Because Ashburnham was re-clad in 1853 and was totally demolished a century later, and because the only image of Dance's front is a rather sparse print, it has not always been possible to state which of the drawings are as executed. Generally, when full-size details are pricked through or chalked for transfer by the relevant craftsman, it is safe to assume that they were carried out. The drawings for Ashburnham Place are seldom titled so that, for instance, the identification on the verso found on the majority of drawings is mostly absent.

Before Dance
Dance's survey and design drawings ([SM D2/1/36] and [SM D2/1/32]) show a building with an irregular plan complicated by frequent alterations and additions. C. Hussey, in a Country Life article published in 1953 shortly before the demolition of Ashburnham, wrote that the site had been occupied since about 1150 and that after the Civil War the house was largely rebuilt by William Ashburnham, 1675-6, as a symmetrical, two-storey, brick building with hipped roof. The office wing that ran obliquely from the west side of the house was probably added in about 1700, replacing an older battlemented range. In 1757-61, a new brick east front with a suite of reception rooms behind it was added by John Morris (c.1716-92), an architect of nearby Lewes, and Stephen Wright (died 1780) in a conservative Palladian style. A large greenhouse on the south side was added in about 1767 by Lancelot (Capability) Brown (1716-83) who also carried out landscape improvements as well as alterations to the offices.

According to Hussey (1953, p.1336) Dance 'had been doing odd jobs at Ashburnham since 1805'. Interestingly, John Soane made a design in the same year for a Pine and Succession Stove for the Right Hon^ble The Earl of Ashburnham / at Ashburnham in Sussex. A plan, elevation and section are in the Soane Museum ([SM 8/3/43]). The drawing is not dated but the Day Book for Wednesday 19 June 1805 has an entry The Earl of Ashburnham / About Plan Elevation / and Sections of Green house / Hot air: no charge is noted and the pineapple house (76 feet 7 inches long) was probably not built. Soane was an experienced designer of greenhouses, conservatories, hothouses, peacheries, forcing houses and the like.

From 1812
The 2nd Earl Ashburnham died on 8 April 1812 and his successor moved swiftly to make changes to the house and its offices. The earliest dated drawing relating to Dance's principal work is for 4 February 1813 ([SM D2/1/36]). However, the earliest relevant building accounts date from August 1812 (East Sussex Record Office, ASH 2806) and are for a model made by James Carter of the terrace, portico and staircase. In his designs for the east (principal) front it seems that Dance moved from the initial idea of a simple addition of a Classical portico to a re-casing in which the disposition of the 1757-61 front was left unchanged but was hidden behind a composition stucco that imitated stonework.

Preliminary designs for the principal (east) front
The first designs for remodelling (Designs A-C) offer alternative ideas just for porticos: Greek Doric in antis, Corinthian with Doric antae and Greek Doric hexastyle prostyle. Dance had added portico-like porte-cocheres at Stratton and the Royal College of Surgeons but the problem at Ashburnham was the long (15 bays) and low (two floors and attic) proportions and a lack of articulation. Dance began to break down the monotonous front in Design D which has a Gothic porte-cochere (or possibly a portico) with a pediment added over the five centre bays and, pencilled in, slim pilasters. Design E has what is clearly a porte-cochere with a linking arcade as well as pilasters, now drawing in, turrets, an undecided pediment, and an Indian dome. Design F has a porte-cochere, removes the dome and pilasters, adds labels, balconies and a parapet. Design G has a lively skyline with Venetian crenellations and elaborately terminated turrets, and introduces an arched corbel-table or machicolated frieze below the parapet. Design H consists of revisions and variations that work their way towards the final Design I which, from the evidence of a contemporary print (reproduced in Hussey, 1953, p.1337), was as executed save for the coat of arms and the balconies which were omitted.

