Stoke Park
COUNTRY CLUB, SPA AND HOTEL
Estate History
From 1066 the estate was inherited in a direct line of descent for 515 years until it had to be sold to the Crown in 1581 to pay the outstanding debts of Henry Hastings, the 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, whose father Francis, the Commander in Chief of Henry VIII’s army, had rebuilt the Manor House (part of which can still be seen today) in 1555.
John Penn (1760 - 1834) a scholar, poet and prolific patron of architecture was responsible for most of what can still be seen at the Club today. Penn spent a large proportion of the compensation (£130,000) he was given by the new United States Government for his family's 26 million acres in Pennsylvania on building the new Mansion, landscape and monuments.
The Mansion was designed by James Wyatt, architect to George III, who worked on the development of the house and monuments from 1790 to 1813. The historic parkland is the product of two geniuses of the eighteenth century, ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton, who designed the landscape we see today in 1792.
The estate was used as a private residence until 1908 when ‘Pa’ Lane Jackson, founder of the Corinthian Sporting Club, purchased the estate, turning it into Britain's finest country club. H. S. Colt (who also designed Pinevalley, Wentworth, Sunningdale, Muirfield and Royal Portrush) was engaged to design the golf course.
Club History
The estate was used as a private residence until 1908 when Nick “Pa” Lane Jackson, purchased the estate, turning it into Britain’s greatest country club. He made this clear when he commissioned the famous amateur golfer and course architect Harry Shapland Colt to design the golf course. The golf course, tennis courts and the conversion of the mansion were completed in seven months.
The Club was founded in 1908 and the first President was His Highness Prince Albert of Schleswig Holstein and its first Vice President was the Right Honourable Earl Howe. The committee also included Lord Chesterfield, Lord Kinnoul and Lord Decies.
In his 1910 book, 'The Golf Course of the British Isles', Bernard Darwin wrote:-
"Stoke Park is a beautiful estate, and there is very good golf to be played there. There are plenty of things to do at Stoke besides playing golf. We may get very hot at lawn tennis or keep comparatively cool at bowls or croquet, or, coolest of all, we may sit on the terrace or in the garden and give ourselves wholly and solely to loafing. The mansion is a gorgeous palace, a dazzling vision of white stone, of steps and terraces and cupolas, with a lake in front and imposing trees in every direction."
