Great Fosters Hotel
Records and a recent archaeological survey show that where the present hotel stands was originally a Saxon homestead within Windsor Great Park. It is mentioned in the Court Rolls of Thorpe dated 1521 and in another survey in 1523. The Saxon moat dated at around 500 AD would have been protection for the Saxon household. It still surrounds Great Fosters on three sides.
In 1550 Imworth alias Fosters belonged to Sir William Warham and afterwards went to his son who held the manor in 1616. By 1622 the manors of Imworth and Fosters had apparently separated, for while Sir John Doddridge had the lands and house called Fosters, Sir John Denham, father of the Royalist poet of the same name, had the site of the Manor of Imworth on which he built the house called “The Place”, now demolished.
Fosters was one of the Lodge entrances to Windsor Great Park and was reputedly used as a Royal Hunting Lodge by King Henry VIII. His daughter Queen Elizabeth I may also have stayed there, as an original royal crest above the main porch with the date 1598 suggests. However, ‘A History of the County of Surrey’, pt. 29 of “The Victorian History of the Counties of England” series, 1920, states ”It is said traditionally, and probably untruly, to have been a hunting lodge of Queen Elizabeth” In the Anne Boleyn Room there are ornate ceiling decorations encompassing royal ensignia with Anne Boleyn’s personal crests.
Sir John Doddridge was one of HM Judges of the Kings Bench. He was a founder member of the Society of Antiquaries. He may have purchased the superb sundial in the garden and the lines of the poem* inscribed on it may be his, or it may have been a donation from Sir Francis Drake! He died in 1628. In the 1630’s the house was purchased by Robert Foster, later Sir Robert, Sergeant at Law. He was a supporter of Charles 1 during the Civil War and when the King retreated to Oxford he followed him, leaving his wife and 5 children at Great Fosters. They were visited by Parliamentary soldiers in search of billets and plunder and were eventually forced to leave Great Fosters and live in London. They returned when the King was executed in 1649. He lived to become Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. After Sir Robert died in 1663, his wife Margaret rented the house to Charles Orby and, as he and his brother were Jacobites the house was again searched, this time for arms and horses, as the brothers were described as “Papists and nonjurors, and disloyal and disaffected persons aiding and abetting in ye said rebellion”
In the 19th century, after several changes of ownership the house was purchased by Dr Furnivall in 1818. He and his two partners turned the house into a lunatic asylum where Dr Furnivall treated his patients in a new, radical way. He was one of the “modern thinkers” who believed that mental illness was not solely related to physical illness. One of his partners was a founder member of the Royal College of Surgeons when surgeons cast off their “barber” status and became respected as doctors. It is thought that King George III stayed there during some of his periods of insanity. When Dr Furnivall died his children sold the house to Colonel Halkett, Baron of the Kingdom of Hanover. His wife was Lady in Waiting to Queen Alexandra. He spent a lot of money on repairs to the house, but after his death in 1880 it was neglected for some years.
In 1918 the house was bought by the Hon. Gerald Samuel Montague. He commissioned the architect W H Romaine-Walker, already famous for his work on country houses, churches and the Tate Gallery, to convert the house to its present Elizabethan design. The farm became a specialist poultry farm with the telegraphic address “Eggs Egham”. Clumber spaniels were also bred there by a Mr. Cope.
In 1930 Sir Harold Sutcliffe (grandfather of the current Chairman) bought Great Fosters and converted it into the beautiful luxurious country house hotel it is today. It has attracted many distinguished and royal visitors, Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), and the Duke and Duchess of York (later George VI and Queen Elizabeth). It has since survived 2 major disasters, the M25 cutting through the main axial avenue, and severe storm damage caused by the hurricane force winds of 1987. It is now a Grade 1 listed building. Outstanding features include the original oak doors to the hall circa.1550, the original oak well staircase with adzed carved newels, the ornate plastered ceiling in the Main Hall, the beautifully decorated 17th century ceiling and original stone fireplace in the Anne Boleyn Room, and the remarkable Jacobean carved chimneypiece in the Tapestry Room. The bedrooms also have many unusual and beautiful features.
The house was famous for its Arts and Crafts garden. However, the hurricane force winds of 1987 caused considerable damage to it. English Heritage agreed to fund a year of historical research and consultation, and undertook to assist the owners with a 10 year restoration plan. This also involved other agencies, local councils and the Surrey Gardens Trust. Work was carried out on the Knot Garden, the Rose garden, the U-shaped Saxon moat, the Japanese bridge and every aspect of the original garden. Gaps in the lime avenue were replanted and the thatched pavilion was rebuilt in its original position beside the moat which surrounds the house on 3 sides. The problem of the sight and sound of the M25 was solved by raising 1 kilometre of planted earth bunds along the line of the motorway. The restoration was completed by reinstating the formal gardens inside 6 hectares of oak woodland. Wildfowl now enjoy the cleared ponds and streams. The long-term programme has resulted in the award of a Grade 2* Registered Landscape.
The books and documents displayed were:-
MALDEN, H. E., ed. A history of the County of Surrey, pt. 29 of The Victoria History of the Counties of England, 1920, p. 424, see paragraph on Imworth
A copy of a print held in Chertsey Museum dated 1820 of “Great Fosters” when owned by Dr Furnivall
A handwritten extract about Sir Robert Foster (from The Law Times, March 1960)
A sale brochure giving particulars of the house “ with photographs, circa.1924
A sale brochure with particulars of “Great Fosters” with photographs, 1938
A plan of “Great Fosters” to accompany the above sales brochure, 1938
A letter sent after the above sale informing an unknown interested party that the house had not been sold
A postcard of “Great Fosters”
* On the sundial are inscribed these words:-
“Tis ever later than we thought
By minutes or by hour!
Simply because though men are taught
To read the time, as all men ought
They fail to use the power”
(From Geoffrey Henslow’s Sundial Booke (1914)
Joan Wintour
November 2010