Sources for the executed design for the front (including Indian)
The executed design ([SM D2/1/15 verso and [SM D2/1/7]) has eight turrets (in a rhythm T3 T2 T1 T3 T1 T2 T3 T) with caps and finials, an arched frieze below a cornice, a pierced balustrade over the centre five bays, labels over each of the windows and a porte-cochere with buttresses. Dance's drawings for Schemes A to I ([SM D2/1/3], [SM D2/1/5], [SM D2/1/4], [SM D2/1/10], [SM D2/1/6], [SM D2/1/16], [SM D2/1/39], [SM D2/1/14], [SM D2/1/17], [SM D2/1/15], and [SM D2/1/7]) show that his final design was reached in stages, beginning with the simple addition of a Classical portico, then turning to Gothic, then adding and subtracting both Classical and Gothic elements. Turrets with fanciful terminations, labels and a buttressed porte-cochere were used earlier though differently at Coleorton but the arched corbel-table frieze was new for Dance. It answered the need for detail that added modelling and interest at roof level but where did it come from? Perhaps it was adapted from the machicolation of castle architecture; or the Lombardy friezes of North Italian Romanesque churches might be a possible source. If so, it marks Dance as early in his appreciation of an important feature of the Rundbogenstil of the 1830s and '40s. It is not known whether Dance visited the château of Blois, which has an Italian-influenced frieze with half-paterae not unlike the Ashburnham one. Nearer home are early Tudor brick buildings, such as Layer Marney in Essex, that have characteristic trefoiled corbel friezes with semicircular-headed panels filled with radiating ornament. Nor can India be ruled out if consideration is given to the machicolations of, for example, the brick Qutb Minar in Delhi illustrated in Thomas and William Daniell's Oriental scenery, series 5 (1799). Finally, Soane later used a pendentive arcaded frieze with inverted pineapple drops as internal decoration for the dining room of Pell Wall, 1822-8, as well as for his own Picture Room at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Models
Of two models made by James Carter, one was for an early design made between 29 August and 31 October 1812 that included 'Terrace, Portico, Lantern Light & / Staircase / for Terrace' as well as '4 Turn'd Columns', which does not exactly fit the earlier portico designs since two had antae and the other six columns. This took 74 days and 3½ hours to make and cost £26.12s.2d. The second model took 122 days 8½ hours to make, cost £36.17s.1d and must have been for a later design for the east front since it involved 'turning / & Carving 360 Corbels 283 / Pateras 4 Coronets & Crests 1152 / Beads 48 Labels 57 Perforations'. Further additions to this model were made that took 19½ working days at a cost of £6.18s.2d (ASH 2806).

Cappings and finials
The cappings and finials to the half-octagonal pilasters that Dance called 'turrets' were redesigned many times. The number of drawings indicate both the importance of these turrets as well as Dance's fertile imagination and wide sources. The stuccoist for the executed work was Francis Bernasconi and his bill for 1813-14 shows that he charged 65 shillings (£3.25) each for '8 Vases with Pedestals which [sic] top / forming a Globe of Roses / 33" high 18" diameter' (ASH 2809). These were presumably for the eight turrets of the principal (east) front and drawing [SM D2/4/6] is the relevant one though the height is marked as 2^Ft 8ⁱⁿ (32 inches). A full-size detail ([SM D2/2/12]) is for the vase. The same account continues '6 Do, 21" high Diameter / not used', one of a number of items in the accounts for Ashburnham indicating a change of mind.

Another bill for '16 Ornaments on tops of Turrets 22^In high / 20^Ins Diameter consisting of Antique / Leaves with projecting perforated Tops / & rich Center' must be for the turrets on the north and south sides of the house (ASH 2838). Drawing [SM D3/14/28] shows a shallow vase of acanthus leaves with a pyramid of grapes marked 1.6 (18 inches) high and 2-0 (24 inches) wide and - with a full-size detail ([SM D2/2/29]) that measures 15¾ inches high by 17¾ inches wide - may show the design from which Bernasconi worked.

