Early Years
Over 400 years in the making, South Hill Park is an amazing place full of history, mystery and now creativity. Over its long history, South Hill Park has evolved from a stately home to a vibrant arts centre at the heart of the the local community.
Pre 1600's
The earliest mention of South Hill was when it was part of the partly wooded Royal Windsor Forest. The land was used to farm crops and graze animals with some formal and informal gardens.
​
The first mention is in a lease of 1455 by Richard New of Easthampstead to William Norys of Bray of 'lands called Crossislonde together with a meadow called Godderdes, which lands lie southhille for 7 years for a red rose at midsummers day'.
​
It is not mentioned again until 1683, when the estate was owned by Ann Bagley, she inherited the house from her husband in 1679 and transferred it in 1683 to William Samrooth, he paid £950 and remained until 1695.
1600's
Before the 1600s the area of South Hill Park was part of Windsor Forest. This was a mixture of heath and woodland over which the Crown had rights of timber and deer pasturage. In the mid-seventeenth century it was, probably, illegally enclosed. This must have been after 1607. The survey map of Windsor Forest by John Norden didn’t show any enclosure or building at South Hill. The name does appear below that of Gallmoar Pond. A title deed of 1683 indicates that enclosure and some building had taken place. The deed shows the leasing of ‘the mansion house known by the name of south Hill’ to William Samrooth by Ann Bagley.
1750-1760
By 1750 Brice Fisher owned the house and renamed it Fisher’s Lodge. A map accompanying his new lease granting permission to enlarge, shows a house in the centre of his landholding. The house was a rectangular building with two wings on the south front with the entrance drive to the north. Other map evidence of the estate from 1757 and 1761 shows the estate much the same as it appeared on the map.
​
William Watts, who owned the south Hill Park in 1760, had been a senior officer of the Bengal government. He also wished to enlarge the estate and in return for permission to take in a further thirty acres he provided for the poor of the parish. People thought that he built the original house but the earlier maps showing the outline of the house disproved this. He did remodel the existing house as a classical villa and it is likely that he moved the farm buildings further away from the house.
1819
The earliest known view of south Hill Park, although dated to 1819, shows the house much the same as it was when it was rebuilt by Watts. It had the entrance front at the north side of the house and a long pool in the foreground.
