LATER ESTATES
ARNOLD - GREENE
William Arnold of Fulham, yeoman, held land in
Chelsea in the early 17th century which included 10 acres
in Westfield bordering Fulham Road, later the site of
houses and gardens enclosed out of the field by 1618. (fn. 9) In
1607 he sold to William Blake of the City of London,
scrivener, for £400 14½ a. in Westfield lying on the
south side of the 10 acres, 6½ a. in Westfield on the north
side of the Lots meadow, and 3 a. in Eastfield between
Chelsea common and King's Road. (fn. 10) The 14½ a. had
been sold on to the earl of Lincoln by 1618, when
Lincoln sold it to William Blake of Kensington. (fn. 11) Arnold
also sublet from Nicholas Holborne a close called the
Nine Acres adjoining the Thames near the earl of
Lincoln's house in 1611, possibly Parsonage Close. (fn. 12) He
and William Blake, probably the scrivener, were trustees
for Arnold's brother John (d. c. 1619), also of Fulham,
and the latter's two daughters, Elizabeth, who inherited
John's freehold, and Catherine, who inherited the copyhold land. (fn. 13) The Arnold family were long-established in
the area, with branches in Fulham and Kensington:
William Arnold (d. 1638) seems to have moved to
Kensington by 1625, and his son William, who married
John Arnold's daughter Elizabeth, lived in Kensington
and was usually described as of Earl's Court. (fn. 14)
In 1634 William Arnold junior of Kensington, bought
from Ralph Massie for £1,660 a farmhouse in Chelsea
with 43 a. in Eastfield in the tenure of William Wrennall,
3 a. arable and 10 a. meadow in Eastfield, the latter lying
between Chelsea College and the Thames in Kensington
detached, 16 lots and 1 a. of meadow and 9½ a. arable, all
in Westfield, and 1½ a. meadow in Fulham. (fn. 15) In 1652
William and his wife Elizabeth made a settlement with
John Saunders, who married their daughter Dorothy, of
a messuage, malthouse, and 3 a., which was sold by the
latter's son John Saunders to William Mart in 1677. In
1668 Arnold sold to Anne Bennett 17 a. in Chelsea,
which also passed to Mart, (fn. 16) possibly part of the 43 a.
land belonging to Wrennall's farm, which was in separate ownership from the farmhouse c.1700. (fn. 17) The main
farmhouse, occupied by William Wrennall in the early
17th century and then James Leake (d. c.1653), (fn. 18) lay with
its barn, yards, and garden on the west side of Church
Lane at the corner of King's Road, and stretching back to
the land of the duke of Buckingham (Beaufort House). It
was still known as 'Reynolds's farm' in 1663, with right
of commoning 6 cows and 3 heifers, and in 1647 as
'James Luke's house in Church Lane'. Before his death
(before 1685) William Arnold built four new brick
houses with gardens by the farmhouse, and it was all
described in 1676 as part of the great farm. (fn. 19) The farmhouse and new houses, right of commoning, and
possibly the land belonging to the farm as well, belonged
to Mr Bennet by 1674, (fn. 20) and the farmhouse and houses
were leased by James Bennet of Westminster, tanner, to
John Greene of St Margaret Westminster, brewer, in
1676 for 1,000 years, presumably as a mortgage. In 1685
James Bennet and Arnold's son, William Arnold of
Kensington, sold the houses to Henry Newdick, poulterer of London, for £780, and John Greene's widow Elizabeth assigned the lease to Newdick. (fn. 1) A query arose
c. 1700 over who had the rights of common attached to
the farm lately held by Mr Bennet, as the farmhouse
belonged to Newdick and the land to Mart. (fn. 2) This
suggests that the 21 a. on the east side of Upper Church
Lane was formerly part of Wrennall's farm as it seems to
have belonged to William Mart c.1700, with a house
marked as his in the south-west corner. (fn. 3)
Greene Estate
William Arnold was said to have sold lands in Chelsea
c. 1670 to John Greene, who had married Elizabeth
daughter of John Arnold of Kensington: (fn. 4) Greene
certainly held extensive property in Chelsea, which his
wife controlled after his death and nearly all of which can
be identified with Arnold's property, including c. 18 a. in
Eastfield in about 6 parcels lying south of King's Road
and on the opposite side near Chelsea common, and c. 15
a. arable and meadow in Westfield. (fn. 5) Greene also had
extensive estates in Westminster and Kensington, as well
as a major brewery near Tothill Fields, later known as the
Stag brewery. He sold 1½ a. arable and just under half an
acre of the meadow adjoining it, all near Chelsea College,
to Mary Pinner before 1683. (fn. 6) Under his will his houses
and land were divided between his three sons, John,
William, and Thomas, with remainders to each other: all
the property in Chelsea and the 10 a. in Kensington
detached by the Thames went to William when 22 or
married, and in default of heirs to his brother John. (fn. 7) In
1685 William Greene sold to the Crown the 10 a. of
meadow near Chelsea College (less the plot sold to
Pinner) for £550 to form part of the grounds of the
Royal Hospital. (fn. 8) John and William brought a suit in
1688 against William Arnold junior and a creditor of his
father to take possession of the property their father had
bought, (fn. 9) apparently with success.