The porte-cochere had four turrets and if [SM D2/4/5] is the 'selected' design these had inverted patera caps on an octagonal plinth supported by foliated corbels above a neck with shields, the whole crowned by an earl's coronet and ash tree finial. The relevant drawing, though unfinished, seems to be [SM D2/2/11].

In some alternative designs for the treatment of the turret tops, Dance tries out ([SM D2/1/28] verso) an octagonal (pyramidal) cap with crockets supported on a miniature corbel course while another design ([SM D2/2/13]) has an arched corbel-table frieze with half-paterae supported on foliated corbel-stops and a parapet pierced by quatrefoils that is an amusing summary of the decorative elements of the east front.

Among the alternative elevational designs for the east are further turret designs, some of them Gothic and some not. Kalman (pp.190-91) wrote that the eight finials of the east front 'are totally non-Gothic, consisting of inverted cupped paterae topped by piles of fruit in bowls; this arrangement was reached only after Dance had discarded other even more fantastic forms. The pinnacles resound with very distant echoes of the domical turrets of Elizabethan buildings. Yet despite this domestic prototype, the source of the pinnacles seems to lie rather in Indian architecture. The Indian buildings sketched by Hodges and the Daniells frequently displayed turrets with rounded tops, in several cases covered by a flowered patera'.

The stair
More than 60 drawings have survived for the staircase, staircase hall, gallery and lantern at Ashburnham - the most important part of Dance's work there. A survey/design drawing ([SM D2/1/36]) shows the original dog-leg stair of 1675-6 on the west side between a new eating room for the steward and a new pantry for the under butler; there is a small newel stair in the south pavilion and a 'Back Stairs' is marked in the office wing. The location for Dance's new staircase is shown behind the Great Hall with thin partition walls that are to be removed and dimensions marked 34 feet 9 inches by 24 feet 2 inches. Hussey (1953, p.1337) suggests that 'the grand staircase probably occupies the entrance forecourt of the Charles II building which had been enclosed by the addition of the main front. The Georgian staircase, to the building of which there are references in 1758, may have been in the same position since "plate glass for the skylight of the great stairs" is mentioned, implying that, like its successor, it was top-lit.' On the other hand, drawing [SM D2/5/20] shows 'the present staircase' between the first floor and attics to the north of Dance's stair and over his new dining room; similarly [SM D2/1/35] has a stair to the attics which, though washed to indicate new work, is in the same position as [SM D2/5/20] and on the same half-turn with landing plan. Presumably Dance remodelled the upper flights of an existing Georgian staircase, removing the lower ones to create a dining room and opposite located his stair to the first floor.

In his design for a new principal staircase, Dance kept the mid-18th-century entrance hall (the Great Hall) and thus the staircase hall was entered in the middle of its long west wall directly opposite the front door but sited to the left of this entrance, that is, to one side. The staircase, on a north/south axis, was a reverse imperial stair with two runs at the lower level rising to a single central run to reach the first floor.

Hussey (1953, p.1337) described entering 'beneath the truncated arches carrying the long upper flight, so that one is first confronted by a low shadowy recess, with steps rising either side of it beyond the arches. 'On debouching through one of these, one discovers a vast lofty hall, surrounded by a gallery above which yellow [sic] marbled Doric pillars support on their entablature cavernous arches under a high ceiling. Against the yellow Sienna walls, a green filigree is imprinted by the fine cast-iron balustrade, patinated to look like bronze. Under the porticoes the landings, semicircular at one end, rectangular at the other, have arched doorways echoing those above and below them, but in contrast to the rectangular colonnades. In plan and elevation, the composition is fascinating, and bears out Mr Summerson's view of the debt to Dance by his pupil Soane - though here it is one of dramatic planning and lighting rather than of specific form.' By this date it might be fair to suggest that Dance could well have been indebted to Soane.

A source for Dance's design may have been William Chambers's top-lit, imperial stair in Gower (afterwards Carrington) House, Whitehall (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1770). Then again, James Wyatt borrowed from Chambers for Dodington Park in Gloucestershire, from 1798, his imperial stair running parallel with the facade and reached by a large entrance hall, very much like the arrangement at Ashburnham. Dance owned copies of two of Wyatt's plans for Dodington, on paper watermarked 1811, both showing the stair.

