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BLAKE HALL
Bobbingworth
Ongar
Essex
CM5 0DG
01277 362502
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Blake Hall dates from the 18th century; an earlier timber-framed house preceded it. The present mansion was remodelled and extended in 1822 by George Basevi, later to design London’s Belgrave Square. Until recently Blake Hall’s south wing housed an air museum, having been used as an operations room in World War II. The 17th century barn is now a popular venue for weddings.
www.blakehall.co.uk
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THE BOWER HOUSE
Orange Tree Hill
Havering-atte-Bower
Romford
RM4 1PB
01708 380300
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The Bower House is a small Palladian mansion built in 1729 to the design of Henry Flitcroft. Originally named Monthavering, the mansion incorporated architectural items salvaged from the ruined Havering Palace, nearby. The Bower House remained a private home until 1976 when it was taken over by the Ford Motor Company as a training centre. It is now the headquarters of a Christian charity called Amana Trust.
www.amanatrust.org.uk
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CLAYBURY HALL
Repton Park
Woodford Bridge
IG8
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Now divided into private residential apartments, Claybury is a fine Georgian mansion at the top of a hill with views over London towards Kent. Sir Humphry Repton landscaped the grounds in 1791. In the 1890s the estate became the site of a Victorian Mental Asylum and the house was used as administrative offices; at the same time, the entrance to Claybury changed from the Ilford side of the hill to the Woodford side. The estate became known as Repton Park when it was redeveloped in the 1990s.
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COPPED HALL
Crown Hill
Epping
CM16 5HS
01992 571657 |
Built in the 1750s, the present Copped Hall replaced an Elizabethan building where Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream probably received its first performance. After fire gutted the mansion in 1917 it was abandoned until the 1990s when it was bought by the Copped Hall Trust. The Trust are now restoring both the house and gardens. Copped Hall can be visited by appointment or on Open Days, and for special events.
www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk
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ELMHURST
98 High Road
South Woodford
London
E18 2QH
(Prezzo Restaurant)
020 8559 0192 |
Designed by Joel Johnson of Walthamstow, Elmhurst was built in 1771 for a Silvanus Grove, and originally known as Grove House. After 1818 it was owned by a merchant, Alexander Stewart, who had sugar plantations in Jamaica; when slavery was abolished he was paid significant compensation. Two further families owned the house from 1851 until 1920, when it was bought by Queen Mary College and used mainly for student accommodation. The estate included sixteen acres till 1925 when the Southend Road was cut through it. Elmhurst was sold in 2004 for development.
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FRIDAY HILL HOUSE
Simmons Lane
Chingford
London
E4
6JH
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Friday Hill House was designed by Lewis Vulliamy and dates from 1839. It was the last Manor house of the Chingford Earls, and home to the Boothby-Heathcote family. It is now a centre for Adult Education for the Borough of Waltham Forest. The gardens behind the house include a wildlife sanctuary.
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GILWELL PARK
(The Scouting Association)
Bury Road
Chingford
London
E4 7QW
020 8498 5411 |
Gilwell Park is a 110-acre woodland estate with the 16–17th century White House as its centrepiece. The estate was bought for the Scout Movement in 1919 and is now their Headquarters. When the Scouts' founder Robert Baden Powell was created a peer, he took the title Baron Baden Powell of Gilwell. In fact he never lived there. He was from Kent, but descended from an Essex and London family the Powells, who had made a major contribution to the arts and society during the 18th and 19th centuries.
www2.scouts.org.uk/conferencecentre
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HARTS HOUSE
Harts Grove
Woodford Green
Essex
IG8 0BF
020 8502 9111
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The present Georgian mansion known as Harts stands on the site of an earlier building, home to the botanist Richard Warner, who first brought the gardenia to England. It was cultivated from seed he had acquired in the Cape of Good Hope and the plant took four years to produce its first blooms in his glasshouse in 1758. The present mansion at was built in 1817, some time after his death. Warner's house had been built in 1617 by Sir Humphrey Handford or Handforth, Master of the Wardrobe to James I. It is believed that James I often stayed at Harts when hunting in Epping Forest. The mansion is now a nursing home. |
