Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed stately home and estate in the English county of Berkshire. The house is near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading. Swallowfield Park was the home of the Backhouse family from the late 16th century, who had lived in a now demolished Tudor mansion. The most famous member of this …
Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed stately home and estate in the English county of Berkshire. The house is near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading. Swallowfield Park was the home of the Backhouse family from the late 16th century, who had lived in a now demolished Tudor mansion. The most famous member of this family was of William Backhouse, the Rosicrucian philosopher. The present house at Swallowfield Park was erected in 1689 by Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, when he acquired the estate on his marriage to William Backhouse's daughter Flower. The architect was William Talman, "comptroller of the works" to William III. Talman built an H-shaped house with short projections to the front and more extended ones to the rear. The house was the childhood home of Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon.