Buckwell Place

Buckwell Place is a large former rectory, now a private house, dating from around 1792. The original wing was built by the Reverend Robert Hare, a member of the Hare family who owned Herstmonceux Castle. His nephew, Archdeacon Julius Hare, added a parlour wing with a best bedroom above in the southwest in 1833, along with a contemporary conservatory in the L wing. Around 1860, a service wing was added to the west by the Reverend Henry Wellesley, an illegitimate nephew of the Duke of Wellington. The house is constructed of stuccoed material with a hipped slate roof and stuccoed chimney stacks.

The northeast or entrance front features two storeys and four windows. It has four twelve-pane sashes to the first floor (the third being a blank with a slate partition behind) and three curved blank panels to the ground floor, with a curved recessed doorcase framed by a Gibbs surround. The garden front to the southeast also exhibits four twelve-pane sashes to the first floor, with the third window being a blank with a slate partition behind. The rear elevation of this wing rises to three storeys, featuring six-pane sashes to the second floor and twelve-pane sashes to the lower floors, along with a round-headed staircase window on the right-hand side.

The southwest elevation has a single blank window. Attached to the southwest is the parlour wing of 1833, consisting of one bay with a balcony to the first floor and a canted bay with French windows to the ground floor. A two-storey wing of around 1860, built in matching style, adjoins the west, and features tripartite windows to the ground floor.

The most notable feature of the house is a domed conservatory, dating from around 1833, located between the original wing and the parlour wing of 1833. This conservatory features thin iron ribs with small panes of curved glass, circular cast iron ventilation slits, and an iron urn finial on a stuccoed base, approached by three tooled stone steps.

The original library, now a lounge, retains a circa 1830 marble fireplace surround with reeded pilasters and roundels, and a door with marginal glazing. A curved late 18th-century staircase with a mahogany handrail is nearby. The old kitchen exhibits a wooden segmental fireplace with a central keystone, an iron crane, and a cast iron Eagle range. The cellar contains a stone staircase with an iron handrail and wine bins of around 1833, set within tooled stone niches. The dining room features some possibly 18th-century Chinese wallpaper, although this is understood to be a later addition.

Buckwell Place holds historical significance as the childhood home of Augustus Hare, the notable Victorian travel writer and memoirist. He was raised by his uncle, Archdeacon Julius Hare, whose library was renowned and who entertained numerous prominent Victorians, including Thomas Carlyle. The library and collection of pictures were later bequeathed to the University of Oxford.