All Saints Church photo kindly submitted by John Dovet

The name Dogmersfield conjures up all sorts of thoughts but in the days of the Saxons it mean 'a field by the lake where the water lilies grow'. The manor house stands in some beautiful parkland where once a bishops palace stood from 1200. A regular visitor here was Henry Vii and Prince Arthur who came here to meet his bride Catherine of Aragon. She married the heir to the throne Arthur, but almost immediately after he died and his brother Henry was crowned king and the story of how Catherine of Aragon became the first of his six wives is well known.

It was in 1728 that Baronet St John built a new manor house and this then went to his son Henry who decided to pull down most of the village and constructed Tundry Pond, and ordered that the constructors of the Basingstoke Canal did a wide detour around his land so he could have peace and quiet. He later rebuilt the village which became known as The Barracks after the way his own life was regimented.

What is now the Four Seasons hotel was once Dogmersfield Park which was constructed in 1728 for a Martha Goodyer and her husband Ellis St John.

In 1981 a serious fire occurred in the hotel and a lot of damage was caused and the wings that went around a courtyard were completely destroyed.