This website, created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K. 

MYSTERY OF THE SEVILLE CATHEDRAL GATES

Copyright Valerie Martin 1997

Like many other people I have pondered long over the fate of the Seville Cathedral gates. These were at one time an extremely familiar sight at the entrance to the East Lodge of Muntham Court on the A24, north of Findon. For the past 30 years it had been assumed they were re-erected on another site after the sale of the Muntham Estate and demolition of the mansion house. The gates had indeed a varied background compared with the history of other elaborate wrought iron gates.

I sought high and low and found there are three central characters to be connected with the Seville Cathedral gates during their period in Findon.

One of these was Brian Sheridan Thynne who moved to Muntham Court in Findon at the tender age of 2 years old in 1909 when his father, Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne (Grandson of the Marchioness of Bath), born in 1871, inherited this intriguing Estate.

Brian's Uncle Tom, was a Captain in the Royal Navy and rather an eccentric gentleman and a great traveller of the globe. 

He arrived at Muntham one day around 1912 and announced that he had acquired the cathedral gates from the Spanish city of Seville. "Acquired" being the word, as it was suspected at the time that they had, in fact, been looted in 1812 during the 1808-13 Peninsula War of .

It is said that the gates duly arrived at Muntham and it was assumed they were intended to be erected at the north front of the house. Here the two sides of the substantial yew hedge (with its many delightful archways) left an obvious gap and the gates would nicely complete the court. At this point the Colonel dallied and whenever the family chivvied him regarding the positioning of his new acquisition, he complained how heavy the gates were and how gateposts would be very costly to support them. He avoided the subject at all times and put off any plans until one day he eventually promised to erect the gates if he won the Irish Sweep. Therefore, the new possession remained for many years gathering dust in the Carpenter's Shop on the Estate. They appeared to be forgotten by everyone.

In 1938 the Colonel had a thoughtful look for some days. It was no surprise to learn that he had some plan in mind and eventually he announced that he was having the Seville Cathedral gates erected at the East Lodge. There had not been an entranceway here for a long time. It was guessed that his change of mind had been brought about because he was annoyed at the number of sightseers who had mistaken his drive for the farm road. He had, in fact, found several parties picnicking along the driveway to the mansion.

Twine & Son duly erected the gates and the foreman in charge was Ernest Strudwick. The constructing of the gate piers proved to be rather a problem on the day as they had to be built a section at a time incorporating hardboard templates. The specification stipulated that the gate piers were to be faced with knapped flints. This meant that many man-hours were wasted away with the men hard at work chipping at the flints. The final bill by far exceeded the initial quotation for the Colonel's project.

Up went the gates. Hung on the appointed day by Twine & Son to open inwards. The Colonel immediately disagreed when he inspected them and ordered they should open outwards. (This was despite expert advice that the sloping ground at the entrance by the East Lodge would impede their opening.) Nevertheless his desires had to be complied with at all times. The workmen watched the Colonel disappear back up his drive and then set to work with the latest instructions.

Down came the gates. The re-hanging of the gates was a disaster and the Colonel was proved wrong and some days later had to agree that they should be returned to their original position. Down came the gates. The Colonel was now happy that his estate was going to be made secure by the new masterpiece. Up went the gates. Little did he know that the saga of the gates had only just begun.

Continue to read about The War Years at Muntham and the Seville Gates.