Abandoned Hampshire: Stanley Park Country Estate, New Milton

This dilapidated, barely-standing building has an unexpected history, and is in a condition only fit for total demolition. The more bizarre side of the tale of this once-grand Manor House is its most recent, but let’s start from the beginning. Whilst we are usually more coy with site descriptions on to avoid giving away locations, this house now sits behind a 10 foot high steel fence…

Located in New Milton, Stanleys Estate has been around for hundreds of years- with mentions of George Stanley’s claims of rights to pasture and cutting peat dating back to to 1670. By 1840, William Sloane Stanley owned a substantial amount of land in the area. The house itself is thought to have been built by the Gunning-Sutton family at some point in the mid-1870s. In 1901 the Estate was sold to Lady Harpur Crewe, who had moved over from the Isle of Wight. Lady Crewe lived in the house with her son and daughter, who were accompanied by a butler, a housekeeper, two footmen, a lady’s maid, a valet, a cook and numerous other maids.

The main house had 12 main bedrooms, a billard room, conservatory, dining room, drawing room, library, kitchen and various rooms for the servant’s duties and accomodation. In 1905 Lady Crewe left the property after the death of her son. In the 1920s the Estate was sold to a group of investors, and a local magistrate called Captain Yeldham moved into the house. It housed refugees in World War II and the farm land was taken over for intensive food production. After this the mansion was briefly used as a home for men with learning difficulties.

Later on in its life, the house’s somewhat honourable history came to an end, when Mr and Miss Cross turned the building into a nightclub. The grounds surrounding the house were used as a caravan park, a use which remains to this day. Locals reminisce fondly of nights spent at the music venue, though they also report stabbings in the carpark. We’ve not been able to verify these reports from any articles, however.

Thankfully there were still signs of the mansion’s previous grandeur in what is still standing of the building. Though few floorboards remain, and certain rooms are no longer graced with a roof, ornate wooden panelling could still be found. Arched windows and decorative coving can still be seen amongst the rubble and decay. Only the ground floor was accessible, with the first floor mostly destroyed- crumbling down to ground level. Many floors had fallen through and no staircases remain in a stable condition. Unfortunately the only realistic future for this building is demolition, but for now it continues to crumble.