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Ashdown House Golf Course, Lambourn. (1840s)
Ashdown House is now a National Trust property. It’s situated between Ashbury and Lambourn and was in the county of Berkshire until 1974.
The following information and course plan was sent to me by a contributor to the Golf’s Missing Links website - The House originally belonged to the Craven family and in its Victorian heyday there was a family/private golf course in the open fields/parkland to the west and south west of the house. The golf course was only part of a wider sporting estate that included cricket, horse racing, hunting and shooting. William Grimston, the second Earl of Craven (1809 – 1866) used Ashdown House as his main residence. In 1840 he had a golf course laid out in the grounds. He started the Craven Cricket Club, later known as the Ashdown Cricket Club.
All that remains of the golf course is a poor photocopy of a heavily folded plan, the location of the original plan is not known. There are no visible remains of the course on the ground which is now agricultural land. However the plan contains sufficient geographical features to allow it to be correctly orientated. It shows the course as having at least 12-holes, and at least one, possibly two, more holes may be lost in the fold of the plan.
Below are four pictures as follows:
1: A copy of the original Ashdown golf course plan.
2: A copy of the original Ashdown golf course plan annotated with geographical features.
3: An OS map annotated with the same geographical features.
4: An aerial photo annotated with the same geographical features.
The relevant annotated features are:
A: Alfred's Castle - an Iron Age hill fort.
B: The end of the west avenue leading to Ashdown House.
C: The track junction leading to the House main entrance.
D: The east end of Swinley Copse.
E: Possible location of the pond shown on the plan.
F: Likely location of the cricket ground shown on the plan.
The possible route of the course is as follows; First – Goal Hole -208 yards; Second – Not Named - 125 yards; Third – South Hole –yardage not visible; Fourth – Pond Hole -312 yards; Fifth (towards the Castle) – 442 yards; Sixth – Fosse Hole – 226 yards; Seventh – West Hole – 120 yards; Eighth - Lime Hole - 417 yards; Ninth Hole– From the “Gap” 417 yards; Tenth – Meadow Hole – yardage not visible; Eleventh – Not Named – 262 yards; Twlefth - There appears to be three tees to the Home Hole – tee to the west - 306 yards, in the centre - yardage not visible, to the east – 173 yards.
First – Goal Hole -208 yards; Second – Not Named - 125 yards; Third – South Hole –yardage not visible.
Fourth – Pond Hole – 312 yards; Twelfth - There appears to be three tees to the Home Hole – tee to the west - 306 yards, in the centre - yardage not visible, to the east – 173 yards.
Fifth (centre towards the Castle) – 442 yards; Sixth – Fosse Hole – 226 yards; Seventh – West Hole – 120 yards; Eighth - Lime Hole - 417 yards; Ninth Hole– From the “Gap” 417 yards; Tenth – Meadow Hole – yardage not visible; Eleventh – Not Named – 262 yards.
Ordnance Survey Map from the 1870/80s showing Ashdown House and the Cricket Ground.
O.S. Map Revised 1877 to 1878; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1883}.
If anyone has any further information on the history of this long lost golf course please get in touch via the “Contact Us” facility on the website homepage.