Greathed Manor
Greathed Manor
Greathed Manor is a Victorian country house in Dormansland, Surrey. It was designed by architect Robert Kerr in 1862–68 for the Spender-Clay family and is a Grade II listed building. The house was originally called Ford Manor and was completed in 1868. The actress Joyce Grenfell, related by marriage to the family, visited often and wrote about her time there.
In 1904 Herbert Spender-Clay, a Member of Parliament and founder of the 1922 Committee, married Pauline Astor, daughter of William Waldorf Astor. The couple lived at Greathed Manor until 1937.
The house was requisitioned by the government during both world wars. In World War I it served as a hospital for wounded American officers; in World War II it was the headquarters of a Canadian Armored Division in the run-up to D‑Day. From 1947 to 1957 it also housed the London College of Divinity for a time.
The building was renamed Greathed Manor when Pauline Spender-Clay built a smaller house in the grounds and asked that the new house be called Ford Manor. The original building was leased by the Country Houses Association (CHA), which renamed it after its founder, Admiral Greathed. After CHA collapsed in 2008, Greathed Manor was converted to a private nursing home and is now run by Pressbeau Ltd.
Robert Kerr was a leading mid-Victorian architect who wrote The Gentleman’s House, a guide to English residences. Some critics have described Greathed Manor as overconfident and not well matched to its landscape, though others consider it a striking, significant work. The manor is built of stone and is mainly three stories high. Before renovations in 1912 it had a large porte-cochère at the front and a winter garden at the rear.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:31 (CET).