Ashdown House

The Fullers were long settled in East Sussex where they became wealthy through the iron industry in the Weald. But, through an opportune marriage in 1709 to the Rose family, their wealth was greatly increased when they came into the possession of several sugar plantations in Jamaica, though only one member of the family ever lived there. The Fullers were among those families that lobbied hard to maintain the slave trade. 

In 1793, John Trayton Fuller acquired the estate known as Lavertye, originally a small manor subsidiary to Brambletye. Latrobe built this square structure adjoining the existing late 16th century gabled manor house, which thereafter was used for kitchens, servants quarters, and stables. After Mrs Fuller died in 1835, it passed to her eldest son, Augustus Elliot Fuller (1777-1857), who kept a small pack of harriers here. In due course, it passed to his eldest son, Owen Fuller-Meyrick (1804-1876), but ten years after his death Ashdown House became a famous prep school, sold by the Cothill Trust for development in 2021.