Firle Place
Country estate in the South Downs National Park, home to the Gage family for over 500 years.
Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 6LP
Home of the Gage family for over 500 years. Originally Tudor; remodelled in the eighteenth century. Significant collections old Old Masters including portraits by Van Dyck, Reynolds, and Gainsborough; English and European furniture; impressive collection of Sevres porcelain.
Taken over by students and soldiers
During the Second World War, the pupils of Southover Manor School in Lewes occupied the house using the state rooms as classrooms and dormitories, and eating their meals in the Great Hall. The girls were well behaved, unlike the three successive divisions of Canadian soldiers stationed there between 1940 and 1945 who caused much damage to the house and, much to the consternation of Henry Rainald, the 6th Viscount (1895-1982), emptied its cellars of his prized wines.
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