Langrish House is a Historic Manor House dating from the 1640’s although there has been a House on the site since the Domesday Book in Norman times.  Privately owned by the Talbot-Ponsonby family since 1842 with a short break of 25 years, Langrish House is the home of the 8th generation.  Nigel is the great, great, great, grandson and he and his wife Robina live here today.

The Old Vaults beneath the House were dug by Royalist prisoners captured at the Battle of Cheriton in 1644 .

Sheep farmers occupied the house for a period and over the years used the lake to wash the sheep’s wool in preparation for market.

Family archives paint a picture of a jolly, bustling life centred around horses, dogs, cats, chickens and outdoor sports. There were musical recitals, plays, croquet on the lawn, sad partings, joyful homecomings, journeys abroad, huge house parties for Goodwood and great celebrations such as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

During the 1939-45 World War the House was requisitioned by the War Office and a large number of New Zealand troops were billeted at Langrish.
A picture in the House, of their Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, shows him reviewing his troops in the front drive. The range of old Stables next door became a factory for the war effort where munitions and parts for the Spitfire aircraft were manufactured deep in the heart of the Hampshire countryside.

In the 1960’s the mould for the iconic nose cone for the Concorde aircraft was made in the factory by the Nigel’s father, a talented engineer who on the death of his own father in 1937 established a world class mould and tool making engineering works employing, at its zenith, some 160 personnel.

Please enjoy our family photographs in the Drawing Room.

Robina & Nigel