De Vere Wokefield Estate, set in 250 acres of Berkshire parkland, was built in 1788 by celebrated architect Sir John Soane, and has been welcoming distinguished guests into its surroundings for centuries.
First mentioned in Domesday Book in 1086 AD, the estate had been reported to have around one and a half hides - an old English unit measurement based on the amount of land needed to support a household. The estate has played many roles over the years, and its fascinating history is still embedded into De Vere Wokefield Estate today.
Back in 1314, the Brocas family came to Berkshire when Gascon Arnold Brocas was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn and his sons were taken into royal protection. The eldest son, Sir John, became Master of the King’s Horse, organising Edward III’s vast cavalry during his invasion of France.
In 1340, King Edward II, granted the estate at Wokefield to John Brocas, which was then purchased by Bernard Brocas a wedding present for himself. Nearby Reading was becoming a thriving industrial hub, with fashionable society in London and Bath easily reached by carriage along the new ‘Bath Road’.
Fast forward to 1720 and the estate was acquired by the Parry family, for Charles Parry, the son of the British Ambassador to Portugal. As the brother-in-law of the Duke of Bolton, he needed an elegant country residence for entertaining.
In 1742, the estate was sold to Bernard Brocas (who was the descendant of John Brocas, mentioned above). However, on Bernard’s death in 1777, his property passed to Bernard Austin, his love child from an earlier dalliance with a girl ten years his junior. Brocas presumably paid for his son’s upbringing and his trustees later sent him to Cambridge University. However, despite changing his name to Brocas in 1794, he had to wait for his inheritance while old Mrs Brocas occupied Wokefield for over forty years until 1819. She was a friend of the architect, Sir John Soane, who built the Bank of England, having met him through her cousins while on his ‘European Tour’. He later made alterations to Wokefield Park.
In the 19th century, the estate was acquired by Lord Alfred Palmer, a major benefactor of the University of Reading, who also got appointed High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1905. Shortly after, Wokefield Estate is sold to the De La Salle Brothers, and became St Benedict’s Approve School for Roman Catholic Boys where the boys used to use the land for farming and gardening lessons.
After being a school for nearly 50 years, Wokefield Park was transformed into a corporate training centre, serving the American global corporation Xerox for 16 years. Finally, in 2018, following a major £20 million restoration, Wokefield Park was transformed into De Vere Wokefield Estate, a luxury country estate set in 250 acres of Berkshire parkland.
Written by historian, David Nash
