“The Village has a very pretty High Street with a stream running in its middle. On the N side, the finest house, Glenthorne, c 1690, of brick, in red and blue chequer.” Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England.
Glenthorne House sports an ornate, brick-clad exterior typical of the reignof William and Mary. The man responsible for its building, Thomas Cropp, was wealthy; he owned properties as far away as the Isle of Wight. He was also very canny – the rear of the house is of much simpler construction than the front; he must have reasoned that, since nobody overlooked the back , there was no need to spend the money.
This is a Grade 2* building, and these are extracts from the listing
“Glenthorne and forecourt rail. A notable example of William and Mary style, with a symmetrical south front, having a projectingcentre, of two storeys. In it, the doorway with a big brick pediment and the window above with lugs and tiny volutes. Raised brick quoins at the angles of the house (left). Red brickwork in Flemish bond with blue headers, red dressings; plinth, rubbed flat arches, 1st floor band, rusticated quoins, eared architrave to centre with cut brick ornament to mouldings.”
“The rear elevation is an unusual exposed timber frame (of the same date) with painted brick infill: there are five windows (of irregular spacing) with middle tall staircase light with an arched head”
“The interior contains the original staircase, some Georgian plaster work and some >Victorian renovation (in matching style).”
Staff and Services
Puzzlingly, in such a grand house, there is no sign of accommodation for servants, who would have been a necessary part of such a prosperous household, nor of rooms where cooking and other household activities would have been conducted. There are no traces of dormer windows in the loft, where staff might have slept. The layout of the bottom storey at the rear of the house is not consistent with the upper floors, so there may have been a lean-to building which accommodated the servants and services.
The first Richard Eyles bought what is now Glenthorne House in 1783. He was a church warden; his death in May 1788, aged 59, is commemorated by a plaque in All Saints Lady Chapel. There is also a plaque dedicated to his daughter Henrietta who died in 1812 aged 29. He was the parish’s biggest property owner, rated as the occupier of Court Farm in the 1750s; he also occupied ‘Beerly Farm’ in the 1760s. Two of his sons were Deputy Lieutenants of Hampshire. One, Captain Sir Joseph Eyles RN, was described in the 1802 citation as ‘of East Meon, with lands in that parish at Ramsdean, Tuggall, Burley’. The other was the second Richard, ‘with lands in that parish within the tythes of Riplington, Froxfield and also lands called Burley in the Parish of East Meon.’ Joseph died in 1804, when Richard II inherited Glenthorne. This Richard Eyles occupied Bereleigh house and rebuilt it ‘on the grand scale’. He in turned died in 1814, leaving it to the next Joseph, who died in 1815 aged only 29, passing the house on to the third Richard Eyles,
John Nathaniel Atkins …
… bought Glenthorne in 1837. He was a grocer, draper, and postmaster. When the parish was mapped and listed in 1852 (the Tithe Apportionments), he owned significant property in and around the village. Among other properties was a row of three houses on the other side of the High Street, now known as Barnards. His son was also named John Nathaniel Atkins, recorded in the 1861 census as living in Bramdean, running a grocery business; he died in 1866 aged only 44. Another son, Clement Stubbington Atkins, went bankrupt. John Nathaniel Snr spent his later years living with his daughter Eliza; he died in 1879, aged 81.
After the World War II, Herbie Goddard (who is described further in the history of “Barnards”) first managed and then owned a garage and petrol station operating from the coach yard of Glenthorne. His son David joined him as a partner, as did his son-in-law Chris Pamplin, who later ran it with his wife Hazel, until the business closed in 1989. They looked after many farm vehicles, in return for which they were often paid in produce such as eggs – which were, in turn, sold in the shop attached to the garage.
For source material on Glenthorne House, in the online archive, click here.