John's widow Elizabeth (d. c. 1716) left her lands in
Chelsea to trustees who were pay the profits to her son
William for life and then to his issue or in default to her
other son Thomas and his heirs. (fn. 10) William Greene,
brewer, of Westminster, apparently died without children and the Chelsea property passed to Thomas Greene
(d. 1740) of St Margaret Westminster. Thomas died
leaving one child, Elizabeth, wife of Edward Burnaby (d.
1759), a Clerk of the Treasury, and his personal estate
was left to his sister Mary Greene, Charles Lord
Cadogan, and Justinian Ekins as trustees for his daughter
and his second wife Frances. The trustees also held his
real estate for his daughter, which was to pass to her
eldest son, Edward, for whom an Act was obtained
permitting him, as a minor, to adopt the surname
Greene in addition to Burnaby. (fn. 11) Mary Greene also
apparently died in 1740, at which a fortune of £4,000 a
year was said to have passed to Elizabeth Burnaby (d.
1754). Edward Burnaby Greene (d. 1788), poet and
translator, also inherited the brewing business, but by
1779 was so deeply in debt that all his property had to be
sold. (fn. 12) His only son, Pitt Burnaby Greene, joined with
trustees and creditors in sales of the Chelsea estate in
1793. (fn. 13)
The Greene estate in Chelsea included 6 a. in Eastfield
adjoining the south side of King's Road, leased by
William and Thomas Greene to Robert Walpole in
1736, (fn. 14) and sold to Thomas Smith of Chelsea, vintner, in
1793; (fn. 15) further west near Robinson's Lane a close of 3¾
a. leased to Thomas Richardson of Chelsea, surveyor, in
1778, (fn. 16) and a strip of land next to it adjoining King's
Road, both sold to Richardson in 1793 and 1795; (fn. 17) 2¼ a.
with five houses built on the south side, forming Green's
Row, sold individually in 1793-4; (fn. 18) 6½ a. in two separate
parcels on the north side of King's Road, adjoining
Chelsea common, with two houses, barn, and garden,
and two other houses and gardens, all sold in 1793 to
Matthew Markham of St Martin-in-the-Fields,
coachmaker; (fn. 19) a house and 3 a. in Westfield with an acre
of lammas meadow south of Lots Lane, occupied before
1748 by Robert Cook, and sold to Lady Mary Coke in
1793; (fn. 20) and a house and 8 a. in Westfield by Chelsea
Creek, occupied for many years by the Burchett family,
and sold to Lord Cadogan in 1794. (fn. 21)
ASHBURNHAM HOUSE AND COTTAGE
Dr Benjamin Hoadley, a fashionable physician, took
61-year leases from Chelsea manor in 1747 of two
parcels of garden ground in Westfield lying on the west
side of Chelsea Farm (Cremorne); (fn. 22) he let 4 acres of it to
a gardener until 1754. (fn. 23) He also took a 21-year lease in
1748 from the trustees of the Greene estate of a house
and 3 acres, lying on the west side of his leaseholds, and
another acre of meadow south of Lots Lane. (fn. 24) Freehold
osier ground of c.3 acres south of Lots Lane, formerly
part of the Gorges House estate and sold in 1750, (fn. 1) was
also acquired by him. Hoadley is said to have built a
mansion, later called Ashburnham House, at the
southern end of the land leased from the manor,
fronting Lots Lane. (fn. 2) In 1758 Hoadley's widow Anna sold
the residue of the three leaseholds and the freehold
ground to Sir Richard Glyn, Bt, alderman of London,
who in 1767 sold them all to John Ashburnham, 2nd earl
of Ashburnham. (fn. 3) Ashburnham presumably renewed the
lease from the Greene trustees, as the premises were still
part of the estate when he sold it. In 1781 Ashburnham
held leases of 11¾ a. of manorial demesne forming a
rectangular estate next to Chelsea Farm and stretching
from King's Road to Lots Lane, including his house and
gardens, all in his own occupation; the Greene property
consisted of a house and 3 a. on the south-west side of his
property and an acre of meadow on the south side of
Lots Lane opposite his mansion. (fn. 4) In 1786 he sold the
whole leasehold and freehold estate to Lady Mary Coke,
widow, (fn. 5) who in 1793 purchased the freehold of the
Greene property, described as a house at Sandy End near
Chelsea Creek, 3 a. land, and a piece of Lammas meadow
ground opposite her dwelling. (fn. 6) In 1807 Lady Mary sold
her interests in the two manorial leases to Joseph Brown,
who had agreed with the owners of the manor to take a
new lease of the Ashburnham House property for 41
years from 1808, and she also sold to him the freeholds
of the former Greene property and the 3 a. by the
Thames. (fn. 7) By 1825 the lease of the Ashburnham estate
had been assigned to a Mr Stephens, but a house and 1¾
a. bordering King's Road had been surrendered and let
by the owners of the manor in 1820 to another tenant. (fn. 8)
By 1845 Ashburnham House was leased to Col. Leicester
Stanhope, who succeeded as 5th earl of Harrington in
1851; (fn. 9) in 1847 the estate was described as 11¾ a., once
more including the 1¾ a. of garden ground by King's
Road. (fn. 10)
Figure 49:
Ashburnham House
By 1847 the freehold of the former Greene property of
7 a. bought by Lady Mary Coke and now known as
Ashburnham Cottage, the remaining Greene freehold
between the manorial leaseholds and Chelsea Creek, and
the meadow south of Lots Lane had all been purchased
by the owners of the manor and belonged to Lord
Cadogan, except for Lots meadow belonging to the
Kensington Canal Company; some of the new acquisitions, if not all, belonged to Cadogan by 1825.
