Wakehurst’s present mansion, made with Ardingly sandstone with a Horsham-tiled roof, was built in 1590 by Sir Edward Culpeper – a distant relative of Nicholas, the famous herbalist. The last of the Culpepers sold the estate in 1694, when it was bought by Dennis Lydell, an eventual Royal Navy associate of Samuel Pepys, who enlarged the estate to 3,100 acres in 1748.
The Peytons, another significant family, were resident from 1776 to 1869, when it was sold to the Dowager Marchioness of Downshire, who probably started planting some of the large exotic trees, such as the giant redwoods.
After Sir William Boord, who owned the estate from 1890 to 1902, it was Gerald Loder, later Lord Wakehurst, who started to develop the gardens with enormous enthusiasm and great skill. He was a passionate plantsman and helped sponsor many collecting expeditions at the turn of the century, particularly to eastern Asia, still acknowledged to be the world’s richest source of temperate flora. He was keenly interested in Southern Hemisphere plants and built up an outstanding collection from South America, Australia and New Zealand.
On Lord Wakehurst’s death, the estate was bought by Sir Henry Price who was equally passionate about plants and in his care the estate matured wonderfully richly and became widely admired. In 1963 Sir Henry bequeathed Wakehurst Place, with a sizeable endowment, to the National Trust from whom it was leased on 1 January 1965 for the benefit of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
