Original sepia print of a group with tennis racquets round a sundial at Avington Park, Avington with St Mary's Church in the background, c. 1880

Photograph of a group at Avington Park, Avington

Taken about 1880

This carefully posed image at Avington Park, three miles north-east of Winchester, shows the Victorian landowning class at leisure. Sir John Shelley, younger brother of the Romantic poet, had purchased the estate from the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1848 and it remained in the family for over 100 years.

The Church of St Mary can also be seen. It is one of the most notable Georgian churches in the country with an exceptionally fine interior, and is virtually unaltered since its completion in 1771.

The photograph was taken by Winchester photographer William Savage (1817-87) and is found in an album entitled 'Hampshire Views of Country Houses, Churches and Public Buildings'.