Ashburnham Cottage was leased to General Sir S.S.
Barnes by 1847. (fn. 11) In 1859 Lord Cadogan leased
Ashburnham House and Cottage to Thomas Bartlett
Simpson, lessee of Chelsea Farm, who wanted to expand
the popular Cremorne Gardens westwards. (fn. 12)
BEAUFORT HOUSE
In 1620 Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth Gorges sold to
Lionel Cranfield, later lord treasurer and earl of
Middlesex, for £4,300 the chief mansion on their estate,
described in the deed as 'the greatest (i.e. largest) house
in Chelsea', which formed a substantial part of the property formerly belonging to Sir Thomas More. (fn. 13) Its
grounds consisted of two forecourts, a wharf with brick
towers at east and west ends, a high water tower on the
west corner of the wharf, a watercourse, garden, terrace
with a banqueting house at the eastern end, the great
garden, orchard, a house with courtyard in front and
garden behind lying on the south side of the orchard and
leased to Edward Smith for 99 years, Dovecote Close (5
a.) at the north-eastern end, a kitchen garden and, on the
north side of the gardens, Brickbarn Close (10 a.), (fn. 14) originally part of Westfield, which had been enclosed by the
earl of Lincoln. (fn. 15) In 1620 Cranfield bought 32 a. in five
closes called Sandhills east of Brickbarn Close from
William Blake, (fn. 16) and having commissioned Inigo Jones
in 1621 to design a gate to lead northwards from his
gardens, in 1625 he enclosed the whole 42 acres to create
Chelsea Park. (fn. 17) By 1652 it was enclosed with a brick wall
and had brick buildings at south-east and south-west
corners, by which time it was divided from the gardens
by King's Road. Cranfield spent lavishly on the house,
which he valued in 1624 at £8,000, and lived there very
grandly, entertaining both Court and City guests, as he
evolved from a City merchant to a great minister and
courtier. (fn. 1)
In 1625 Cranfield, convicted of malfeasance as lord
treasurer, offered the Chelsea estate to George Villiers,
duke of Buckingham, as part of his efforts to clear his
fine, which stood at £20,000. The transaction was negotiated by his intermediary with Buckingham's wife and
mother, on whose rapacity he later blamed the loss of
Chelsea even more than on the animosity of
Buckingham. (fn. 2) In 1627 Charles I granted the estate to
Buckingham for a fee farm of £1 a year. (fn. 3) Known as
Buckingham House, the mansion was used by the duke
until his assassination in 1628 and then by his widow
Catherine. The estates of the duchess, who had married
Randall, earl of Antrim, were sequestered in 1644; on
her death in 1649 the property would have passed to her
son George, 2nd duke of Buckingham, (fn. 4) but he had
fought for Prince Charles in 1648 and escaped abroad,
forfeiting his estates. (fn. 5) In 1649 the 54-acre estate,
consisting of the house, grounds and park, was leased to
Bulstrode Whitelocke and John Lisle, commissioners for
the Great Seal: the rent on the 21 -year lease was set at
£40, as soldiers quartered in the house had pulled down
the walls and wainscot, broken the glass in the windows,
destroyed the gardens, and 'much defaced the whole
house'. (fn. 6) In 1652 the trustees for sale of confiscated
estates sold the estate to Whitelock and Lisle for £920.
