Froyle Place was built
in 1620 by Sir John Jephson, and it is, in the main, a gabled U-shaped Elizabethan manor
house of the local clunch or hard chalk. A cellar at the north-west
retains two fine Tudor doorways, and an adjacent quoin bears a consecration
cross. The upper drawing shows the house in 1660.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, probably when bought
by the Millers, sash windows were inserted, and the principal rooms
modernised in the Adam taste; in about 1865 and later, further and
less attractive alterations were made, including that of the centre
between the wings on the south-east front. The gardens were laid out
with uncommon charm, and attractive feature being a curving double
border sunk between a convex terrace and a clipped yew hedge. The lower photograph was taken in 1912.
During the early years of the First World
War, Froyle Place was used as a Military Hospital, and, in late 2000,
the Froyle Archive was loaned a family album which included several
pages recalling this period in the house’s life.
After the death of Sir Hubert Miller, the last Lord of the Manor of Froyle, the estate was sold to the trustees of Lord Mayor Treloar College as a school for disabled boys and girls. Treloars stayed here until 2011 when the whole estate was put up for sale and purchased by Harbour Hotels, part of the Nicolas James Group.
The Froyle Archive is following the site development - click Beyond 2012 in the menu below.
Recently were lent
a log book of the Estate Records, which recorded the day to day activity on the estate, which gives a fascinating view of everyday life in the first 40 years of the twentieth century.
In March 2017 Google Earth produced a new satellite photograph showing the Froyle Park development nearing completion - ground level pictures will follow soon.
Follow From the Air below to see - move the slider to compare betweek 2008 and 2017.
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