Milton Court

Milton Court, at the far west of the town of Dorking, is a 17th-century country house in Surrey. The Court was expanded and substantially rebuilt by the Victorian architect William Burges and is a Grade II* Listed Building including the attached forecourt walls, balustrading, terrace, piers, urns and stone-carved ball finial.[1]

Milton Court
View of the front of Milton Court
TypeCountry house
LocationDorking, Surrey
Coordinates51°13′54″N 0°21′08″W
Built1611 to 20th century
ArchitectWilliam Burges (expansion)
Architectural style(s)vernacular
OwnerUnum Group
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated11 June 1973
Reference no.404964
Location of Milton Court in Surrey

Originally a priory, the estate was granted to George Evelyn, father of the diarist John Evelyn, at the Protestant Reformation, lord of the manor of adjoining manor of Wotton, Surrey where the family established still grander and more expensive Wotton House, today a hotel. In the nineteenth century, it was bought by Lachlan Mackintosh Rate, a wealthy lawyer, banker and philanthropist. He employed William Burges to undertake substantial rebuilding.[2] Working in an ornate Jacobean style, Burges added twenty rooms, with elaborate fireplaces and ceilings. Perhaps the most successful is the famed Flower room, formerly Mrs Rate's boudoir. Nicholas Pevsner describes it as "a picturesque seven-bay house with shaped gables".[3]

The house is now the UK headquarters of the health insurance company Unum, which has worked to restore the house and its interior decoration.[4]

Notes
  1. Good Stuff IT Services (1973-06-11). "Milton Court, Including Attached Forecourt Walls, Balustrading, Terrace, Piers, Urns and Ball Finial - Dorking - Surrey - England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. Lyall, Milton Court, p.4
  3. The Buildings of England: Surrey, page 368
  4. Lyall, Milton Court, Introduction

References
  • Cattermole, Paul, A History of Milton Court & Part of the Manor of Milton (2011) Unum Limited
  • Lyall, Sutherland, Milton Court - Heritage Regained (1993) Unum Limited
  • Mordaunt-Crook, J William Burges and the High Victorian Dream (1981) John Murray
  • Pevsner, Nicholas and Nairn Ian, The Buildings of England: Surrey (1962) Penguin Books
  • The Victorian Web, William Burges: An Overview (2007)
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