Wentworth

Original titleVirginia Water, Culling Charles Smith
Year painted1822
Museum reference numberPR174
Address and postcodeWentworth House, Wentworth Drive, Virginia Water, GU25 4LS
Listed building numberThe building was removed from the Listed Building Schedule 22/4/87
Construction date of building depicted and major alterationsEarly nineteenth century. Probably c.1805
History of ownership/residents and useOriginally called Wentworths, the estate was named for the widow of  Lieutenant General Thomas Wentworth who lived there in the eighteenth century.

The current house was built by politician Culling Charles Smith, son of the Governor of Madras and brother in law to the Duke of Wellington, in the early nineteenth century. Smith sold Wentworths in 1842.

In the early 1850s Ramon Cabrera, the exiled Spanish Count de Morella, acquired the property and in 1854 moved into Wentworth with his English wife, Marianne Catherine. The Countess outlived her husband and during this time she significantly enlarged the estate.

In 1922 builder, W. G. Tarrant, acquired the development rights for the Wentworth Estate. Tarrant employed Harry S. Colt, a successful golf architect to design the first course and he then converted the original Wentworth house into the Clubhouse.  
Location’s present statusWentworth golf course clubhouse
Links and references