Another grand Haslemere house postcard photograph from Paul Rollinson this week dating from before 1905 when the card was postmarked.

Sadly, this wonderful, almost Gothic, mansion with its decorative brickwork burnt down in about 1980.

It was built for James Stewart Hodgson, a director of Barings Bank, who moved to Haslemere in 1864.

He continued to build up land on surrounding estates, eventually owning around 3,000 acres. Among other projects to help the local community, he adapted the old market house in Haslemere High Street to become the Town Hall.

Unfortunately, he later fell on hard times when company troubles caused a financial disaster necessitating the sale of the estate and a move to a smaller house in Three Gates Lane.

Following the destruction of the house, three blocks of luxury apartments were built on the Lythe Hill site in 1984 with surviving outbuildings and lodges also being converted to dwellings.

Earlier, before its demise, the Admiralty requisitioned the house in the Second World War for use as a signal establishment and among noteworthy visitors from that time was King George VI, who inspected the based personnel.