

The Fernhill Manor estate area has played an important part in the history of Milton Parish over many centuries and will continue to do so for many years to come.

• Nick Saunders is chair of the Milton Heritage Society. Email him on nick@miltonheritagesociety.co.uk