Cranbury Park is a stately home and country estate situated in the parish of Hursley, near Winchester, England. It was formerly the home to Sir Isaac Newton and later to the Chamberlayne family, whose descendants now own and occupy the house and surrounding park and farmland. The house and park are not generally open to the public, although open days are occasionally held.

History

Early years

Cranbury was originally an important hamlet of Hursley, with many distinct farms and cottages, but now the name belongs only to Cranbury House and Park. The first recorded tenant of Cranbury is a Mr. Shoveller, who surrendered it to Roger Coram before 1580. Coram rented Cranbury at £17 2s per annum from the Lord of the Manor of Merdon, Sir Thomas Clarke.

An incident is recorded of a dispute between Coram and Clarke regarding the rights of the tenants and the Lord of the Manor:

Following the death of Coram, Sir Edward Richards held the property until the 1640s, when he let it to Dr John Young, dean of Winchester. During the Commonwealth era, when Young was expelled from the deanery, he lived in quiet retirement at Cranbury. His widow occupied the estate in 1650, and later transferred the house to Sir Charles Wyndham, who married her daughter in 1665. Sir Charles, who (like Coram before him) was noted as "''a zealous assertor of the tenants' rights''", was Member of Parliament for Southampton from 1679 to 1698 and for St Ives in Cornwall from 1698 to 1701. He died in 1706, although his wife survived him until 1720. A small monument was raised for them in Hursley Church.

John Conduitt and Sir Isaac Newton

On the death of Lady Wyndham, the house and estate were sold to John Conduitt. In May 1721, Conduitt married Catherine Barton, half-niece and adopted daughter of Sir Isaac Newton. Shortly after his marriage, Conduitt became MP for Whitchurch, Hampshire. Towards the end of his life, Newton became resident at Cranbury, remaining there until his death in 1727. On Newton's death, Conduitt succeeded him as Master of the Mint. In 1734, although Coduitt was re-elected to his seat at Whitchurch he chose to represent Southampton instead.

Conduitt had a sundial installed in the gardens at Cranbury Park, which was calculated by Sir Isaac Newton. The sundial has been described thus:}}

The Dummers and Lady Dance-Holland

Conduitt died in 1737, leaving a daughter, Catherine, whose guardians sold Cranbury Park to Thomas Lee Dummer, who succeeded him as MP for Southampton, retaining that position for four years. In 1747, he was elected as MP for Newport on the Isle of Wight and continued to represent that town until his death in 1765. On his death, the estate was left to his son, Thomas, who also succeeded him as MP for Newport. Thomas was subsequently to become MP for Yarmouth (1769–1774), Wendover in Buckinghamshire (1775–1780) and Lymington (1780–1781). He was also elected to represent Downton in Wiltshire in 1774, but his election was declared invalid.

In 1770, Thomas purchased the City Cross (also known as the Buttercross) from the Corporation of Winchester, intending to have it re-erected at Cranbury. When his workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city, who "''organised a small riot''" and they were forced to abandon their task. The agreement with the city was cancelled and Dummer erected a lath and plaster facsimile, which stood in the park for about sixty years before it was destroyed by the weather.

Undaunted by his failure to acquire the City Cross to grace the estate, Dummer turned his attention to the ruins of Netley Abbey, which he also owned, and moved the north transept of the abbey to Cranbury Park, where it can be still be seen as a folly in the gardens of the house (at ). The ruins comprise an arch, the base of a pillar, and a scaled-down gateway tower. The rear of the gateway has been made into a keeper's lodge, and is known to the village of Otterbourne as "the Castle" and is marked as such on the Ordnance Survey map.

Thomas Dummer died without heirs in 1781, leaving his property at Cranbury and Netley and also at Horninghold in Leicestershire first to his widow, Harriet, with reversion to Thomas Chamberlayne, a member of a family with which the Dummers had been previously connected. Harriet Dummer married Thomas Chamberlayne, and after his death, which presumably occurred very shortly afterwards, she married the artist Nathaniel Dance (later Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Bt), whose brother George Dance had designed the present-day house, built in 1780. Like many of his predecessors and successors, Dance-Holland was an MP serving East Grinstead in East Sussex from 1790 to 1802 and again from 1807 to his death in 1811, and Great Bedwyn from 1802 to 1806.

The Chamberlayne family

Dance-Holland died in 1811, but his wife survived him until 1825; on her death, William Chamberlayne, MP for Southampton, came into the property under the terms of the will of Thomas Dummer. William Chamberlayne (1760–1829) was MP for Southampton from 1818 until his death. Whilst serving the town, William Chamberlayne was also chairman of the company supplying gas lighting to the town of Southampton and donated the iron columns for the new gas street-lights. In 1822, the townspeople erected a memorial consisting of an iron Doric column; this still stands in the middle of a roundabout near the city centre.