Buckingham House was described as built of brick and
roofed partly with tiles and partly with lead; it had five
cellars on the lowest floor, 20 rooms including two halls
and nine kitchens, butteries, and larders, and a large
staircase on the ground floor, and 21 rooms on the next
floor including two dining rooms, a gallery, and 11
chambers, with garrets above most of those. Outside
there was a little yard at the west end of the house with a
brick building used as a dairy and wash house, and part
as a coachhouse; another yard on the north side of the
house with seven stables; three gardens containing
another brick building, an orchard, and two courts on
the south side. A brick building at the west corner next to
the Thames was used as a lodge, and one on the east
corner with a rod of land adjoining was let. The mansion
and its grounds and outhouses enclosed with a brick wall
contained 10 a. 1 r.; Dovecote close, also enclosed with
brick, contained 4 a.; and the park, again enclosed with
brick, 39½ a. (fn. 7)
The 2nd duke regained his estates at the Restoration
in 1660, (fn. 8) but possibly to pay off debts he conveyed the
Chelsea property in 1664 to John Godden (d. by 1668),
Richard Blake, and several other London tradesmen for
£12,000; (fn. 9) between 1668 and 1672 the land and house
were sold off separately. (fn. 10) The house, by far the largest in
Chelsea, was empty when it was assessed for 58 hearths
in 1666 and 61 in 1674. (fn. 11) With 15 a. of grounds it passed
to James Plumer, one of Buckingham's main creditors,
who in turn sold it in 1674 to trustees for George Digby,
earl of Bristol; Bristol is said to have paid £7,000. (fn. 12) The
earl, by will proved 1677, left the house to his widow
Anne, (fn. 13) who in 1681 sold it for £5,000 or £5,500 to
Henry Somerset (d. 1699), marquess of Worcester. (fn. 14)
John Evelyn described the house in 1679 as 'large, but
ill contrived', despite the money which Lord Bristol had
spent on it, though he thought its grounds and situation
were spacious and excellent, and Lady Bristol gave him
some of her rare collection of orange trees. (fn. 15) Another
contemporary, Lord Ossery, noted that the estate
consisted of 16 a. including walled gardens planted 'with
the choicest fruit' and that the house had been 'altered
according to the mode'. (fn. 16) Lord Worcester, created duke
of Beaufort in 1682, (fn. 17) spent £5,180 on improvements to
the house, eventually reconciling his wife Mary to the
purchase: she, like others, had thought that the house
was too old to be fitted out with modern comforts, while
Henry had emphasized the excellent air of Chelsea, and
the good offices and plentiful water piped from
Kensington. The architect Robert Warren was employed
to modernize the house, and he extended the garden
parterres down to the Thames. Grinling Gibbons was
commissioned to make ornamental carvings. The house,
known as Beaufort House, became a show place where
the duke and duchess entertained their friends, neighbours, and the king, (fn. 18) although when Evelyn visited it in
1683 he was still critical, thinking that the duke might
have built a better house with the materials and money
employed. (fn. 19)
In 1705 Bowack exaggerated the size of the house as
200-300 feet long - it cannot have been more than 150
feet on that site - but described its 'stately ancient front
to the river', two spacious courtyards and fine gardens
behind. He also noted that for some years the 2nd duke
(a minor) had spent most of his time at Badminton
(Glos.). (fn. 20) The dowager duchess was forced to leave
Badminton after a disagreement with her grandson over
the 1st duke's personal estate, and she moved to Chelsea
in 1709 where she lived until her death in 1715. Mary
was an ardent botanist with one of the most important
collections of exotic plants in Europe and her greenhouses at Badminton and Chelsea surpassed even those
built by William and Mary at Hampton Court. She was
assisted in her collecting by her friend Sir Hans Sloane,
and her catalogue of plants filled 12 volumes. (fn. 1) The 2nd
duke, who had died shortly before his grandmother, left
the house by will to trustees to sell to raise money
towards his third marriage settlement, (fn. 2) but it remained
empty until c. 1724 when it was acquired by Samuel
Travers with the idea, which failed, of opening it as a
school. (fn. 3) In 1737 Travers's executors sold it to Sir Hans
Sloane, owner of Chelsea manor, (fn. 4) and the freehold
descended thereafter with the manor. Sloane placed the
house, which had been empty for nearly 20 years, in the
care of his gardener and factotum, Edmund Howard,
with instructions to pull it down, which was done in
1740. (fn. 5) In 1750 Sloane leased out the whole estate,
known as Beaufort Ground and stretching from King's
Road to open ground called Beaufort green by the
Thames, for 91 years to trustees for the Unitas Fratrum
or Moravian congregation, who had bought the
adjoining Lindsey House. (fn. 6) They laid out a burial ground
on the stable yard with a chapel on the north side,
reached by a passage from the rear of Lindsey House. It
was intended to build a settlement called Sharon on the
rest of the site, but after the leader of the Unitas Fratrum,
Count Zinzendorf, returned permanently to the Continent in 1755, financial difficulties prevented the settlement being built. Apart from the Moravian burial
ground, which continued in use by the congregation, (fn. 7)
Beaufort Ground was leased as building plots by 1770,
and eventually Beaufort Street was laid through the site. (fn. 8)
In 1781 the Beaufort estate consisted of over 7 a. land, 19
houses, and wharves. (fn. 9)
BLAKE ESTATE
William Blake (d. 1630), citizen and vintner of London,
was resident in Kensington by 1606 and built up a large
estate in Kensington, Knightsbridge, Westminster, and
Chelsea: despite sales before his death, he still left c. 370 a.
to his heirs. (fn. 10) He was knighted in 1627. William Blake,
scrivener of London, was also involved in land sales in
Chelsea in the same period, (fn. 11) but has no known relationship to Sir William.
