Editing Bateman's (section)

== History ==
Bateman's is a [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean]] [[Weald]]en mansion constructed in 1634.{{sfn|Antram|Pevsner|2013|p=295}} There is debate as to the original builder. [[Historic England]] follows the tradition favoured by Kipling of ascribing the construction to a Sussex [[ironmaster]], John Britten.<ref name="auto">{{NHLE|num=1044063|desc=Bateman’s, Burwash |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> The historian [[Adam Nicolson]] reports the tradition in the National Trust's guidebook, but notes that Britten was a dealer in iron, rather than a manufacturer.{{sfn|Nicolson|1999|p=8}} [[Pevsner Architectural Guides|Pevsner]] attributes the construction to a lawyer, William Langham.{{sfn|Antram|Pevsner|2013|p=295}}

By the early twentieth century, the house had descended to the status of a farmhouse, and was in a poor state of repair.<ref name="nationaltrust.org.uk"/> The Kiplings first saw it in 1900, on returning to England from America, following the death of their daughter Josephine in 1899 and a disastrous falling-out between them and Carrie Kipling's brother, Beatty Balestier.{{sfn|Nicolson|1999|p=5}} Enchanted by the house, they were too slow in making an offer and it was let for two years. In 1902, they were able to purchase it, with 33 acres of land,{{sfn|Nicolson|1999|p=37}} from a wealthy stockbroker, Alexander Carron Scrimgeour.<ref>{{cite web |title=Batemans and adjoining land, Park House Watermill and part of Dudwell Farm, purchased by Rudyard Kipling on 28 Jul 1902 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0719dec7-4708-4d90-b3c2-c99aaaed3180#32-1 |website=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] |access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref>

In 1900, Kipling was the most famous author in England,{{sfn|Aslet|2005|pp=55-56}} and was earning £5,000 per year; the cost of Bateman's, £9,300, was thus entirely affordable.{{sfn|Nicolson|1999|p=5}} Kipling wrote some of his finest works at the house including: "[[If—]]", "The Glory of the Garden", and ''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'', named after the hill visible from the house.{{sfn|Aslet|2005|pp=55-56}} The house's setting and the wider local area features in many of his stories. Kipling's poem "[[Rudyard Kipling bibliography#Individual poems|The Land]]" is inspired by the Bateman's estate.<ref>''The Land'': [http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_land.htm words] and a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ml3bD_XPAk sung version]</ref>

Kipling's only son, John, was killed at the [[Battle of Loos]] on 29 September 1915.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35321716|title=Solving the mystery of Kipling's son|publisher=BBC News|date=16 September 2018}}</ref> Kipling died on 18 January 1936, of [[peritonitis]].{{sfn|Rickets|2000|p=388}} Carrie died three years later, in 1939. Under the terms of her will the house passed to the National Trust.<ref name="nationaltrust.org.uk"/>