The Wentworth Estate is a private estate of large houses set in about woodland, in Runnymede, Surrey. It was commenced in the early 1920s. It lies within a gently undulating area of coniferous heathland and interlaces with the Wentworth Golf Club, some properties only being accessed through the club grounds. It is colloquially known as 'The Island'.
Description
Most of its invariably large plots have homes built from scratch or rebuilt after 1930 in a range of styles from the ornate multi-chimneyed Arts and Crafts movement of the earliest properties through to the Neo-Georgian and colonial revival and the postmodern simple style as in the recording studios at John Lennon's Tittenhurst Park (1971) in the adjoining parish of Sunninghill and Ascot, the north of which, with parts of Windsor, Winkfield and Virginia Water, is the main piece of Crown Estate in South-East England, Windsor Great Park.
History
19th Century
The 19th-century house the "Wentworths" (now the club house for the Wentworth Club) was the home of a brother-in-law of the 1st Duke of Wellington. It was purchased in 1850 by the exiled Carlist Ramón Cabrera, 1st Duke of Maestrazgo, and after his death, his wife bought up the surrounding lands which were later to form the nucleus of the Wentworth Estate.
20th Century
In 1912, builder W.G. Tarrant had started developing St George's Hill, Weybridge – a development of houses based on minimal plots based around a golf course. In 1922, Tarrant acquired the development rights for the Wentworth Estate, getting Harry Colt to develop a golf course around the "Wentworth" house. Tarrant developed the large houses on the estate to a similar Surrey formula used at St George's Hill – tall chimneys, dormer windows, gables, leaded lights, tile-hung or half-timbered or a combination of both; most using hand-made bricks and tiles. Some houses had stonework round the front door and stone fireplaces, a few had a marble floor in the hall, and the rarest – of which he was most proud – had a stone tablet with his initials WGT.
Development of Wentworth Estate ground to a halt due to depression in the late 1920s, and, in 1931, when the banks asked for repayment of a large debenture, Tarrant was forced to declare bankruptcy. The ownership of the land passed to Wentworth Estates Ltd, which came under the control of Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Co. Ltd. Construction picked up in the late 1930s, with many houses built by Tarrant Builders Ltd, with Tarrant's son Percy as one of the directors; but again stopped during World War II when the need arose to build high-density housing close to Virginia Water railway station.
Wentworth Subterranean Bunkers
With the outbreak of World War II, Wentworth Estate was selected as an alternative seat of government and a rural command post, offering fewer security problems and more resources than the London Cabinet War Rooms (see also Cabinet War Rooms - Military Citadels under London. A subterranean bunker and tunnel system, now sealed and covered by car parks, was built near the Clubhouse. Designed by Harley Dalrymple-Hay, it was constructed in 1939 and consisted of two diameter parallel tunnels made from cast iron London Underground tube segments with a diameter service tunnel running between them. The bunkers were occupied by the GHQ Home Forces, and later the 1st Signal Regiment. The bunkers were vacated in December 1944.(See also)
Post-war
Post-war development picked up considerably, and, by 1960, most of the available land was already used.
Planning and Amenities
In 1962, a committee of residents and the company promoted a private act of Parliament, and on 31 July 1964, the Wentworth Estate Act was given Royal Assent. The Act established the Wentworth Estate Roads Committee, which appoints its members on advice from the Wentworth Residents' Association.
The Wentworth Estate is laid out across 700 hectares (1750 acres) and forms one of Europe's premier residential areas. Within the estate borders are a mixture of public and private roads, footpaths and open areas. It adjoins along a long border the long row of its village's shops, restaurants and other amenities, which is laid out upon similar lines, but has many 21st century converted mansions and newly built apartments.
The River Bourne runs through the area, which has a population of 5,895.
Transport
Road
Wentworth is just outside the ring of the London Orbital with a junction north. Routes from the west of the estate lead into Berkshire and towards Camberley and the Bagshot junction of the M3, which links to Southampton and to the A303.