On the death of William Chamberlayne in 1829, the estate passed to his nephew Thomas Chamberlayne. Thomas (1805–1876) was a keen yachtsman who sailed his yacht, ''Arrow'', in the inaugural America's Cup race in 1851. He also played cricket for Hampshire and was a great hunting and coursing enthusiast, who built both new stables and a cricket pitch at Cranbury Park.

On his death in 1876 the estate passed to his son, Tankerville Chamberlayne. Tankerville Chamberlayne was also MP for Southampton from 1892 until 1896, when he was disqualified for electoral fraud in the 1895 General Election; despite this he was returned to office in 1900 until he lost his seat in 1906. It was only after his retirement from politics that Tankerville Chamberlayne took up permanent residence at Cranbury, having previously resided at his Weston Grove estate in Southampton.

Chamberlayne died in 1924 and was succeeded by his daughter, Penelope Mary Alexandra Chamberlayne, who married Major Nigel Donald Peter Macdonald (son of Sir Godfrey Middleton Bosville Macdonald of the Isles (15th Baronet)), changing their surname to "Chamberlayne-Macdonald". The family are still resident at Cranbury Park.

During the Second World War, the house became the temporary headquarters of the Bank of England. It was also briefly the base for Canadian troops prior to their embarkation for the Normandy landings.

The house

The present-day house was built in 1780 for Thomas Dummer and his wife, to the designs of George Dance the Younger. The house is built in red brick with stone dressings. The entrance is through a porte-cochere either side of which are large columned windows flanked by columns, set in arch-headed reserves, with roundels in relief in each tympanum and above the porch. All the other windows of both floors repeat the Serlian window motif. Balustrades surmounted by urns run around the parapet, framing the whole house to give a very pleasing prospect within the landscape.

Of the interior, Nikolaus Pevsner wrote that it was an "''unforgettable experience''" to behold the hall with its coffered tunnel-vaults to the full height of the house and the beautiful ballroom. There is a starfish vault derived from the tombs of the ancients The main rooms are arranged around a central hall and staircase, and there is a good deal of fine plaster decoration in the Adam style, especially in the saloon on the south front, which has a circular domed ceiling. The library was designed by John Buonarotti Papworth for Thomas Chamberlayne in about 1830.

Writing in 1898, John Keble described the house thus:}}

The estate

The house stands on a hill at 85 metres above sea level and from the extensive grounds beautiful views are obtained of Southampton Water and the Isle of Wight to the south.

The extensive pleasure grounds were laid out in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by John Papworth, and include fountains, a rose garden, specimen trees and pinetum, the lakeside walk and the fern walk. The folly known as "The Castle", built from material plundered from Netley Abbey, is situated in the southern corner of the park.

A stream rises in the park passing through the Upper and Lower Ponds, close to The Castle. From here it passes through Hiltingbury Lake, then under Merdon Avenue in Chandler's Ford, before joining Monks Brook. Between the Upper Pond and The Castle is the campsite of the Chandler's Ford & District Scout Group.

References

Category:Country parks in Hampshire Category:Gardens in Hampshire Category:Country houses in Hampshire Category:Isaac Newton

Coordinates	38°37′38″N90°11′52″N
Official name	Cranbury Township, New Jersey
Settlement type	Township
Motto
Image seal
Map caption	Map of Cranbury Township in Middlesex County. Inset: Location of Middlesex County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Image map1	Census Bureau map of Cranbury Township, New Jersey.png
Mapsize1	250x200px
Map caption1	Census Bureau map of Cranbury Township, New Jersey
Coordinates region	US-NJ
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	United States
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision name1	New Jersey
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name2	Middlesex
Government footnotes
Government type	Township (New Jersey)
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Winthrop Cody (2011)
Leader title1	Administrator
Leader name1	Denise Marabello
Established title	Incorporated
Established date	March 7, 1872
Unit pref	Imperial
Area total km2	34
Area land km2	34.7
Area water km2	0.1
Area total sq mi	13.5
Area land sq mi	13.4
Area water sq mi	0.0
Population as of	2010 Census
Population total	3857
Population density km2	auto
Population density sq mi	auto
Timezone	Eastern (EST)
Utc offset	-5
Timezone dst	EDT
Utc offset dst	-4
Elevation footnotes
Elevation m	26
Elevation ft	85
Postal code type	ZIP codes
Postal code	08512, 08570
Area code	609
Blank name	FIPS code
Blank info	34-15550
Blank1 name	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 info	0882160
Website	http://www.cranburytownship.org
Footnotes	}}

Cranbury Township is a Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 3,857.

Cranbury CDP is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Cranbury Township. Its population was 2,181 as of the 2010 Census. Despite the similarity in the name of the Township and the CDP, the two are not one and the same, as is the case for most paired Township / CDP combinations (i.e., a CDP with the same as the Township).

