Wondering if anyone knows the history of the original owners of Stone House? I have heard that one of them was an eminent horticulturist (perhaps associated with the RHS?) and planted a number of non-native trees and shrubs in his garden at Stone House. We believe that some of the trees in our current garden (which would have originally been part of the wider grounds of Stone House) were perhaps part of his garden. We have two huge Redwoods which are some of the tallest trees in the area.

The Stone House was built in 1866 for Augustus Mordan (1821-1901). Augustus Mordan was joint owner of the luxury gold and silver goods manufacturing company of S.Mordan & Co. With his brother, Sampson Junior he had inherited the thriving company from his father, Sampson Mordan Senior, in 1843. Augustus's daughter Clara Evelyn (1844-1915) became a generous champion of women's rights and education. She was often a speaker at suffragette meetings and she gifted the money to enable the then newly formed St Hughs College, Oxford to build their first purpose built home.