Return to Splendour
The Saving of St. Mary’s House and its Gardens
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Meet the owners and see them talk about their life at St Mary’s, and the restoration of the house & gardens. Play video.
The windows of St. Mary’s at Bramber look out on a very different world to the year of her construction over half a millennium ago. While those early builders of 1477 were cutting and assembling the great timbers for the dragon beams, the massive pitched roof, the jetties and galleries of this remarkable old house, William Caxton was preparing to print one of the greatest works of English Literature, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In these two creations, we can see the powerful ‘human’ dimension that characterised English literature and architecture in those far-off times.
Today, St. Mary’s stands as a shining example of sublime craftsmanship and strength of spirit that has outlasted, in Hamlet’s words, ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. We can be thankful that benefactors have miraculously appeared at crucial moments in the long history of this rare pilgrim inn, repairing it, restoring it, reviving it, but, with funds running away like the proverbial water in the bucket with a hole, ever seeking more funds to keep the magnificent fabric together.
In 1984 Peter Thorogood, author, composer and literary historian, and Roger Linton, gifted designer, restorer and conservator, had the opportunity to combine their talents and skills by purchasing the historically distinguished and architecturally important manor house of St. Mary’s.
St. Mary’s had, as recently as 1944, been threatened with demolition and, although this disastrous possibility had been averted through the courage and determination of Miss Dorothy Ellis, she struggled to save the house for over thirty-five years, working with extremely limited funds. In the early 1950s, she was constrained by circumstances beyond her control to sell off substantial parts of the estate just to save the main house. After her death, the building began steadily to fall into disrepair.
Consequently, when Peter and Roger purchased the property – selling both their properties to be able to do this, the house was in a serious state of dereliction, and much of the grounds and some of the Victorian wing had already been sold off. Work began on the restoration of the Victorian Music Room and funds were greatly helped by a donation from Irene Swann, a cousin of Peter and Mary Thorogood’s father. She was a former pupil of Gustav Holst, and mother of Donald Swann of the famous Flanders and Swann duo. She had known the house from 1915 on, through her friendship with the McConnell family. Donald Swann gave a number of benefit concerts, and Peter Thorogood began his popular concert series, bringing artists from all over the world to supliment their own very limited funds. Peter and Roger were aided in their efforts by both Roger’s mother, Renée Linton, and Peter’s sister, Mary Thorogood, selling their own respective homes, thus allowing this remarkable project to progress further. The saving of St Mary’s was, therefore, very much a shared effort between families, providing an invaluable contribution to the continuing life of St. Mary’s.
In their over 40 years at St Mary’s, Peter and Roger worked unstintingly and with great success to restore and conserve the house and its gardens. They have made it a wonderful historic attraction for visitors and tourists, and for educational purposes. In the process they have enriched the estate by added their important personal collections of books, manuscripts, ceramics and furniture. The house has been visited by many thousands of visitors, both by the general public on open afternoons and countless specialist groups and schools. Audiences come to enjoy the many concerts and other events planned throughout the season.
In 1997, through a generous loan from a well-wisher, Peter and Roger succeeded in saving the Victorian gardens of St. Mary’s (aka The Secret Gardens), with their original potting sheds, complete with apple store, 140ft fruit wall, stove-house with heated pits for pineapples, rare circular orchard, woodland walk and paddocks. They established a small museum of rural life in one of the large historic corogated sheds. This contained farming and gardening equipment, particularly from Peter’s family of farmers in Essex, as well as garden tools and equipment surviving from the early days of the original gardens. Sadly currently the Sheds need important restoration work and are not currently open to the public. In this tranquil space, which is part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a Rose Garden has been established in honour of the Queen’s Jubilee, and a Terracotta Garden for herbs is currently being planted out. Two large herbaceous borders were designed and planted by students from Brinsbury College. A significant part of this garden is also protected by having been included within the South Downs National Park.
It is particularly noteworthy that St. Mary’s has been included in Sir Simon Jenkins’ acclaimed publication, England’s Thousand best Houses. St. Mary’s is handsomely described as ‘a shrine to the medieval in Sussex’, and awarded a three-star commendation. Over the years St. Mary’s has won a number of awards. It won a ‘Highly Commended’ certificate in the Tourism Excellence Awards, and was winner of the Hudson’s Heritage Award in 2011 for Best Restoration, demonstrating the enduring quality of St. Mary’s House and Gardens as one of the foremost heritage attractions in the South-East. This year, 2025, St Mary’s continued securing its remarkable recognition as a beautiful and historic attraction by winning two new awards: (1) Winner of the UK Business Excellence Awards and (2) ‘Venue of the Year 2025′ Award of Excellence for Tours & Events – E2 media.
During the last 40+ years, the historic attractiveness and beautiful interiors of St. Mary’s House, the floral interest of the gardens with their topiary, the full programme of concerts and other events in the splendidly restored Music Room, have attracted many thousands of tourists, visitors and concert-goers. Argueably one of Peter & Roger’s great achievements has been the way their efforts have motivated and inspired friends and volunteers to come forward to join their mission to restore and maintain the St Mary’s Estate. Without volunteers it would not have been possible to keep the estate open. Their efforts and dedication as volunteer stewards, guides, gardeners, historical researchers, archivists, or acting as hosts at concerts and other events are hugely valued.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to put into words the hard work and enthusiasm which Peter Thorogood and Roger Linton have inspired in their volunteers to help to bring the house and gardens to their present peak of perfection. It has required their courage as well as devotion in taking on this tremendous task, but their aim has been, and is, to remain open to the public, to groups, schools and societies of every description. The work of restoration, conservation and enhancement is ongoing.
Roger and all of us continuing to support his efforts at St Mary’s cannot rest on our collective laurels. Their is a real challenge now to ensure we can find ways to secure the future of St Mary’s going forward. Peter and Roger’s wishes have been clear from the start they have seen their role much less as owners and much more as the ‘latest custodians’ of St Mary’s. They want to ensure in the future it can be ‘Saved for the Nation’ and passed on to a credible and viable Trust to continue their mission to keep the estate open to the public to enjoy and learn from.
Financially St Mary’s is currently struggling and with Peter’s recent passing the challenge of keeping the estate going becomes ever more difficult. Plans are now being developed but much in the short term will rest on the ability to generate enough funds to keep St Mary’s going. Efforts are underway to look at ways to maintain income from St Mary’s. One aspect of which is the issue of seeking to encourage potential further donations, legacies and other bequests, all of which would make an invaluable contribution to keeping St Mary’s open. St Mary’s has been described as ‘the best example of late 15th Century timber-framing in Sussex’ and all of us supporting Roger want to ensure it can remain protected for future generations.