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• John Evelyn was also a famous botanist and
tree expert. He was enthusiastically in favour of
reforestation to make good losses due to heavy
timber consumption made by the ship building,
iron smelting and charcoal industries. He had
many books published in his lifetime, several on
the subject of trees and gardens. He designed
at least part of the gardens at Wotton, with
some help from his brother George, in an
Italian style, revolting against Tudor formalism.
• Extensive alterations were made to the original
house in the second half of the 17th Century,
and the house and grounds have continued to
be altered and improved periodically ever since.
• The front of the house gives the appearance of
a Tudor or Jacobean Mansion, but in reality this
façade is a Victorian creation, carried out by
William John Evelyn in the last half of the 19th
Century. W J Evelyn also kept a menagerie near
the House, including Kangaroos, which
eventually escaped in the direction of Leith Hill.
• W J Evelyn’s only son John succeeded him in
1908 and died in 1922. His older son C J A
Evelyn, known as Jack, followed on, until
inheritance by his nephew Mr Patrick Evelyn in
1965, who remains the present estate owner
and Lord of the Manor of Wotton.
• After the Second World War, Wotton House was
used as a Fire Service College for thirty years.
After that it became a BT training centre until
1986. It then remained vacant awaiting
refurbishment until its Lease was acquired by
Hayley Conference Centres in 2000