Weddings / Civil Ceremonies / Private Events & Parties

In an area which once used to be the Royal hunting grounds of the Saxon and Norman Kings, the name Dorton derives from the old English words dor, tun and means ¨farmstead or village at the narrow pass. Situated on the outskirts of the village, work on the present Grade 1 listed Jacobian Mansion begun on the site of an earlier house by Sir John Dormer in 1596, and wasn´t completed until 1626.

The architect of this beautiful property to this day is still unknown, but the bricks used to build the house were fired at the bottom of Brill Hill from locally sourced clay.

The plan is Gothic, a long, narrow house only one room wide in many parts, with few corridors and those added later; a house of Tudor chimneys and mullions, but with a portico and many lovely ceilings. The Jacobean screen in the Saloon should not be missed. The Clock Court, with its cobbled courtyard, was built about the same time as the house and were used to house the coaches and horses.

In 1783 the house was sold to Sir John Fletcher and remained in the family until 1928 when it was sold to Major Michael Beaumont. In 1939 the Royal London School for the Blind bought the house and remained until 1955 when Mr James Harrison bought the house for Ashfold School and was turned into a preparatory school which to this day is its primary use.