Editing Hammerwood Park (section)

===1800–1921: Victorian estate===
In {{circa}} 1801, Hammerwood was purchased by [[Magens Dorrien Magens]] ({{circa|1768–1849}}), a London merchant banker who served as a [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] MP for [[Carmarthen (UK Parliament constituency)|Carmarthen]] (for just six months in 1796; he was unseated after his opponent lodged a successful [[election petition]]) and later for [[Ludgershall (UK Parliament constituency)|Ludgershall]], in [[Wiltshire]], from 1804 to 1812. Upon his death in 1849 he left Hammerwood to his son, John Dorrien Magens, who as chairman of the board of the East Grinstead Railway Company (EGR) was responsible for [[Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line|the connection of East Grinstead to the railway system at Three Bridges]] in 1855. It would seem likely that extensions to the house, specifically to the north-east service wing, took place under the ownership of the Dorrien Magens family, and census records from the 1840s indicate at least ten indoor staff during the period.<ref name=JHU2005 /><ref>{{cite web|title=Hammerwood Lodge census records|url=http://www.theweald.org/P2.asp?PId=EG.HamLo|website=The Weald|publisher=theweald.org|accessdate=9 August 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060946/http://www.theweald.org/P2.asp?PId=EG.HamLo|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:HammerwoodParkPostcard2.png|thumb|Hammerwood Lodge after the Teulon alterations, {{circa}} late 19th century or early 20th century]]
John Dorrien Magens sold Hammerwood to Oswald Augustus Smith (1826–1902; of [[Smith's Bank]], later part of [[NatWest]]) in June 1864 for £37,250 (equating to approximately £3.3 million in 2021 pounds), of which £10,000 was for the timber. In 1865, the Smiths contracted [[Samuel Sanders Teulon|S. S. Teulon]] with the intention of remodelling the house to their taste. Amongst other more subtle changes to the building, this included raising the attic over the central block to create a low third floor, whilst preserving Latrobe's façade. Work began on 8 May 1865; scholars Snadon and Fazio comment that "Teulon integrated his additions so carefully with the existing fabric that it is difficult at first glance to discern them".<ref name=JHU2005 />
{{Quote box|width=27%||quote  = The great day. Mr Christian, the architect from the [[Ecclesiastical Commissioners]], came down to inspect the church and pronounced it in order. The annual [[The Boat Race|Boat Race]] came off this morning and [[Oxford University Boat Club|Oxford]] won ... the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] have gained more seats ... All went very well. May God bless our church now dedicated to the high and holy use of teaching His truth.
 |source = <small>Extract from Oswald Augustus Smith's diary on the commissioning of St Stephen's Church, Hammerwood, 22 March 1881.<ref name=Amb2014>{{cite book|last1=Hatswell|first1=Dorothy|title=Secret East Grinstead|date=September 2014|publisher=Amberley Publishing|location=Stroud|isbn=9781445639529}}</ref></small>
}}
Whilst maintaining the {{convert|2000|acre|ha|adj=on}} estate of parkland, arable farmland and woods, Oswald Augustus also installed a gas system for the lighting of the house, and fully insulated the newly raised roof. Initially paying for a Chapel of Ease for the three local parishes of East Grinstead, Forest Row and Hartfield, in 1873, he provided for a village school for 100 children; in 1875 for the Vicarage; in 1880 for St Stephen's Church, Hammerwood, to the design of E. P. Loftus Brock, at the cost of £7,431, the first vicar being Rev. Clement Colby Woodland of [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]; in 1892 for the rebuilding of St Peter's Church, Holtye in memory of his late wife (Rose Sophia Vansittart, 1832–1892); in 1893 for the rebuilding of the Countess of Thanet's Almshouses on Holtye Common, and at the end of the 19th century for a new building for the [[Queen Victoria Hospital]] in East Grinstead. Additionally, much of the village of Hammerwood which exists today (the population of which reached a peak of 438 in 1891), and some of the houses to the east of the village of [[Ashurst Wood]], were built during Smith's tenure as [[tied cottage]]s for estate workers.<ref name=Amb2014 /><ref>{{cite web|title=Forest Row: local attractions|url=http://forestrow.gov.uk/local-attractions|website=forestrow.gov.uk|accessdate=9 August 2015}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hammerwood genealogy and history|url=http://forebears.io/england/sussex/east-grinstead/hammerwood|website=Forebears|accessdate=9 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Holtye genealogy and history|url=http://forebears.io/england/sussex/east-grinstead/holtye|website=Forebears|accessdate=10 August 2015}}</ref>

The Rev. George Ferris Whidborne (1845–1910) purchased Hammerwood from Oswald Augustus shortly before the latter's death. Impressed by the unusual and abundant wildlife, he moved his family from Dorset; the Whidbornes would live at Hammerwood from 1901 to 1921. His eldest son was killed in the [[First World War]]; all three were at different times awarded the [[Military Cross|MC]].

In 1919, the prep school in Tunbridge Wells which the Whidborne children had attended burned down; St Andrew's moved to Hammerwood whilst new premises were found in Forest Row. Old boys remembered playing cricket against Ashdown House, by now a prep school, on the lawn at Hammerwood. However, in 1918 [[death duties]] had compelled Margaret Whidborne to sell 843 acres of the estate (almost half of the land). Three years later a further 1,300 acres of farms were sold, the house disposed of and the contents auctioned. Two floors of servants' quarters on the north-east service wing which had been added during the 19th century were demolished and, left with 320 acres of adjoining park and woodland, the name of the estate was changed to '''Hammerwood Park'''; its place as a focal point of local life began to decline.<ref name=HPHis>{{cite web|title=1792 to WWII: House and Home at Hammerwood|url=http://www.hammerwoodpark.co.uk/199/|website=Hammerwood Park|access-date=9 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317000037/http://hammerwoodpark.co.uk/199/|archive-date=17 March 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>