Wentworth Estate

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Wentworth Estate
Wentworth Estate shown within Surrey
Population	less than 3,000
OS grid reference	SU985674
District	Runnymede
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Virginia Water
Postcode district	GU24
Dialling code	01344
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Runnymede and Weybridge
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Coordinates: 51°23′51″N 0°35′04″W / 51.3974, -0.5845

The Wentworth Estate is a 1920s development village of houses, shops and restaurants on an area of 700 hectares (1750 acres) around the world famous Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. It encompasses one of Europe's premier residential areas.^[1]

1 History
2 Today
3 Transport
4 Residents
- 4.1 Former residents
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The 19th-century house the "Wentworths" (now the club house for the Wentworth Club) was the home for the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington. It was purchased in 1850 by exiled Spanish count Ramon Cabrera, who after his death his wife bought up the surrounding lands to make the full Wentworth Estate.^[2]

In 1912, builder W.G. Tarrant had started developing St George's Hill, Weybridge - a development of houses based on minimum one-acre plots based around a golf course. In 1922 Tarrant acquired the development rights for the Wentworth Estate, getting H.S. Colt to develop a golf course around the "Wentworth" house. Tarrant developed the large houses on the estate to a similar Surrey formula used at St George's Hill - tall chimneys, dormer windows, gables, leaded lights, tile-hung or half-timbered or a combination of both; most using hand-made bricks and tiles. Some houses had stonework round the front door and stone fireplaces, a few had a marble floor in the hall, and the rarest – of which he was most proud – had a stone tablet with his initials WGT.^[3]

Development of Wentworth Estate ground to a halt due to depression in the late 1920s, and in 1931 when the banks asked for repayment of a large debenture, Tarrant was forced to declare bankruptcy. The ownership of the land passed to Wentworth Estates Ltd, which came under the control of Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Co Ltd. Construction picked up in the late 1930s, with many houses built by Tarrant Builders Ltd, with Tarrant's son Percy as one of the directors; but again stopped during World War II when the need arose to build high-density housing close to Virginia Water railway station.^[4]

Post-war development picked up considerably, and by 1960 most of the available land was already utilised.

[edit] Today

In 1962, a committee of residents and the company promoted a private act of Parliament, and on 31 July the Wentworth Estate Act was given Royal assent. The Act established the Wentworth Estate Roads Committee, which appoints its members on advice from the Wentworth Residents' Association.^[5]

Today the Wentworth Estate covers 700 hectares (1750 acres), and encompasses one of Europe's premier residential areas. Within the estate borders are a mixture of both public and private roads, footpaths and open areas as well as the village shops, restaurants and other amenities.^[6]

The River Bourne runs through the area. The village lies within the census area Virginia Water which has a population of 5,895.^[7]

[edit] Transport

Wentworth is just outside the ring of the M25 near to the M3. It is served by two railway stations, Virginia Water and Longcross, as well as being located just a few miles south-east of Heathrow Airport.

[edit] Residents

The estate hit the headlines in 1998 when former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet was kept under house arrest in one of its houses prior to his extradition.^[8]^[9]