In 1607 Blake purchased from Francis Shuckburgh
for £1,100 a farmhouse with 32 a. in five closes called
Sandhills, 42 a. arable in Eastfield, and 1 a. and 11 lots of
meadow in West meadow, all occupied by William
Wrennall and formerly part of Hungerford's estate. (fn. 12)
Blake also made two purchases in 1618 from Thomas
Fiennes, 3rd earl of Lincoln. One, for £200, was of 14 a.
inclosed in Westfield and in the tenure of Wrennall,
which lay on the north side of King's Road, and another
close of 5 a. between the 14 a. and Fulham Road with a
house built on it and once part of the lands of William
Arnold of Fulham; Richard Stocke held a lease of c. 31
years granted by Lincoln of the 5 a. and the house, which
he had probably built. (fn. 13) The other purchase was of 9 a.
meadow in Thamesmead in the tenure of the countess of
Nottingham, 30 a. close called Coleherne in Kensington,
and the rights Lincoln held in the Chelsea ferry: (fn. 14) the
meadow seems to be the so-called 10 a. in Eastfield
between Chelsea College and the river which became
part of the Royal Hospital's grounds. (fn. 15)
William Blake sold the 32 acres called Sandhills in
1620 to Sir Lionel Cranfield, owner of the house later
called Beaufort House, who used the land to create
Chelsea Park. (fn. 16) In 1623 Blake sold the ferry to Oliver St
John, 1st Viscount Grandison, (fn. 17) and in 1630 sold probably all his remaining property in Chelsea to Ralph
Massie (or Massey) of London, vintner, consisting of the
farmhouse held by Wrennall, the house formerly held by
Stocke, 75 a. arable, 11 a. and 16 lots of meadow, all in
Chelsea, and 1½ a. in Fulham. (fn. 18)
In 1634 Ralph Massie sold to William Arnold junior,
of Kensington, for £1,660 all the land he had bought
from Blake except for the 5-acre close and house at Little
Chelsea and the adjoining 14 acres in Westfield. (fn. 19) Massie
died soon afterwards and the property he had retained
passed to his son William, who in 1650 conveyed it to
trustees for Ralph's widow, Isabella Lusher. (fn. 20) In 1682
Massie conveyed the property, which now consisted of
two houses and 18 acres of land, to William Mart, citizen
and vintner of London, and Isabella surrendered her
right in that property in 1683. (fn. 21)
Prior to this purchase Mart bought a house,
malthouse, and 3 a. in Eastfield in 1677 from John
Saunders, who had acquired it as part of the settlement
on his marriage with William Arnold's daughter,
Dorothy, and in 1678 Mart bought 17 a. from Anne
Bennett, who had bought it from Arnold in 1668. (fn. 22) The
main house bought from Massie, and probably the
newer house as well, fronted Fulham Road at Little
Chelsea. According to Bowack, Mart built there a
'regular, handsome house with a noble courtyard and
good gardens', where Sir John Cope, Bt (d. 1721), lived
when he retired from active public life. (fn. 1) In 1704 Sir John
was occupying the house with its garden, stable and
coachhouse, while the other house, described in 1715 as
lately built, was occupied by Christopher Grimstead
with the 18 a., (fn. 2) which stretched to King's Road. (fn. 3) Cope's
house was later occupied as Duffield's private
madhouse, and then demolished to form the site of
Odell's Place; (fn. 4) it therefore lay east of Shaftesbury House. (fn. 5)
At his death in 1704 Mart also owned a principal
messuage with garden, malthouse, barns, stable, and
coachhouses, occupied in 1705 by John Lefevre, schoolmaster, a house and 43 a. held by Nathaniel Terrett, and
a house and 3 a. occupied by Mr Stubbington, all freehold in Chelsea and Kensington, as well as copyhold in
Fulham and property in the cities of London and Westminster. Mart's widow Jane unsuccessfully claimed the
estate, which passed to Mart's nephew, William Mart of
Addiscombe (Surrey). (fn. 6) In 1719 Mart sold to Sir John
Cope's son, Sir John Cope, Kt, the house still occupied
by Cope senior and the other house and 18 a. (fn. 7) In 1721
after his father's death, Sir John conveyed the two houses
and 18 a. to Sir Hans Sloane, who in 1733 conveyed
them to his nephew, William Sloane; thereafter they
passed as part of the Sloane Stanley estate. (fn. 8) The
remaining parts of Mart's estate have not been traced.
