At Midhurst, in West Sussex, the golden ruins of Cowdray House evoke the lost splendour of one of the greatest Tudor houses in southern England. Frequented by kings, held by a powerful Catholic family, it was the setting of royal splendours before a fire reduced it, in one night, to a skeleton of stone.
A house at the height of royal favour
Built from around 1520 (first by Sir David Owen), Cowdray passed in 1529 to Sir William Fitzwilliam, future Earl of Southampton, then to the Brownes, Viscounts Montague, an influential Catholic family who managed to stay in the sovereigns' favour despite their faith. The house knew its apogee under the Tudors: Henry VIII stayed here several times (1538, 1539, 1545), and Elizabeth I was received here in 1591 with lavish entertainments — banquets, hunts and allegorical spectacles worthy of a queen. It was also at Cowdray that, on 6 October 1573, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's patron and probable 'fair youth' of the Sonnets, was born.
From glory to ruins
The great Tudor house, with its three-storey gatehouse and its great hall, remained one of the most admired houses in England until the late eighteenth century. On 24 September 1793, a catastrophic fire ravaged it, reducing it to a ruin — a disaster followed shortly after by the drowning of the last Viscount Montague, which fed the legend of a 'curse of Cowdray'. Restored and reopened to the public in 2007, the ruins today offer a moving testimony of Tudor magnificence. To see: the ruins of the great Tudor house (Grade I listed), the three-storey gatehouse, the restored site open to the public.
Did you know?
The man to whom Shakespeare dedicated his first poems was born within these walls: Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, came into the world at Cowdray on 6 October 1573. Patron of the young playwright, he is the dedicatee of Venus and AdonisandThe Rape of Lucrece, and many see in him the mysterious 'fair youth' to whom many of the Sonnets are addressed.
Notes
Cowdray House (ruins) lies at Midhurst, West Sussex; a site run by the Cowdray Heritage Trust, open to the public. Seasonal hours to check.
Quiz
- Which sovereigns frequented Cowdray?
- Henry VIII and Elizabeth I
- Only Norman kings
- None
- Which patron of Shakespeare was born here in 1573?
- Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton
- Francis Bacon
- Robert Dudley
- What happened to Cowdray in 1793?
- A fire reduced it to a ruin
- It was enlarged
- It became a royal palace