OTHER ESTATES.
The Knights Templar had
two estates in Hendon, originating in grants of
80 a. by Matthew of Ditton and Hamon son of
Roger in 1243. (fn. 1) One was held in 1359 by the
Knights Hospitaller (fn. 2) who presumably had received
it on the dissolution of the Templars. It formed
part of the manor of Freren in Kingsbury and
passed with Freren in 1544 to the chapter of St.
Paul's; (fn. 3) the lands lay west of Edgware Road on the
Kingsbury border. The estate, which consisted in
1828 of 110 a., (fn. 4) was leased to the duke of Chandos
(d. 1744) and his descendants (fn. 5) and was vested
in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1872. (fn. 6) Most
of it was sold to Hendon U.D.C. in 1919 for use as
playing fields and a park. (fn. 7) The second estate, which
was granted to the Hospitallers in 1331, (fn. 8) was
situated north of the Hale on the Edgware border
and in 1528 formed part of the manor of Edgware
Boys, (fn. 9) with which it later descended. (fn. 10) In 1754 it
was in the possession of Lord Coventry and consisted of 127 a., part of which lay in Edgware. (fn. 11) The
estate was later called Coventry farm and had passed
by 1923 into the hands of the Cox family of Moat
Mount. (fn. 12)
Eton College's estate, which consisted in 1828 of
315 a., (fn. 13) originated in grants of land by Bela, widow
of Austin the mercer, in 1259 (fn. 14) and by William de
Pavely and Millicent his wife in 1273 (fn. 15) to the
hospital of St. James, Westminster, which in 1321
held 124 a. of land and wood in the parish. (fn. 16) After
1449, when custody of the hospital was granted to
the newly founded Eton College, (fn. 17) the college took
possession of the Hendon estate, which was called
'the Wylde' in 1480-1. (fn. 18) Eton surrendered St.
James's hospital to the Crown in 1531 (fn. 19) but retained
the Wyldes estate until 1907, when it was sold to the
Hampstead Garden Suburb trust, which had
acquired some property from the college in 1906,
and to the trustees of the Hampstead Heath
Extension. (fn. 20) In the 18th century it was leased to the
Earle family of Hendon House, the freehold owners
in 1754 of Decoy farm, which consisted of 99 a.
north and west of Temple Fortune; (fn. 21) in 1828 the
Wyldes estate was leased to Thomas Clark, who also
owned Decoy farm. (fn. 22) The college lands, which
stretched northward from the Hampstead border to
Mutton brook, were divided in 1903 into three
farms, called Temple Fortune, Tooley's (or Wildwood), and Home (or Heath) farms. (fn. 23)
The Goldbeaters estate, comprising 312 a. in
1828, (fn. 24) may have originated in a grant of land and
rent by John le Bret to William of Aldenham,
goldbeater of London, in 1308. (fn. 25) John Goldbeater
held a house and some land of the manor of Hendon
in 1321. (fn. 26) The Goldbeaters estate was held by John
and Eve Clerk in 1434. (fn. 27) By the early 18th century
it had passed to Joseph Marsh, whose daughter and
heir married Thomas Beech of London, (fn. 28) the
holder of 130 a. in the north of Hendon parish in
1754. (fn. 29) After Beech's death in 1772 some of the
property was conveyed to John Raymond and later
to Richard Capper. (fn. 30) In 1802 Mary Capper of
Bushey (Herts.) and Robert Capper sold the whole
of Goldbeaters to William Smith of Mayfair, who
bought two closes called Staines and Shoelands,
adjoining the farm, from John Nicholl of the Inner
Temple in 1803 and a house, later the Bald Faced
Stag, and four fields at Redhill from William Geeves
in 1807. William Smith bought part of the near-by
Shoelands farm from John Nicholl of the Hyde in
1812 and purchased the rest from Jasper Holmes of
Blackheath in 1821. (fn. 31) In 1859 John Smith sold
Goldbeaters and Shoelands and Stagg fields, adjoining the Bald Faced Stag, which together
totalled 253 a., to James Marshall, co-founder of
