HOLYWELL CLOSE
SACRED SITE OR STATELY HOME?
Holywell Close could have been named after Swanmore’s “holy well”, which is adjacent to the A32 and has a stone and brick lining with two drainage pipes feeding into the pool. It is difficult to know when the well was dug, or became known as a holy well (as it is marked on the OS map) but it is most probably the reason why the adjacent estate is known as Holywell.
Holy wells may have a Christian or pagan origin and were often thought to have healing properties or the presence of a guardian spirit or Christian saint. They were often places of pilgrimage and ritual where offerings were made. Whether any of this applied to Swanmore’s holy well is currently unknown.
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The Holywell estate, however, is well documented. In 1745 Admiral Lord Anson bought Soberton Manor and surrounding land which including a farm at Holywell. It would seem that he wanted it as a shore base for hunting, shooting and fishing while commanding the fleet at Portsmouth. He combined and extended two of the original farm cottages, although his main home was the family estate at Shugborough. Anson died in 1762 and the estate was sold to Humphrey Minchin in 1765.
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It seems that the Minchins lived at Soberton Manor House for a generation before deciding to build a new house in 1775, possibly incorporating some of the material from Soberton and perhaps some of the original building at Holywell, with further remodelling in 1790 – including the distinctive semi-circular bows to the south and east. The walled garden and barn also date from this time. ​
 Hollywell House |  Holywell Bluebells |
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 The Holy Well |  Holywell map 1880s |
 Holywell House |  Map showing Holywell House and the Holy Well |
During the nineteenth century, while the Minchins still owned the estate, the house was let to a succession of senior naval officers while they were based in Portsmouth. In 1917 MajorGeneral Faulkner Minchin sold the estate to Major Maurice Portal DSO (1870–1955). Maurice served in the Remount Service during the First World War – a unit responsible for providing the horses and mules used by the army and generally staffed by older soldiers. He was awarded the DSO in King George V’s Birthday Honours of 1918. In 1897 he had married Ethel Kidson (1876–1960); Ethel Portal was especially active in the village and chaired the village’s second World War wartime planning committee.
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The Portals added the Georgian-style door to the principal frontage at Holywell and made alterations to the windows. They had no children and after Ethel’s death in 1960 the house was sold to Nigel Birch OBE PC (1906–1981) who was MP for Flintshire (1945–1950) and West Flintshire (1950–1970) and had married the Hon. Esmé Glyn in 1950. Nigel Birch served in Harold Macmillan’s government and was created a life peer as Baron Rhyl of Holywell in 1970.
​​Like the Portals they had no children, and on Lady Rhyl’s death in 1991 the estate was bequeathed to her nephew Laurence Villiers, 7th Earl of Clarendon (1933– 2009), the son of her sister Marion. He made further alterations with reconstruction of the eighteenth century service wing and an old farmhouse to extend the northern side of the house; work was completed in 1994. Improvements have also been made to the gardens with a lake created in 1995, new planting and restoration of the walled garden (contemporary with the house) which is now used as a wedding venue.
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Parts of the estate would once have been in the Forest of Bere. According to the Hampshire Gardens Trust: “The woodland surrounding the house today is of outstanding beauty and is mainly broadleaved mature trees and plantation of small leafed limes.” The grounds are sometimes open in the spring for “bluebell walks” in aid of charity.