Monument record 0437100000 - DENHAM COURT MANOR

MANOR OF DENHAM, LATER DENHAM COURT, GRANTED TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY PRE-CONQUEST. IN 1540 GRANTED TO EDMUND PECKHAM, WHO OWNED SOUTHLANDS (CASS 00304). IN 1596 GRANTED TO WM BOWYER & IN 1670 MANOR & DENHAM PLACE (CASS 04370) SOLD TO ROGER HILL, WHILE BOWYERS RETAINED DENHAM COURT(CASS 02149)(B2,B10).
John Chenevix Trench's research into Denham Hall located historical documents which suggest that there was a house of some form on the site in 1297. A directive from the Abbot of Westminster to his reeve at Denham gives instruction to 'raise our hall at Denham, strengthen the foundations with good oak timbers, over it with tiles as necessary. Plaster the walls and benches and cover them according to our instructions, so that there is no defect, and all this is to be done by the view and testimony of Dom Laurence de Elinton. Your reasonable expenses will be allowed on your account by this letter. Given at Westminster on the feast of St Mark the Evangelist, in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward (PRO - WAM 3434). About the same time, the baliff was told to redress the chimney on the north chamber and attend to the faults in the other chambers. In 1326 the stewart at Denham accounted for £30 5s 6d for new buildings (possibly the parlour wing which had been repaired in 1297). The Patent Rolls of 1598 contain a grant of the William Bowyer 'all that site of the Manor of Denham Court with its walls and all appurtenances, previously the possession of George Peckham Knight, in our hands by reason of debt and all house, buildings, edifices, structures, granaries, stables, dovecotes, orchards, gardens, demense lands, pasture, woods, underwood, waters, fisheries, profits, commodities, emoluments and herditainments of the aforesaid manor, which site and land are in the several tenure or occupation of Thomas and Edmund Bedell or their assigns' (PRO - C66/1451/29) (B6).
Domesday entry for Denham reads as follows - 'The Abbot of St Peter's of Westminster holds DENHAM. It answers for 10 hides. Lands for 12 ploughs; in lordship 3 hides; 2 ploughs there. 15 villagers with 3 smallholders have 7 ploughs; a further 3 possible. Meadow for 12 ploughs; 2 mills at 7s; 3 fisheries yield 3s a year; woodland, 300 pigs. The total value is and was £7; before 1066 £10.' (B7).
Peter Hand's (?) compiled history of the Denham states that the Manor was sub-infuedated in 1171 to the family of de Capella. In the 13th century it passed to Queen Eleanor and in 1290 back to Westminster Abbey. Henry VIII granted Denham to Sir Edmund Peckham and it remained in the family until 1583, when Sir George, a merchant adventurer, was runiend with Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Richard Greville as the result of a disastrous expedition. The property was let to William Bowyer, a teller for the exchequer, and in 1601 he purchased the freehold from George Peckham. Sir William Bowyer II was a keen plantsman and patron of Dryden. Dryden translated parts of the Georgics and Aenid at Denham Court in the 1690s. Dryden also wrote the 'garden of Denham Court, of Sir William's own plantation, one of the most delicious spots of ground in England.' Thomas Hamlet, a London merhcant and banker, purchased the house in 1813 but went bankrupt in 1840. Nathaniel G Lambert acquired the estate in 1840 and represented Buckinghamshire alongside Disraeli in palriament between 1868-1880. In 1885 the house and estate were acquired by Harold William Swithenbank. He died in 1928 and in 1936 the property was sold to Middx County Council and thence transferred to the GLC in 1964 (B8).
The house was put up for let over the summer months in 1935 and then sold. The house's furnishing were put for sale by Mrs Swithenbank on 22 October 1935. The contents of the house were sold over a 3 day period (B7).
The estate was sold in May 1990 to Kajima Investment BV and the Colne Valley Golf Company Ltd established to convert the land and house into a golf course and club house (B7).
In 1670/1 Sir Roger Hill bought the property that became Denham Place and the western half of the manor and commissioned the building of the Denham Place house. The building is thoguht ot have been designed by William Stanton and survives much as it was today. Around the house were laid out elaborate formal gardens, shown in detailed painting of 1705. To the south, a series of formal gardens incorporated two lakes. To the north, the river Misbourne was canalised to run a straight course, with two bridges and a water pavillion. The grounds to the E, W and SE were laid out as geometrical gardens containing a large number of statues. Beyond the wall running E-W from the N side of the house was less formal landscaping with groups and rows of trees. Between 1742 and 1920, the estate was owned by Way family who made alterations to the house internally and in 1770 replaced the formal gradens with much more informal landscaping. The canalised river was replaced by a lake and new carriage drives instigated. The landscaping has been atribued to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown on the basis of a bill dated 1773. The chapel was added during the Way family's ownership and the cupola and balustrade removed from the house. The estate was sold by auction to Basil Fothergil in 1920 and then to Lord and Lady Vansittart in 1930. The house was sold to property developers in the 1959 and converted to offices in the 1970s (B8).
Buildings report held at NMR (B9).