Marshall and Snelgrove's drapery store in Oxford
Street, London. Marshall in 1867 also bought the
neighbouring Bunns farm, totalling 77 a., from the
five coheirs of Robert Randall, a Fleet Street winemerchant. After Marshall's death in 1893 his son
James C. Marshall sold Goldbeaters and Bunns
farms to A. O. Crooke, a Hendon brewer, (fn. 32) who sold
them in 1900 to Sir John Blundell Maple, Bt., of
Orange Hill House. (fn. 33) In 1924 the property, totalling
200 a., was bought by the L.C.C. as a site for the
Watling housing estate. (fn. 34)
All Souls College, Oxford, owned several scattered
parcels, including Arnold's lands, granted by
Richard Arnold to William Page of Edgware in
1311, (fn. 35) and Piricroft, granted by John of Morden to
Page in 1309. (fn. 36) William Page held 2 houses and
lands including Arnoledeshawe and Piricroft in
1321. (fn. 37) The lands, with others in Edgware and
Kingsbury, were conveyed in 1384 by William Page
of Kingsbury and Christine his wife to John Raven. (fn. 38)
In 1442 they were granted, with the manor of
Kingsbury, to All Souls College, (fn. 39) which retained
them until the 20th century. The college's estate
consisted in 1597 of fields at Bittacy Hill, Holders
Hill, the Burroughs, and Colin Deep, and on the
Kingsbury border. (fn. 40) In 1828 it totalled 224 a. (fn. 41)
John Fortescue and others granted a house and
43 a. of meadow and pasture in Hendon to the
hospital of St. Mary within Cripplegate, London,
commonly called Elsyng Spital, (fn. 42) in 1457. (fn. 43) The
estate was granted in 1543 to Hugh Losse and
Thomas Boucher, (fn. 44) who alienated it in the same
year to Thomas Nicholl of Highwood Hill. (fn. 45) Nicholl
conveyed it in 1551 to William Copwood and John
Snow, (fn. 46) and in 1617 it was held by Thomas Marsh; (fn. 47)
the land later formed part of Stoneyfields farm, near
the Hale, totalling 110 a., which was held in 1828 by
Francis Dollman. (fn. 48)
Kilburn priory held a small amount of unspecified
land in Hendon at the Dissolution, worth 2s. and
leased to John Brent. (fn. 49) The later history of the
estate is unknown.
The estate of the Nicholls of Copt Hall originated
in lands belonging in 1574 to Richard Nicholl of the
Ridgeway, who held a tenement called Goodhews
and 20 fields and crofts around Mill Hill, both freehold and copyhold. (fn. 50) In 1585 he surrendered six
fields to his son Thomas (fn. 51) and in 1602 two of them,
called Burdens, were conveyed to Richard Nicholl of
Milespit Hill, (fn. 52) who bought the adjacent house
called Copt Hall from John Storer, a London
banker, in 1603; (fn. 53) Richard Nicholl later rebuilt the
house. (fn. 54) John Brent conveyed another 10 a. called
Slatton, formerly belonging to William Marsh of
Drivers Hill, (fn. 55) to Richard Nicholl in 1612 and
Henry Nicholl of the Ridgeway conveyed two closes
called Widmores to Randall, Richard's son, in
1623. (fn. 56) Randall Nicholl held 36 a. of copyhold
property in 1651 (fn. 57) and his heirs added to the estate
until in 1754 Dr. James Ingram, who enjoyed a lifeinterest after the death of John Nicholl in 1753, (fn. 58)
held 286 a. divided into four farms, one of them
called Cookes, together with a further 83 a. leased
from All Souls College. (fn. 59) Dr. Ingram died in 1755,
when the estate passed to another John Nicholl. (fn. 60)
In 1828 Mrs. Susanna Nicholl held 234 a. around
Page Street, (fn. 61) including the farm later known as
Old Goodhews. On the death of Thomas Nicholl in
1859 the land passed to his widow Emma, who died
in 1882, and then to their daughter, Mary, who
married C. R. P. Hodgson. Their son Charles
Bertram Hodgson Nicholl sold the estate in 1925. (fn. 62)
Copt Hall, Page Street, was rebuilt between 1624
and 1637 by Richard Nicholl. It had a front of
seven bays, crowned by shaped gables, (fn. 63) but was