Dance also remodelled the library, inserted a dining room where the old staircase had stood, added a billiard room and made improvements to the bedrooms and offices. He also designed a stone bridge that replaced the timber one crossing the lake designed by Capability Brown as part of his improvements.

The client
Lord Ashburnham was a friend of Sir George Beaumont (for whom Dance built Coleorton) and shared many of his interests and friends. Thus Farington recounts (27 May 1812) 'Hearne [Thomas Hearne, 1744-1817, a watercolourist] told me a few days before He dined with Lord Ashburnham, where He met Sir George and Lady Beaumont and G. Dance. They sat down to dinner at a quarter before 8. In the evening while they sat at the dinner table Dance was seized with a fit of coughing and fell off his Chair which alarmed them much but He soon recovered.

Ashburnham (Viscount St Asaph until 1812) was not an easy man to get on with as Dance was to discover. Farington (27 September 1806) records his character as described by Dr Gretton who 'spoke of Lord St. A and said the world takes him to be proud but He does not think so. He sd. His Lordship's understanding is sound, and He knows no person to show judgement He wd. sooner refer in a difficult case. But his constitution is bilious & irritable which makes Him very uncertain as to chearfulness or being reserved. - He said Lady A. is ill suited to Him; she is rapid, intelligent; but has little judgement. She is quick, while He is ice'. Dance's own opinion (given to Farington, 20 January 1813) was that 'His Lordship's manner is dry, but that He is a very sensible man, does not talk much but tells a story well - has a strong sense of humour, and is a man of truly good principle. His establishment is large, He feeds 70 person every day. Lady Ashburnham is very lively, she amuses herself with drawing.'

Dance paid off
Dance was paid off on 1 September 1817 for work done under his direction up to 31 December 1814. Related to Dance's final account is an 'abstract' or summary of payments for building work at Ashburnham, which shows that John Russell & Co. carpenters and joiners, received £15,024.2s.3½d; Joseph Dawes for bricklayer, plumber, slater, glazier, mason and painter - £6,059.7s.0½d; Francis Bernasconi, plasterer - £3,958.11s.5d; Robert Spiller, mason - £2,645.4s.; Thomas Nutall, mason - £1,745.5s.7d; Robert Pratt, smith - £337.14s.7½d; John Holroyd, plumber - £51.4s.8d. The accounts were 'Measured Valued & Examined / June 6 1815 James Carter / Examined / Geo:Dance'. The total was given as £29,821.9s.7½d (ASH 2854).

The accounts for 1815 in some cases state 'under the direction of Mr Dance' but increasingly in that year work was done 'under the direction of Mr Reynolds'. This was Samuel W. Reynolds (1773-1835) who, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, was an engraver (he engraved some of Dance's portraits), landscape painter and landscape gardener. He may have been at Ashburnham in this last capacity having, for example, laid out the grounds of Southill for Samuel Whitbread. Reynolds also made an elaborate design for the surrounds of Coleorton that Dance, with some sharp comments about practicality and cost, saved the Beaumonts from adopting, explaining that the artist lacked the necessary knowledge of surveying (Owen & Brown, 1988, p.121).

Dance did not submit his fee until 5 May 1817 viz 'George Dance Architect / his Bill ... For designing, directing and superintending / the alterations and additions to his Lordships / House and Offices, and the erection of a new stone / Bridge at Ashburnham Place, Sussex; for making all the necessary drawings of the details of the / works, the measurement of the works, examination / of the Bills and expences of travelling. / The usual Commission of 5 p cent / upon the sum of £29,821, being the amount / of the Bills paid by his Lordship up to / the 31^St Dec^r 1814... £1491..1..- / Cash paid by Geo: Dance to J. Browne for Scagliola... £484..2..3½ total £2036..16..91½' (ASH 2897).