BOEVEY ESTATE AND SHAFTESBURY HOUSE
William Arnold of Fulham held a 10-acre close on the
south side of Fulham Road in 1607, of which 5 a. had a
house and land held by Richard Stocke when it was sold
in 1618 to William Blake. The remaining 5 a. on the west
side were described as Stocke's orchard in 1618, but the
property's location indicates that it became the site of
the houses fronting Fulham Road in Little Chelsea with
gardens of 2 a. and 3 a. respectively which Thomas
Wood, citizen and merchant taylor of London, sold in
1634 to Johanna, widow of Andries Boeve (Andrew
Boevey), a Huguenot merchant of London, for £1,090. (fn. 9)
Johanna may have carried out some improvements to
the property, which once had a datestone of 1635 on one
of the houses. (fn. 10) She married as her second husband John
Abell, but under their marriage settlement Abell was to
have no claim to the property, which Johanna (d. 1644)
conveyed to trustees in 1642 for the uses of her will. The
Chelsea property was left in her will to her four daughters, Johanna, widow of Abraham Clarke, Mary Boevey,
Elizabeth Lemott, widow, later wife of John Beex, and
Ann, wife of David Bonnell. (fn. 11) Mary died unmarried.
Elizabeth Beex mortgaged her share to Johanna Clarke
c. 1656, and Johanna was said to have spent £4,000 in
building work there by 1658, when she and the Bonnells
sold the whole property, described in the fine as 4
messuages, 2 barns, 3 gardens, and 7 a., for £1,231 to
William Boevey (d. 1661), the son of Andrew Boevey by
his first wife and one of the trustees. William left it to his
wife Anne for life and then to their son John, and in 1663
Anne married Sir James Smith (d. 1681).
The sale to William Boevey led to a series of law suits
and appeals until the end of the 17th century by James
son of Andrew and Johanna Boevey, excluded from the
Chelsea property and notorious for his law-suits, (fn. 12) and
by Elizabeth Beex (d. c. 1683) and her daughter Elizabeth
and the latter's husband Thomas Lowndes, on the
grounds that they still held the equity of redemption of
two thirds of the property. (fn. 13) By 1687 the estate consisted
of the principal house and garden of 3 acres occupied by
Lady Smith, which had been assessed to Sir James Smith
in 1666 and 1674 for 18 hearths, (fn. 14) flanked on one side by
a house and garden of 2 acres occupied by Sir Robert
Wiseman, and on the other by a house with a little
garden plot of a quarter of an acre, which had been occupied by Elizabeth Beex, (fn. 15) neither of which can be
identified with certainty in the hearth tax. Elizabeth Beex
was awarded the redemption of the two thirds after the
balance of the mortgage had been repaid, and her
interest passed to her daughter. Anne Smith (d. 1698)
and her son John Boevey were allotted the house and
grounds she occupied, although it was noted that they
were worth more than a third of the estate. The rest was
allotted to Thomas and Elizabeth Lowndes on payment
of £750. In 1687 the Lowndes brought another case
against Anne and her son, alleging that they had entered
the disputed premises, while the defendants countered
that they had not been paid the £750. The estate was
eventually divided by commissioners in 1698: Margaret
the widow of James Boevey (d. 1696) and his heirs
received a fifth of the estate consisting of the house and a
garden 521 ft deep on the east side of Sir James Smith's
former house; John Boevey was awarded the latter in the
centre; and the house on the west side went to Thomas
Lowndes. (fn. 16)
Shaftesbury House
The central house, Sir James Smith's, was sold to
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd earl of Shaftesbury, who
was in Chelsea by 1700. (fn. 1) According to Bowack,
Shaftesbury built 'a very neat seat' there and c. 1705 was
'planting gardens'. He wanted the Chelsea house as a
residence during parliamentary sittings, (fn. 2) but moved
away in 1706 because smoke gave him asthma attacks, (fn. 3)
and in 1710 he sold the house with garden plot, courtyard, great and little gardens, totalling 3 acres,
newly-erected building and barns, stables, and
outhouses, to Narcissus Luttrell (d. 1732). (fn. 4) It passed to
Luttrell's second son Francis (d. 1740), (fn. 5) and then to his
nephew, William Wynne, serjeant-at-law (d. 1765).
Wynne was succeeded by his sons, Edward (d. 1784), a
barrister, and the Revd Luttrell Wynne, who sold it in
1786 to William Virtue. Virtue sold it the same year to
the parish of St George, Hanover Square, for use as a
workhouse. (fn. 6)
The fine classical-looking building of four storeys and
basement, with its pediment and flight of steps added by
Shaftesbury, was demolished in 1856 and replaced by
new workhouse buildings. (fn. 7)
Lowndes
The Lowndes's portion of the Boevey estate, on the west
side of Shaftesbury House, consisted of at least two
houses and a cottage by 1700. (fn. 8) The large house was
occupied by Sir Robert Wiseman (d. 1684), dean of the
Arches and Vicar General, (fn. 9) then Lady Wiseman, (fn. 10)
followed by Thomas Lowndes himself, though the rector
commented c. 1700 that the house was 'seldom inhabited'. (fn. 11) After Lowndes's death his only daughter and heir,
Mary, conveyed the estate in 1710 to William Burchett
of Fulham, whose widowed mother Elizabeth lived at
Little Chelsea, (fn. 12) and whose family owned and leased
several holdings in Chelsea and farmed there. (fn. 13) In 1721
Burchett leased the large house to Ralph Verney, 2nd
Viscount Fermanagh (d. 1752), who was there until at
least 1735, (fn. 14) and both he and his wife Catherine (d.
