CHELWOOD MANOR 
A MODERN ENGLISH DOWER-HOUSE 
Designed by A. N. Prentice, F.R.I.B.A., Architect 
S OCIAL change in general and Married 
Women’s Property Acts in particular 
have nowadays combined towards doing away 
with that ancient English custom which, by 
claiming some material return from him who 
received the dowry, in a measure safeguarded 
the expending of it. For it was very com¬ 
monly by law incumbent upon the husband, 
not only in the middle ages, but up to within 
two generations ot our own time, to provide 
out of his wile’s dowry some kind of habita¬ 
tion, if such did not already exist, which, on 
his decease, she could claim as entirely her 
own, leaving to the eldest son and heir the 
hereditary mansion and estates. These dower- 
houses, as they are called, are to be found 
dotted about in all parts of England, ranging 
in size from large mansions to tiny cottage- 
farms,—sometimes built upon some portion 
of the ancestral estate, less often upon totally 
independent ground. 
Though Chelwood Manor does not ex¬ 
actly conform to the typical case above de¬ 
scribed, still it is intended to be for Lady 
Brassey’s sole possession, use and pleasure, 
and so can quite properly be ranked along 
with the dower-houses of the past. 
The situation of the house is upon a slop- 
THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE GROUNDS AT CHELWOOD MANOR 
As prepared by Thos. H. Mawson, Hon. A. R. ]. B. A., Landscape Architect 
2 I 9 
