A mystery fire destroyed a wing of the unoccupied 20-room mansion Upton House on 3rd October 1953.
The rambling house – surrounded by dense undergrowth – was formerly the home of Edward Carter, High Sheriff of Hampshire.
3 of Edward Carter’s daughters – Misses Cecily, Gertrude and Dorothy – were living in a cottage opposite at the time of the blaze. They had been woken during the night by the sound of the flames crackling. On looking through their front window, they saw the mansion in flames.
Miss Gertrude Carter went to the nearby Upton House Manor to telephone the Fire Brigade, who arrived within 5 minutes to see one half of the building well alight.
A fireman told the Portsmouth Evening News:
“Flames were already shooting out of the roof, although the flames apparently started on the ground floor. It was fortunate that all the doors were shut or the blaze would have swept right through the building.”
The firefighters succeeded in cutting the blaze off from the other end of the building. However, the undamaged part was found to be fully furnished, but thick cobwebs hung over the windows and piles of rubbish were found in every room.
The unmarried sisters had apparently led a strange, lonely and reclusive lifestyle in East Upton House before moving to the cottage opposite. A few years previously, a 4th sister – Kathleen – had been reported ill. After Police Officers and a doctor had entered the house, Kathleen Carter was removed by ambulance and died on her way to hospital.
At the inquest, a verdict of “Death from malnutrition was recorded.”
Upton House – on Carters Road close to the turning to Upton Road – was originally built in 1831. The remainder of the house was destroyed by a further fire in 1981, and the ruins were demolished in 1991.
I remember the house well, and as a child went into the ruins, and there were some steps leading down to a huge underground cellar with a massive wooden wine rack and a dumb waiter still in situ. But more interesting was a pair of massive iron doors still locked which lead into a solid brick built room in the cellar which I was told was a large walk in safe for family silver and documents.
Whilst the doors had not been forced open, someone had bashed a large hole through the bricks into this room. We went in, and the room has water several inches deep, with old paperwork submerged and scattered around, and in the left hand corner was a standard size safe which had been opened and I was told that a tin of gold sovereign coins .
Maybe actually state where Upton House was located. Would help with the story telling.
“Upton House – on Carters Road close to the turning to Upton Road”. Upton is on the outskirts of Ryde.
A bungalow is now built over the site of the old mansion. More or less dead opposite the low building on the left going down Carters road where the daughters were living when they left the mansion.
I went in the smaller house (which is still there) that stood opposite the mansion house years ago and there was a large coal or coke fired generator in the yard, clearly used to power the main house, as the mansion house had early electricity, i prised off from a rotten board two large black cast iron meters, about the size of a saucer, one marked volts and one marked amps.
Sold them years later at a boot sale at the running track. They had a date chalked on the back of them 1880 something.
Wish I had kept them now.
You wish you had kept stolen property.
A grid refrence or a what 3 words refrence would help.
I was in the same class as the boy who set fire to it in the 80’s Lyndon Norris.
a friend of mine playing there when quite young found a cased pair of Purdy shotguns ,delighted with his find he took them home only to have his mum give a good seeing to and marched him back to the house to return them he said the old ladys were quite nice cant think what price they would be worth today
Was the book ‘ seven times a prisoner’ about this family?
Yes it was
Thank you Heather. I think it was by Alan Hadcroft. I read this book nearly 30 years ago and it intrigued me as to how true the story was. My copy of the book is long misplaced but I still remember how sad it made me feel.
I was about 13 in the early 1960’s when I went to look around the overgrown gardens there. A female police constable arrved and wanted to know what I was doing. Apparently the sisters phoned the police if they saw anyone going into the property. My grandmother told me that Carter had a very bad reputation as a magistrate and would sentence poachers to prison for the longest term allowable.
I think the photo is of Upton House which was gutted by fire carnival night 1981 and not East Upton Manor. I may be wrong but I can’t remember Carters having bay windows
TD I think you are correct.