1748) died at Little Chelsea, (fn. 15) though they did not necessarily still occupy that house. It seems to have been occupied by the Revd Dr Doyley in 1750. Burchett himself
occupied the second of the houses. (fn. 16)
CHELSEA FARM (CREMORNE HOUSE)
In 1745 Theophilus Hastings, 9th earl of Huntingdon,
leased from Sir Hans Sloane a house and garden of 2 a. in
Westfield, 1 a. meadow south of Lots Lane, and 60 rods
on the east side of a newly-erected building belonging to
Huntingdon, for 61 years at £33 a year. (fn. 17) He built a villa
called Chelsea Farm at the southern end by Lots Lane,
and after his death in 1746 his widow Selina, the Methodist enthusiast, lived there until 1750, when she sold
the lease to Richard Wingfield, Viscount Powerscourt. (fn. 18)
In 1751 Powerscourt obtained a new lease for 71 years
from Sloane of the original property, together with
another house, farm buildings, and 8 a. of farm and
garden ground. Powerscourt died that year and in 1760
his widow Dorothy assigned the 71-year lease to
Brownlow Cecil, earl of Exeter, who in 1761 obtained a
61-year lease from the heirs of the Warton estate of a
rood of meadow in the angle by the Thames south of
Hobgate. (fn. 19) This created a compact, rectangular estate
stretching from the King's Road to the river, bounded on
the east by Hob Lane and on the west by Ashburnham
House estate. The revised and doubtless more accurate
description in 1781 was of 9¼ acres of manorial
demesne and a rood of Warton land. (fn. 20)
Figure 50:
Chelsea Farm or Cremorne House from the south-west, with Battersea Bridge and the Old Church in the background
Exeter assigned both leases in 1765 to Sir Richard
Lyttelton (d. 1770), and after the death of Lyttelton's
widow Rachel in 1777 the leases passed to Rachel's son,
Francis Egerton, duke of Bridgewater, who sold them in
1778 to Thomas Dawson, Lord Dartrey, later Viscount
Cremorne. (fn. 21) In 1781 the owners of the manor granted a
reversionary lease to Dartrey, to run for 29 years from
1822. (fn. 1) In 1785 he purchased the freehold of the rood
from Warton's heirs, and also leased 13½ a. of the Sloane
Stanley estate north of King's Road for 66 years. (fn. 2) Soon
afterwards he employed James Wyatt to enlarge the
house into a rambling rather than picturesquely planned
building, subsequently called Cremorne House. (fn. 3) Lord
Cremorne (d. 1813) left the estate to his American
widow Philadelphia Hannah, friend of Queen Charlotte
and local benefactor. On her death in 1826 the estate
passed under her will to her cousin, Granville Penn, who
after several unsuccessful attempts eventually sold it in
1830 to Henry Philip Hope for £2,990. It then consisted
of the freehold rood and the residuary terms of leases of
29 years (from 1822), 40 years (from 1851), and 66
years (from 1785). (fn. 4)
In 1834 Henry Philip Hope sold the estate to John
Raphael as trustee for Charles Random, self-styled
Baron de Berenger, who ran the estate as a sports club: de
Berenger was to have the rents and profits for life but
subject to Beatrix Crowder receiving rents during her
lifetime. (fn. 5) By 1840 de Berenger (d. 1845) was in debt, and
he directed that the property was to be held in trust for
Beatrix. (fn. 6) In 1845 Beatrix Crowder, of Cremorne House,
and Robert Russell, one of de Berenger's creditors,
granted an under-lease of the estate to John Wolsey, (fn. 7)
who shortly afterwards assigned it to Thomas Bartlett
Simpson, hotelkeeper, (fn. 8) and under the latter the
Cremorne pleasure gardens were opened in the
grounds. (fn. 9) In 1859 Simpson obtained leases of the neighbouring Ashburnham House and Ashburnham
Cottage, (fn. 10) for expansion of the Gardens.
