#Throwbackthursday - 1983 - Nymans Gardens
Working on behalf of the National Trust with the late architect Philip Jebb (1927-1995), MCS was appointed to construct a new timber framed entrance building in colonial style with shiplap boarding, cedar shingled roof and lead covered cupola. The building still stands proud today creating a gateway to the stunning gardens and manor.
In the late 19th century, Ludwig Ernest Wilhelm Leonard Messel (1847-1915), a member of a German Jewish family, settled in England and bought the Nymans estate, a house with 600 acres on a sloping site overlooking the picturesque High Weald of Sussex.
Ludwig's son Colonel Leonard Messel succeeded to the property in 1915 and replaced the Regency house with a picturesque stone manor, designed by Sir Walter Tapper and Norman Evill in a mellow late Gothic/Tudor style.
The severe reduction of staff in World War II was followed in 1947 by a disastrous fire in the house, which survives as a garden ruin. The house was partially rebuilt and became the home of Leonard Messel's daughter. In 1953 the property was bequeathed to the National Trust with 275 acres of woodland, one of the first gardens taken on by the Trust.
Visit Nymans Gardens: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nymans
About Philip Vincent Belloc Jebb: https://philipjebb.wpcomstaging.com