The exact circumstances of Dance's dismissal or resignation are not known though Lord Ashburnham seemed to change his mind quite often since there are, for instance, several bills for building materials and finished items stating 'not used as intended' (ASH 2805, 2809). The rupture occurred in 1815. The following correspondence gives an impression of Lord Ashburnham's irascible nature and Dance's timid response.

On 7 October 1814, Dance wrote to Lord Ashburnham:
'My dear Lord / As I understand that your house is now so fully / inhabited that all the bedrooms are occupied, I take the / Liberty of requesting your Lordship to favour me with / a line to inform me when I may without inconvenience / to the family renew my attendance at Ashburnham / Place which I shall hold myself in readiness to do / any day after next Friday the 14^th ins^t. - I beg leave / to present my respectful Compliments to Lady Ashburnham / and remain your Lordships very faithful / and obedient Servant / Geo:Dance'

On the same letter is a draft reply in pencil and pen by Lord Ashburnham:
'Sir / Having often declared my sentiments to be that you are best / able to judge at what times your presence here is requisite, and my entire reliance / to be that, when requisite, & as far as consistent with due regards to your /official & other professional avocations it would not be wanting: and / having not unfrequently had the satisfaction of hearing you acknowledge / that you have always found me so actuated & so acting I am equally surprised & / concern'd that, you should suffer any other consideration to regulate / your motions: and that you should give credit to tales more rash, & to reports / more improbable than any to which I more than once have been reproach'd / for listening. For whatever is inconsistent with past experience, still more what is / the very reverse of uniform practice, & established custom is improbable. If difficulties / have at any time kept you away or drawn you from hence, they surely never yet arose within / this house. Your room is, & has been from the house you last quitted it, / prepar'd for your reception: no one having within that interval occupied it. / Indeed for this month past there have been & now are four or five other Bedrooms / equally good, equally ready, & equally empty. / In renewing your attendance therefore at Ash^m Place your own convenience / is alone to be consulted. [Continued in pen] The Room, which in this Hse is (not improperly call'd) yours, has / remain'd vacant, & unoccupied by anyone, since you last went out / of it. And it is now, as it has invariably been, ready & prepar'd / for your reception: - and your alone. - It may be superfluous, but it / is not irrelevant to add that there are at this time, & have been / for at least a month past 4 other Bedchambers in this Hse / as habitable as your: - & (what is more in point) hitherto - / as much uninhabited. I speak of Bedchambers on the / principal floor: exclusive of attics. Of the latter one is / occupied by [Thomas] Hearne who, with the exception of [Samuel] Reynolds for / the last week, had been our only guest'. [Not signed] (ASH 2890

On 12 December 1814, Dance wrote to Lord Ashburnham:
'My dear Lord/ The favour and kindness of your Letter is a / great comfort to me as I was apprehensive you / might think me neglectful of your business which / would indeed make me very unhappy. I hope & trust / that my absence from Ashburnham Place will not/ materially affect the progress of the work. I have / given Bernasconi directions to proceed immediately to / finish the best Bedrooms over the Drawing room and / Music room. I am under an engagement to the Speaker of / the house of Commons, Mr Abbot [sic], to meet him at his house at Kidbrooke near East Grinsted [sic] on Wednesday 14th instant / for the purpose of some alterations of that building w^ch he has in / Contemplation; from thence I propose to make my way to Ashburn- / -ham place and hope to arrive there at furthest about the end / of the week. I have been in great dread of losing my sight / but I thank God that fear is now at an end. / I am ever Your Lordships / truly obliged & faithful / Servant / Geo: Dance' (ASH 2891)

