Page "Christchurch Mansion" Paragraph 3

Christchurch Park was originally the grounds of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, with an area of many square miles, coming up to the medieval town walls.

During Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries, the monastery was dissolved and the land was purchased by Sir Edmund Withipoll, who built the mansion in 1548-50, the ground floor of which remains largely as he left it.

His granddaughter, Elizabeth Withipoll, married Leicester Devereux, 6th Viscount Hereford and the mansion passed to the Devereux family, who rebuilt the upper floors after a fire in about 1670, when the main porch was also added.

In 1734, Claude Fonnereau purchased the mansion from Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford.

A road next to the park is named after the family.