Tangley Place
Where: Worplesdon, Surrey
Built: Mansion c.1872, Labs 1958
Architect: Unknown
Abandoned: 1996
Listed: No
Visited: 2009
Last Known Condition: Demolished
Page Updated: January 2014
Tangley Place (originally Tangley Park) was built c 1872, a rambling brick and
half-timbered mansion surrounded by beautiful gardens of rose walks, sweeping lawns
and topiaried yew hedges.
I have been unable to trace the original owner, but in the early 1900s,
Tangley was home to barrister and MP Wilson Noble, a firm believer in the "future of automobilism,
which, if unhampered by reactionary legislation, he is sure is bound to render untold service to mankind."
A pioneering motorist, Wilson kept at least four cars at Tangley (a very considerable expense at the time):
a Curved Dash Oldsmobile, an 8hp de Dion-Bouton, a 12hp Gladiator and a 14hp Daimler. After Noble's death in 1917, the house was bought by Margaret Wills Hamilton-Fellows, estranged wife of Maj. Ernest Gaddesden Fellows and daughter of Sir
Frederick Wills, Bt, the millionaire tobacco manufacturer.
Fellows, who had inherited a £2m fortune from her father, lived there until her death in 1926.
Her daughter, Enid Margaret, a remarkable (if controversial) woman who was at different times a
philanthropist, nun, missionary, Civil War photojournalist, Francoist,
supporter of the French Resistance and employee of the Deuxième Bureau,
married the 14th Earl of Kinnoull in 1923 but the marriage was unsuccessful;
their only child died suddenly while staying at Tangley with his grandmother aged just three months,
Kinoull went bankrupt and they were divorced in 1927.
By 1945, the house had
become a children's home and
from 1947 to 1955 it was used as an NHS convalescent home. Three years later, in 1958, the
property was taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for use as a field station,
known as the Worplesdon Laboratory.
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In the 1980s, the primary job of the Worplesdon Laboratory was to develop "improved methods of preventing damage to agriculture by harmful mammals and birds". Work was also done on the effects of pesticides on wildlife and other aspects of agricultural conservation while a small section worked in co-operation with the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Authority to alleviate the problem of bird-strike to aircraft.
A Hansard report for February 1983 stated that "The following species are currently being used in the research programmes: rabbit, badger, Japanese quail, feral pigeon, starling, bullfinch, house sparrow and wood pigeon." In 1985 the area of office and laboratory buildings totalled 26000 sq ft.
Testing on site ceased in 1996 and the premises were offered for sale in 1997. Purchased in 1999 by a developer, plans to convert the main building into luxury apartments were derailed by a fire which damaged the main building beyond repair. Since then, plans to demolish the buildings and replace them with a offices or a care home have repeatedly been thrown out by the local council due to their unsuitability. Several fires later the house is a total wreck, much of it completely inaccessible due to structural collapse. Tiles, bricks, charred timbers and pipework have fallen through roof, ceiling and floor, coming to rest in the cellars and reception rooms. Almost all of the original arts-and-crafts style decor has been destroyed by fire and water damage but here and there tantalising traces remain: the ruins of a pannelled library, verdigris-coloured woodwork in the hall and burnt parquet flooring in the service wing - a fragile impression in charcoal that cracks and crumbles with every step.
Epilogue
Detailed planning consent was granted by Guildford Borough Council on 14th September 2009 for the erection of a three-storey, 92-bed care home following demolition of the existing buildings on the site. Tangley Place was razed to the ground in January 2010 and none of the buildings now remain. Construction of the new care home (also called Tangley Place) was well underway by June 2011 and has now been completed.
Concise Bibliography
HansardHansard, 15ththFeb, 1983, 1ststDec. 1989 and 19ththJan, 2000.
HMSO, (1873) 25" O.S. Map, 1873
Records held by Surrey History Centre (DCH/11/1);