Monument record 0648600000 - The Rookery

Land on the north side of Chapel Street aquired by William Atkinson by 1801 for creation of a farm; the farm buildings shown on maps of 1830, 1843 and 1847. In 1849 his son Benjamin Atkinson inherited the estate and subsequently demolished the farm buildings, extended the house, built the lodge and stables and created the gardens, as shown on the 1876 OS map. The property was auctioned in 1911 when the house comprised a lounge hall, drawing room, dining room, library, strong room, butler's pantry, housemaids' pantry, kitchen, cellars, six main bedrooms, two bathrooms, two other bedrooms and a five-room annex. The house was further extended by Captain Arnold Wright after he aquired it in 1919. In 1963 the house and part of the gardens passed to Wycombe District Council; the house was demolished in February 1964 and the gardens laid out as a public park. In May 2011 path resurfacing works exposed building foundations and these were subsequently investigated by members of Marlow Archaeological Society. Geophysical survey was complicated by the presense of demolition debris but some anomalies seemed to show part of the building surviving as buried remains and extensive trial trenching established the survival of 19th century brick and flint wall footings, chalk block cellars and concrete floor surfaces. See report for detail (B2).