Borde Hill: A brief history and celebration

BORDE HILL SUSSEX, THE SEAT OF MR STEPHENSON CLARKE

COUNTRY LIFE December 27 1902

Among the many attractive seats in the glorious county of Sussex, it is a pleasure to include so sweet and charming a place as Borde Hill, in the parish of Cuckfield.

Borde Hill c1870

It is not an example of architectural grandeur, but only of the beautiful and characteristic simple domestic style which so distinguished the 17th century, lying in the midst of as fair a flower garden as we could desire. We might seek architectural analogies for Borde Hill, houses of the class, in varied degrees, being numerous in the shires, and it is significant that in its grey stonework, its substantial gables, finials and chimneys, it's mullioned windows and string courses, there is a very close resemblance to the stone build houses of the north of England. It is always interesting indeed to observe the prevalence of a particular style throughout the length and breadth of the land.

What we do not commonly find accompanying such houses are gardens so fair as this East Sussex gem.

Borde Hill belongs to a period which has seen the end of feudalism, and which match the social change brought about by the wars of the Roses. The merchant class had grown in opulence and power, and the Knights and Squires of Tudor times were the men of a new aristocracy.

In the parish of Cuckfield the Bordes, Bowyers, Burrells, Challoners, Husseys, and Michells, had succeeded to the place for the feudal barons of an earlier time.

Borde Hill takes its name – and the circumstance is unusual – from the family which owned the land and built the mansion. In the county histories there are many mentions of the Bordes, but the genealogical details are to be found in the Sussex archaeological collections, and Mr Mark Anthony Lower, and, more recently, Canon Cooper, vicar of Cuckfield, have thrown much light upon the history of the family. That the Bordes came from a somewhat lower class than the old gentry may be gathered from the fact that one Andrew Borde was emancipated in 1511 by George, Lord Bergavenny at omni servitatis jugo. The ancestor of the family of Borde Hill, and also that which established itself at Paxhiill and built the house there, was Stephen Borde, Boord or Board, who in 1534, was described “of ‘the hill,’ in the parish of Cuckfield," and who is buried with his wife, Pernell, or Petronella, in the church at Lindfield.

When Stephen Borde died in 1567 an inquisition was held into his possessions, which, as Canon Cooper says, is interesting as showing how a man hitherto unknown to the county managed to acquire portions of land, etc, all over Sussex in the days of Henry VIII and to found two families, each of which attained position and wealth. The lands of Stephen Borde were found in 69 places in 29 parishes, with 19 manors, and his eldest son, George, inherited 155 acres of arable, 147 of pasture, 38 of heath, 112 of wood, and six orchards.

Contemporary with Steven Borde was the rather more famous Andrew Borde, who is doubtless a kinsman, and has been identified, though without any ground, with the original Merry Andrew – “Andreas Perforatus” he jocosely called himself. In “Peregrinations” Andrew Borde says that he was “born at Boord’s Hill in Holmesdayle, and Dr F. J. Furnivall, who has edited his works for the early English Text Society, identifies the place with Borde Hill at Cuckfield. The fact, however, appears not to be established, and undoubtedly Andrew was connected with Pevensey, both by residence and property. This curious personage was a monk of the Charterhouse, but about 1528 he wrote to the prior of Hinton Charterhouse, Somerset, "I'm not able to byd the rugosite of your religion,” and accordingly he seems, without more ado to have been liberated from his vows. He thereupon travelled abroad to study medicine, came home, cured the Duke of Norfolk, and was by him “connucated to waste on his prepotent Mageste.” 

He again went abroad, and visited Orleans, Poitier, Toulouse, Montpellier, which was his favourite university, Wittenberg, and other seats of learning. Returning to England once more he gained the favour of Thomas Cromwell, malleus monachorum, and apparently was by Cromwell sent abroad a third time to visit Normandy, Gascony, France, Castille, and Spain, and in all these countries he found the rulers very much set against Henry. Afterwards Andrew went to Glasgow University, but did not like the Scots, and then went abroad once more. His end was sad, for he died in the Fleet prison. He is stated to have been the author of "the wisemen of Gotham," but this is doubtful. His character was eccentric and fantastic, but cheery, frank, and racy.

This little excursus upon Andrew Borde will be pardoned in an account of a house with which he was perhaps connected, but he certainly never possessed it. George Borde who succeeded the original Stephen, was born in 1527, and died at the age of 40, leaving a son, Stephen, then a minor, who was afterwards knighted, and built the existing house of Borde Hill. In Dr Furnival's introduction to Andrew's fantastic writings, it is stated that a beam taken from a barn there, pulled down some years ago, bore the date 1569, and it is believed that part of the same beam still remains at the house.