Letter from Samuel W. Reynolds to Lord Ashburnham, 7 January 1815:
'My Lord / I was with M^r Dance yesterday / and had a long conversation / respecting the Dairy, which terminated / very satisfactorily. I gave him an / Idea of my design, he said it / would be a relief to him if I did / it, that he thought it came into / my department, that he had / not much studied that sort of think, and when he saw the / Model would with the greatest / pleasure do anything in his power / to forward the work, I therefore / trust My Lord that the Cream will not be in danger. / M^r Dance goes to the Speakers / on the ninth, and stays a few days, does not expect to be at / Ashburnham before the 14^th the day / was uncertain, but M^r Dance is to / write me a line from the Speakers. / ...' (ASH 2892)

A Neo-Classical design by Dance for a dairy employing a Greek cross plan appears on the verso of drawing [SM D2/5/20]. And earlier Dance had designed a dairy for T. Bonar at Camden Place, Kent ([SM D2/9/2], [SM D2/9/4], [SM D2/9/3] and [SM D2/9/5]).

Letter from Dance, written from Kidbrooke Park, Sussex, 11 January 1815:
'My dear Lord / I have unavoidably been detained here / by business of consequence and now take the liberty / of informing you that I shall be at Ashburnham / as early on Saturday next as I can I have / written to Mr Reynolds by his desire to let / him know when I shall be at Ashburnham / I am Your Lordships / much obliged and / faithful servant / Geo: Dance' Lord Ashburnham added a pencil note viz. 'M^r D told M^r R(eynolds) / in London that he should / not be at Ash^m til the 14^th. / He had before told me / that he should go to Kidbrooke / on the 9^th, & be here on the 11^th. / He must have thus have foreseen the unavoidable / detention' (ASH 2894)

Dance made at least one further visit to see Lord Ashburnham since Farington recorded (17 August 1815) 'Dance called, having returned from Lord Ashburnham's last night.' Perhaps it was a diplomatic visit and the long interval before submitting his bill suggests that Dance had hoped the rupture might be repaired. In any case he sent his penultimate letter to Lord Ashburnham, from Upper Gower Street on 5 May 1817:

'My Lord / I herewith transmit to your Lordship the / whole of the Bills and statement of the charges for the / several works done at Ashburnham Place under my / direction or in which I have been at all concerned. / The measurements have been ascertained at my / expence by M^r James Carter and I have examined the / whole account with the utmost care and attention / in my power. / The usual Commission of 5 p cent commonly allowed / to all Architects of any reputation I have charged only / on the sum paid to the work men by your Lordship at the / last settlement of their Bills in December 1814. / The rest of my Bill consists of money paid by me for the / Scagliola work done in the principal Staircase, and / for the Pile Engine, the Receipts for which payments / are my vouchers. With regard to the two Cast / Iron Stoves which were placed in the principal Staircase / I can only now lament that they did not meet with / your approbation but as they are now removed and / not charged in ths account I am ready and willing to / defray the expence of them taking care that your Lordship / shall have no farther trouble about them. / When I took the Liberty of sending you M^r Bounds / Bill for the iron railing of the principal Staircase, it / was at this urgent request; I had seen and examined / the work at his shop and altho' I did not see it after / it was fixed it was not till after I had received a / satisfactory report respecting that part of the business / that I signed his Bill. / It is a great affliction to me to perceive that / I have lost your Lordships favour and good opinion, which I shall lament as long as I live; ever since I have had the honour of being employed in your / service my utmost wish and endeavour has been to / give you satisfaction; to have failed in that hope must / now be a lasting misfortune / I am with utmost respect / Your Lordships very obedient / and faithful Servant / Geo: Dance' (ASH 2895)

Four months later Dance wrote from Upper Gower Street, 1 September 1817:
'My Lord / I have this morning received your Lordships / Letter inclosing a draft on Messrs Drummonds for / the sum of Two Thousand and thirty pounds 16^s x 9½^d / being the amount of my Bill, for which I have return'd / you Receipt i full of all demands; I have also / herewith transmitted to your Lordship all the Receipts / for money paid by me on your account, being my vouchers / for those payments charged in my Bill. / Whilst I feel it my duty to return you my best thanks / for this final settlement of all money transactions between us, / permit me to express my deep concern at having incurred / your displeasure while my conscience tells me that I have / never ceased to act in your service, to the utmost of my poor / ability, with zeal and fidelity; I shall never cease to lament / a misfortune which I know not how to remove, nor ever cease to / be with the utmost respect / Your Lordship's / most humble obedient / and faithful servant / Geo: Dance' (ASH 2896)

