Monument record 0024100000 - RICHINGS PARK: manor

LANDS IN IVER WERE HELD IN C15 BY THE RICHKINGS FAMILY & MAY HAVE FORMED THE NUCLEUS OF RITCHINGS ESTATE, CONSISTING OF...A CAPITAL MESSUAGE CALLED RITCHINGS LODGE (MANORIAL HISTORY) (B2).
?MANOR CHAPEL: SEE CASS 0802 (B9)
John Richking was a tenant of Inver in 1397. In 1402, Henry att Water granted land to John Richking and his son, Edmund, acquired further land at Sutton in 1422. Iin 1434, more land was acquired by the Richings from the Edred family. The estate passed to Thomas Scott on Edmund's death, and later the Scot family were superseded by the Lawrence family. An additional 15 acres were bought in 1581 by William Salter, whose sons Edward and William were courtiers to King James I and Charles I. A will survives from the death of Dame Ursula Salter in 1649 describing the great house and it’s the furnishings. It mentions that members of the Royal Family were entertained there. The estate was passed to the Breton family in 1665 and then the Sir Peter Apsley in 1678. Following his death in 1691, the estate passed to the Bathhurst family. Allen Bathhurst became a baron in 1712 and during his time the house was a centre for literary pursuits - Pope, Congreve, Grey, Addison, and Swift all stayed there. Lord Bathburst commissioned Stephen Switzer to devise a garden scheme which is illustrated in his 'Ichnographic Rustica' of 1718. Maps and contemporary descriptions describe a central canal, 555 yards long and deep enough to carry a pleasure boat. A geometric network of allees were established on either side along with a drive around the edge of the estate. On the W side of the house was a menagerie and on the site of St Leonard's chapel, a grotto and greenhouse. The Earl of Hertford (later Duke of Somerset) bought the house in 1739 and is reported to have had the parkland remodelled. Following the Duke's death in 1740, his Dowager renamed the house Percy House and on her death in 1754 the estate passed to the Earl of Northumberland. It was sold to Sir John Maine Coghil in 1772. In 1788 the old house burnt down shortly after being bought by the Rt Hon John Sullivan. A new house was built to the NE and a new road built. He added the Rectory and rectorial manor to Richings in 1800. After his death in 1839, the property was sold by his son to Charles Meeking in 1855. In 1938, the estate was bought by William Boyer and during WWII used by the RAF as bomber headquarters. It sustained heavy bomb damage and was demolsihed in 1946. Only Home Farm and its asociated buildings remain intact (B10).