History

A deed for a sale of land and improvements dated March 1, 1698, is the earliest evidence of buildings constructed in present-day Cranbury. A home in Cranbury was used by Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette as a headquarters during the American Revolutionary War, and they were visited by General George Washington on June 26, 1778. As part of orders issued during the Presidency of George Washington, maps of Cranbury were made showing the presence of a church, a mill and 25 other buildings. During its earliest years, the location was usually spelled as "Cranberry". Rev. Joseph G. Symmes argued in 1857 that the name was spelled improperly and that the suffix "bury" was more appropriate, leading the name of the community and brook to be changed to "Cranbury" in 1869.

Cranbury Township was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 7, 1872, from portions of both Monroe Township and South Brunswick Township. Portions of the township were taken on April 1, 1919, to form Plainsboro Township.

George Washington's headquarters were located in Cranbury while planning for the Battle of Monmouth, a major turning point during the American Revolutionary War.

Cranbury's Main Street and surrounding area is rather distinctive, as most of the buildings date to the 18th or 19th century. The entire downtown area is designated as a Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as District #80002502.

The township celebrated its tricentennial in 1998.

Updike Parsonage Barn was relocated and reconstructed in 2010.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 13.4 square miles (34.8 km²), of which, 13.4 square miles (34.7 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.30%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,227 people, 1,091 households, and 877 families residing in the township. The population density was 240.6 people per square mile (92.9/km²). There were 1,121 housing units at an average density of 83.6 per square mile (32.3/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 88.78% White, 2.26% African American, 7.41% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 1.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.70% of the population.

There were 1,091 households out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.6% were married couples living together, 4.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.6% were non-families. 16.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the township the population was spread out with 30.4% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $111,680, and the median income for a family was $128,410. Males had a median income of $94,683 versus $44,167 for females. The per capita income for the township was $50,698. About 0.7% of families and 1.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 0.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Cranbury Township is governed under the Township form of government with a five-member Township Committee. The Township Committee is elected directly by the voters in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one seat coming up for election each year.

At an annual reorganization meeting, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor. In 1990, the Cranbury Township Committee was expanded from three to five members. That same year, the Township Committee established the position of Township Administrator by ordinance.

, members of the Cranbury Township Committee are Mayor Winthrop Cody (whose term of office ends December 31, 2011), David Cook (2012), Glenn Johnson (2013), Daniel P. Mulligan, III (2013) and James Taylor (2012).

Federal, state and county representation

Cranbury Township is in the 12th Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 14th state legislative district. The legislative district was kept unchanged by the New Jersey Apportionment Commission based on the results of the 2010 Census.

Education

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Children in public school for grades Kindergarten through eighth grade attend the Cranbury School. As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 596 students and 48 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.42. For the 1996-97 and 2009-10 school years, Cranbury School was formally designated as a National Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor that an American public school can achieve. During the 2009-10 school year, Cranbury School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence a second time.

For grades 9 to 12, Cranbury students attend Princeton High School, as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Princeton Regional Schools. Cranbury Township is granted a non-voting seat on the Princeton Regional Schools Board of Education, with the designated representative only voting on issues pertaining to Princeton High School and district-wide issues.

Colleges and universities

Cranbury is served by the Middlesex County College in Edison.

Cranbury is in close proximity to Princeton University.

Public libraries

The Cranbury Public Library serves Cranbury residents, sharing a facility with the Cranbury School.

Transportation

A few county routes traverse through Cranbury: 535, 539, 615, and 614.

Cranbury hosts U.S. Route 130 and a four-mile (6 km) section of Interstate 95 (the New Jersey Turnpike). Cranbury is accessible by the Turnpike in neighboring townships: Interchange 8 in East Windsor Township and Interchange 8A in Monroe Township. The ''Molly Pitcher Service Area'' is located at mile marker 71.7 on the southbound side.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is planning to widen the Turnpike (with the "dual-dual" setup) between Exit 6 in Mansfield Township and Exit 8A in Monroe Township by 2014. This widening would require the condemnation of part of the ''Molly Pitcher Service Area'' as well as construction of new overpasses that cross the Turnpike. New entrance & exit ramps would be constructed as well to access the service area.

Corporate residents

Companies based in Cranbury Township include Blacklight Power, an alternative energy firm.

The Associated University Presses, an academic publishing company supplying textbooks to colleges and universities, is also based in Cranbury.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Cranbury include: Melanie Balcomb, head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores Women's Basketball team. Todd Beamer (1968–2001), passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, who uttered the words, heard by a phone operator, to fellow passengers with whom he was planning an assault on the terrorists in the cockpit -- "Let's roll". Jan Morris (born 1926), Welsh travel writer and historian, lived in Cranbury for several months in the 1950s whose impressions of the town are recorded in the book ''Coast to Coast: A Journey Across 1950s America''.

References

External links

Cranbury Township Official Website

Cranbury Public Library Website

Cranbury Township School

Data for Cranbury Township School, National Center for Education Statistics

Princeton High School

Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society

Cranbury Forums

Category:1872 establishments in the United States Category:Populated places established in 1872 Category:Townships in Middlesex County, New Jersey

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