Opinions of the building
In his account of Dance published in The Builder (1847, p.335) Samuel Angell wrote that 'The design ... presents a very curious mixture of Italian and Gothic architecture, some portions are similar to the Guildhall front, and several of the ornaments and enrichments remind us of similar features so generally employed by Sir John Soane'. In a Country Life article of 1816 Avray Tipping wrote that 'all was buried under plaster which with its trivial pinnacles, mock turrets and little drops, resembled the creation of a sugar cake maker rather than that of an architect' (p.146). More recently, R. Head (1986, figs 19,18) in his exhaustive trawl of Indian-influenced architecture in the West included two of Dance's alternative elevations ([SM D2/1/10] and [SM D2/1/14]) to illustrate the use of elements such as minarets and an Indian dome in English architecture. Kalman (p.194) asks 'Is the facade beautiful? Its variety and intricacy satisfy the taste for picturesque beauty; only its symmetry, dictated by the pre-existing form, fails in this respect. 'To the man of taste of 1820 seeking things light and elegant as well as picturesque, it might have been considered beautiful. To later generations, [such as Charles Eastlake, the first historian of the Gothic Revival] searching for greater massiveness and plasticity as well as accuracy of detail, it was not. Our own eyes, which prefer a kind of functional simplicity, may likewise find it unattractive.'

Later history
Lord Ashburnham died in 1830. He was succeeded by his son, aged 32, who disliked Dance's facade and, according to Avray Tipping (1916, p.150), as early as 1833 had consulted Gillespie Graham about re-facing Ashburnham. The Scottish architect prepared two designs, one in which Dance's work was only slightly altered and another that entirely replaced it with an ornate Neo-Tudor style cladding. Neither was adopted, and things remained as they were until 1853 when the house was encased in a dull Tudor style using locally made dark red and grey brick with a dark mortar in a diaper pattern. Dance's porte-cochere, turrets, arched corbel-table frieze and labels were scraped off and replaced by string-courses, pilasters, tow shaped gables and a box-like porch; inside, the staircase was to remain for another hundred years. Lady Catherine Ashburnham, daughter of the 5th Earl, succeeded to the estate on the death of her uncle, the 6th Earl. A Roman Catholic postulant, she was given permission to leave her order so that she could become the châtelaine of Ashburnham. After her death early in 1953, the estate went to the Reverend John Bickersteth, great-grandson of the 5th Earl. Soon after, most of Ashburham Place was demolished (the early 18th-century stables, for example, were kept and converted into a prayer centre) and all that remains of Dance's work is the bridge across the lake and the garden terraces (with 19th century alterations) that overlook it.

LITERATURE. S. Angell, 'Sketch of the professional life of George Dance, architect, R.A.', Builder, V, 1847, pp.333-5; A. Tipping, 'Ashburnham Place, a seat of the Earl of Ashburnham', Country Life, XXIX, 1916, pp.112-18, 144-51; C. Hussey, 'Ashburnham Place, Sussex', Country Life, CXIII, 1953, pp.1158-60, 1246-50, 1334-38; I. Nairn & N. Pevsner, Sussex, 1965, pp.400-01; Stroud pp.216-19; Kalman pp.190-6; R. Head, The Indian style, 1986; F. Owen & D. B. Brown, Collector of genius: a life of George Beaumont, 1988; Colvin; E. Hingston, 'Ashburnham Place, East Sussex', Garden History, XXIX, 2001, pp.91-101.

OTHER SOURCES. Ashburnham Papers (ASH 1004, 1081, 2801-2897), East Sussex Record Office, Lewes.

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