Glasshayes

Glasshayes
Glasshayes in the early 20th century
General information
Status	Scheduled for demolition
Address	78 High Street, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7NL
Coordinates	50°52′19″N 1°34′19″W / 50.87202°N 1.57206°W / 50.87202; -1.57206
Opened	early 19th century (retaining material from earlier building)
Owner	PegasusLife

Glasshayes is a historic country house in Lyndhurst, in The New Forest, Hampshire. Used in the 20th century as the Grand Hotel, then the Lyndhurst Park Hotel, the building and estate was purchased in 2014 by developers and is now scheduled for demolition.

History

The current house was built sometime prior to 1838 by George Buck (esquire), utilising material from an earlier building (also called Glasshayes) which from about 1763-1770 belonged to Captain Arthur Phillip and his first wife Charlotte. In the 1840s Glasshayes "consisted of a house, offices, garden and pleasure ground on six acres and four acres of adjoining fields, three of which was pasture",^[1] during which time it was the English seat of Richard Fitzgeorge de Stacpoole, 1st Duc de Stacpoole, who died there on the 7 July 1848.^[2][3] In 1862 Charles Castleman moved to Glasshayes with his third wife Isabel Swinburne,^[4] and whilst in residence gifted the clock to the clocktower of the newly built local St. Michael and All Angels church.^[5] Towards the end of the 19th century the house became the seat of Colonel Alexander Caldcleugh Macleay, a local magistrate and commander of the Seaforth Highlanders, and was the childhood home of Sir James William Ronald Macleay and his sister Lina MacLeay (who would later marry Sir Robert Arbuthnot).^[6][7] Glasshayes was used as the original headquarters of the Lyndhurst Golf Club, established in 1889,^[8] and in 1893 a bazaar was held at the mansion to raise £1000 for a new roof at the local church.^[9]

Folklore

According to local tradition, the building is haunted by the ghost of Richard Fitzgeorge de Stacpoole, the first Duc de Stacpoole. Sightings have been reported by builders working on extensions to the site, both at the beginning of the 20th century and in the 1970s, apparently berating and sometimes attacking them for disturbing his property. Supposedly, every year on the night of his death (July 7) strange music can be heard in certain rooms, and folklore has it that this is from a grand ball that the Duc holds annually for the dead.^[10]

Modern times

The Lyndhurst Park Hotel in 2014

The rear of Glasshayes from Lyndhurst High Street

In the 20th century the house received multiple extensions and was converted into use as a 60-bed hotel, first named the Grand Hotel, and later the Lyndhurst Park Hotel. In 2014 the hotel and estate was closed and bought by developers PegasusLife, who plan to demolish the house in order to build retirement flats on the land, despite local opposition.^[11]

References