greatly altered in the mid 19th century; (fn. 64) after conversion into flats, it was demolished in 1959. (fn. 65)
Cooke's farm-house may have been a building at
Mill Hill which was pulled down soon after 1814,
when it was said to date from the reign of Charles I
and to contain murals of religious subjects. (fn. 66)
Another branch of the Nicholl family held a small
estate near Dole Street in 1480. (fn. 67) Somewhat enlarged, it descended to Margaret, daughter of John
Nicholl of Minchenden, Southgate, and wife of
James Brydges, marquess of Carnarvon and later
duke of Chandos (d. 1789), (fn. 68) and in 1828 it totalled
81 a. (fn. 69) It was conveyed in 1839 by Richard TempleNugent - Brydges - Chandos - Grenville, duke of
Buckingham and Chandos, to Jason Smith, the
owner of Goldbeaters farm. (fn. 70)
Peter Hamond (d. 1794) bought the lands around
Belmont House, Mill Hill, which were later known
as Belmont farm, in piecemeal lots between 1768
and 1792. (fn. 71) He devised them to his daughter Anne,
the wife of Somerset Davies, (fn. 72) who in 1801 conveyed 83 a. to Robert Anderson. (fn. 73) On Anderson's
bankruptcy in 1803 the estate was bought by
Captain Robert Williams, (fn. 74) whose devisees and
trustees conveyed it in 1812 to David Prior (fn. 75) from
whose widow it was acquired in 1820 by Sir Charles
Flower, Bt., mill-owner and former lord mayor of
London. (fn. 76) Sir Charles bought more land near
Lawrence Street from Robert Finch and Michael
Coomes in 1821 and 1826, (fn. 77) until his property
stretched from the Hale to the Totteridge boundary
and included Lawrence Street, Uphill, and Bittacy
farms, the last of which had formed part of the
Frith manor estate; (fn. 78) his estate in Hendon totalled
441 a. in 1828. (fn. 79) Sir Charles died in 1835 and was
succeeded by his son James, who died in 1850; by
1889 the estate had been split among several
persons, including C. H. Martyn, rector of Long
Melford (Suff.). (fn. 80) Belmont House, built for Peter
Hamond to the designs of James Paine the younger, (fn. 81)
was occupied as a preparatory school in 1970, when
it contained some original plaster ceilings. A Gothic
dairy, 'of unique elegance and splendidly decorated',
was built in the grounds by Robert Williams. (fn. 82)
Some large estates were formed out of the demesne
of Hendon manor sold in 1756. In 1828 (fn. 83) owners of
former demesne lands in the centre of the parish
included Mrs. Broadhead, who held 359 a. including
Church farm, W. J. Johnson, who held Church End
farm with 111 a., Thomas Ryder, who held 123 a.
west of Parson Street, and J. R. Wheeler, who held
135 a. near the Hyde. Farther north former demesne
lands were held in 1828 by R. Jennings, of Hyvers
Hill Wood farm, and the philanthropist William
Wilberforce, who bought Hendon Park and the
surrounding estate of 122 a. in 1825 as a retreat
'beyond the disk of the metropolis' and lived there
until 1831. (fn. 84) Hendon Park, a substantial brick
building in 1756, (fn. 85) was rebuilt and stuccoed in the
early 19th century; (fn. 86) it had fallen into neglect by
1951 and had been replaced by three houses and
Crown Close by 1961. (fn. 87) The neighbouring Moat
Mount estate, also former demesne, was held in 1828
by Richard Jackson, who owned 139 a. in Hendon,
including Barnet Gate farm. (fn. 88) The estate was greatly
enlarged by the Cox family, until in 1874 Edward
William Cox (1809-79), serjeant-at-law, (fn. 89) held 209 a.
in Middlesex. (fn. 90) In 1923, when the lands were put up
for sale, the executors of Irwin Cox held 1,090 a. in
Hendon and Edgware, including Barnet Gate,
Coventry, Stoneyfields, and Uphill farms. (fn. 91) Moat
Mount House, a stuccoed villa, was rebuilt by
Edward William Cox in the Renaissance manner, to
include a large main block with a carriage-porch, (fn. 92)
and survived in 1970.