Bentworth Hall is a country house in the parish of Bentworth in Hampshire, England. It is about south of Bentworth village centre and northwest of Alton, the nearest town.
Before the 1830s, the building called Bentworth Hall or Bentworth Manor House is now re-named Hall Place. It was built in the early 14th century and is a Grade II listed building. It lies south of the village green. The current Bentworth Hall is surrounded by woodland that was planted during building which started in 1832, after Roger Staples Horman-Fisher purchased the Bentworth Manor estate.
1832 – Building the new Bentworth Hall
In 1832, the Bentworth Hall estate of about 500 acres was sold at Garraway's Coffee House in the City of London by the Fitzherbert family. The Fitzherberts were relatives of Maria Fitzherbert, the illegal wife of the Prince Regent, later George IV (illegal because although George married Maria Fitzherbert, she was a Roman Catholic and banned by Act of Parliament from marrying into the Royal Family).
The Bentworth Hall estate was purchased by Roger Staples Horman-Fisher for about £6000.
Horman-Fisher started building the current Bentworth Hall on what was then open downland about to the south of the earlier Bentworth Hall at , access being from an private drive from the Bentworth-Medstead road.
The book "Heraldic Illustrations" by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms, stated the following about the Horman-Fisher family. Capitals and abbreviations are as in the original:
"ROGER STAPLES HORMAN-FISHER, Esq., of Bentworth Hall, eldest son of the late Robert Fisher, Esq. of the Inner Temple, and of Mitcham, Surrey, by Mary, his second wife, dau. of Charles Staples, Esq. of London, by Mary, his wife, dau. and heir of Baron Butz, a German noble, bears a quartered shield, FISHER and HORMAN, and an escutcheon of pretence for HORMAN, in right of his wife, Elizabeth, dau. and heir of John Horman, Esq. of Finchley."
It would appear that proof reading in those days was not very good, because under the Horman-Fisher crest, Bentworth is spelled "Brereworth", and the heading of the extract quoted above says "Fisher, of Bentworth Hall, Hants" omitting the name "Horman" which in the copy referred to in this entry was added in pencil.
1848 – Sale of Bentworth Hall Estate
In 1848 the Bentworth Hall estate was sold to Jeremiah Robert Ives, including the Old Manor House (now Hall Place) and the more recent 1832-built Bentworth Hall. The sale catalogue dated 16 July 1848 includes the following rather exaggerated description:
"A handsome newly erected Elizabethan (sic) mansion of unique elevation with wall garden, elegant conservatory and stabling. The mansion is built in the most substantial manner and finished without reference to expense, by the proprietor for his own residence. The walls are constructed almost entirely of BLACK FLINT (emphasised in capitals in the original), carefully and minutely cut and smoothed at an incalculable cost, with Stone Cornices, mullions &C blending a beautiful and unique specimen of workmanship with a suitability and durability impenetrable to every change of atmosphere. Six airy and cheerful Family Bedrooms, spacious landing and a broad light principle (sic) staircase leads to the Ground Floor on which is another water closet. This floor comprises a neat vestibule, with a porch at the northwest entrance for the carriage road; a handsome inner hall; surrounded by a library and a breakfast room, elegant drawing room by . A dining room of the same size, all high finished with expensive cornices, handsome modern marble chimney pieces and other decorations."
Later 19th century
Robert Ives died in 1865 and the estate passed to his widow Emma. The Ives family later included George Cecil Ives who lived for a time at Bentworth Hall. George Cecil Ives met Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas in London, publishing books on history and homosexuality.
In 1890, Emma's son, Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives built and lived in Gaston Grange, about west of Bentworth Hall. Emma Ives died seven years later and ownership of the Bentworth Hall estate passed to Colonel Gordon-Ives who continued to live at Gaston Grange.
Early 20th century
Colonel Gordon-Ives rented Bentworth Hall to W. G. Nicholson, member of Parliament for Petersfield. The caption on the photo states:
"Bentworth Hall, Bentworth, tenanted by W. G. Nicholson, M.P., J.P. Bentworth Hall is a large Mansion built about eighty years since of squared flints and stone. The flint work is held to be a fine specimen of its kind. The house stands in a park of 400 acres, and is the property of Colonel Gordon-Ives, C.B."