The name of the Borde Hill is first mentioned in reference to the baptism of a daughter of this Steven Borde in 1606. The mansion had been built some years, and over the fireplace in an upstairs room are still to be seen the initials "S. B.” and the date 1601. The drawing room has a fine drop ceiling, but is not panelled with oak, as are nearly all the other rooms in the old part of the house.

Two of these chambers have very final plaster friezes above the panelling, and in two other mantle pieces and in various other parts of the rooms the oak is inlaid with lighter wood, some of which appears to be ivy, in pieces of considerable size. This is supposed to be 17th-century Italian work, which is very probably the case, it having been quite customary at the time to bring over Italian workmen for fine inlaid wood and plasterwork. The house has a fine square staircase, with stone arches at the top, leading into the bedrooms, with heavy oaken doors studded with nails. The interior is, indeed, very interesting and structurally curious, and the old part, which is at the West End, remains exactly as it was, nothing having been added to the panelling, and nothing taken away.

The only change was replacing of structural features which had decayed. Some of the walls are 3 foot thick. The new part, built by the present owner, contains merely the dining room, some bedrooms, and the domestic offices.

Sir Stephen Borde, the builder of Borde Hill, was a man of note in his time, and received his knighthood in July, 1603. He had subscribed £30 in 1588 for the defence of the country, then threatened by the Spaniards. He was twice married, and left a son John, to whom succeeded William Borde all of Borde Hill, who died in 1697. The eldest son of the latter, another William Borde, who married Mary, heiress of John Burrell, lived until 1720, but left no children, and thus the family of Borde Hill died out. Let it be noted that the elder Stephen Borde who died in 1567 left a considerable property to his younger and evidently favourite son, Thomas, whose son Ninian built PaxHill, and that line is still represented by the Bordes of Farley, Westerham, who use the old coat of arms, and the cunning motto "perforatas," Originated by Merry Andrew Borde, who is said to be represented in the head of a jester with cabin bells on the ceiling of one of the rooms at Borde Hill.

When the family died out at that place the house passed through many hands. There is a record of later proprietors in the initials "J. I." And the date 1792 cut with a knife in some of the panelling, and also over the doorway leading to the kitchen garden, on which is cut "J. B., 1825," with the crest of a tower on which is a bird, evidently not belonging to any Sussex family.

The quaint old many-gabled structure, with its diagonal chimneys and rare picturesqueness is vested with the green growth of ivy, which clings to it, perhaps, in some places too closely and vigourously. There are flowering plants also, and the place is rich in its roses all the summer long.

The garden has been created by the present proprietor, and is everywhere full of sweet natural charm. Here is nothing formal and a broad lawn sweeps up to the south front, dignified by the shadow of ancient trees. There are several noble oaks near the house, of which one has a girth of 14'7" round the trunk, though large old trees are very unusual, except in a few of the parks, in this part of Sussex. The yews and ornamental trees are very beautiful, and are most advantageously placed for the charm of their garden effect.

A view of Borde Hill gardens c 2022

But Borde Hill has its chief attraction in the glory of its long flower borders, its woodland paths, and gay colonies of spring and summer blooms lighting up the shadows of its wilderness. Here is natural flower gardening at its very best, and nothing can surpass the charm of those long borders of hardy flowers, which are gay with successive blooms from early spring until the last winds of autumn have blown. The east garden, with its rose arch, has a radiant vista through a realm of floral loveliness. In such a garden feature as this there is unending delight, and the opportunity for much individuality in the creation of a radiant paradise. There are roses clustering on arches and walls, exhaling their fragrance in the sun, queenly lilies rising from the border, tall hollyhocks, spiked veronicas, and the towering red lichens contrasted with the dark blue monkshood, phloxes in all their gaiety, gorgeous peonies and the lofty spires of varied larkspurs, foxgloves, and a whole crowd of the denizens of such gardens. The rock garden is a simple delight, and here among the notable things is the Japanese iris in rare abundance, and in a region of subtle charm we ascend to the rocky mount. Then it is pleasant to linger on the garden terrace, with its rugged stone wall affording friendly rooted to many plants that flourish in such situations. To the radiant opulence of the flower borders the dark coniferous flowers are the foil and background, and everywhere there is the charm of contrast and variety. 

In short, interesting as is the house Borde Hill, the greater attraction is in its superb gardenage. It is a place replete with everything that we could wish to find in such a country house…….