Simpson purchased the freehold of the Cremorne and
Ashburnham estates from Lord Cadogan in 1866,
together with the remaining Cadogan freehold as far as
Chelsea Creek, consisting of land south of Lots Road,
24½ a. of garden ground, another acre of garden ground
between Poole's Lane and the canal, and the site of the
mills and other buildings in Poole's Lane, giving him an
estate of c. 45 a. covering the whole of south-west Chelsea
except for Lots meadow; it was clearly with a view to
build, as part of the Ashburnham estate south of Lots
Road was already divided into plots. (fn. 11) After Simpson's
death in 1872 his widow Jane, who inherited under his
will, increased the rate of building, selling some land, but
mostly granting building leases to cover the whole area. (fn. 12)
Cremorne Gardens, already in financial difficulties, had
to close anyway in 1877 when Jane Simpson refused to
renew the manager's tenancy, having decided to lay out
the site for building. (fn. 13) Jane (d. 1893) bequeathed all her
property by will to her sons as trustees to sell for the
benefit of her seven daughters, but they retained the freehold, distributing the rental income instead. In 1915 the
freehold was divided between the six surviving daughters, who had all died by 1956. The inheritance apparently passed out of the hands of the Simpson family in
1975 on the death of Thomas Bartlett Simpson's granddaughter. (fn. 14)
EARL OF LINCOLN'S OTHER LAND
Henry Fiennes, 2nd earl of Lincoln, or his son Thomas,
3rd earl, acquired several pieces of property in Chelsea in
addition to the former estate of Thomas More, which
was settled on the 2nd earl and Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth Gorges, (fn. 15) and those other properties passed
instead to the 3rd and 4th earls. The 2nd earl bought
Morehouse from the Roper family, which was the
former Butts close with houses, barns, and garden which
had been given to William Roper by Sir Thomas More.
The Ropers assigned leases to Lincoln, and the freehold
was probably obtained from the Crown. (fn. 16)
Thomas, 3rd earl of Lincoln, made two sales of property in Chelsea acquired either by himself or his father to
Sir William Blake in 1618. (fn. 17) The first was of a close of 14
acres in Westfield, and another close of 5 acres with a
house built on it in the tenure of Richard Stocke, which
had once belonged to William Arnold of Fulham; the
release from any claims under the late earl or Thomas's
brothers suggest that the property had been bought by
Henry, 2nd earl. (fn. 18) The other sale followed the grant of a
licence to the 3rd earl, John Eldred, and Robert Henley
allowing them to sell Chelsea ferry and landing place, 47
a. in Kensington, and Thamesmead in Chelsea
containing 9 a., all held of the king in chief, which they
then sold to Blake. (fn. 19) The ferry and Thamesmead had
both been part of the manor of Chelsea and were probably granted by James I to the 3rd earl or his father, but
the actual grants by the Crown, or by the Ropers to the
Fiennes, have not been traced, and may been conducted
through agents.
GORGES HOUSE AND PARSONAGE CLOSE
Gorges House, standing just west of Beaufort House,
and close to its stables, is unlikely to have been built
before 1617, as the site was part of the farm leased to
Nicholas Holborne until that date. Sir Arthur is recorded
as presenting the queen with a jewel in 1599 as she
passed by 'the fair new building' on her way to the manor
house, (fn. 1) but there is no indication which new building
that might be, and the later Gorges House would not in
any case have been on the queen's likely route. The
house is depicted on the drawing by Kip c. 1700 as a half
H-plan building facing west and with each range, apparently built of brick, crowned by rows of shaped gables. (fn. 2)
By that date it fronted a lane leading from the Thames to
the king's road, probably the way first mentioned in
1622 giving access to the coachhouse there. (fn. 3) Gorges
House has also been suggested as the site of the medieval
parsonage, but again it seems an unlikely and inconvenient place for the parsonage since there was no highway
past it. (fn. 4)
When Sir Arthur sold the principal mansion on
More's estate in 1620, he retained the right to burial in
More's chapel, which thereafter passed with Gorges
House. (fn. 5) Sir Arthur (d. 1625) was succeeded by his son
Arthur (d. 1661), and grandson Arthur (d. 1668), who
in 1664 sold Gorges House and its gardens, orchard, and
small adjoining close, and the 9-acre field called
Parsonage Close which stretched from King's Road to
the Thames, and all the remaining Gorges property there
including the land and four houses and gardens at the
southern end of the later Milman's Street held by
Thomas Rosse, and 3 acres of meadow in Westfield, to
Thomas Pritchard and Richard Spoure who conveyed it
all, initially in a mortgage in 1666 and then in a sale in
1670, to William Morgan, chancery clerk. (fn. 6) The house
was occupied as a boarding school by 1676, run by Josias
Priest from 1680 to c.1711. (fn. 7) William Morgan's son or
grandson Richard sold the house and gardens before
1714 to Sir William Milman, and the grandson Richard
sold Parsonage Close, the small close and other property
in 1718 to Samuel Strode of London, barber surgeon. (fn. 8)
Milman left his property by will proved 1714 to his
nieces, Elizabeth Palmer, and Diana, Robella, and Mary
Milman. In 1726 the nieces and their husbands made an
agreement for the building of houses called Millman
Row, and granted building leases the following year for
the individual houses, which stood on the site of Gorges
House, presumably demolished by that date. (fn. 9)
Strode died c.1720, and in 1747 his sons William and
Samuel surrendered their interest to their mother Anne,
who conveyed the estate to Charles Simes and Samuel
Meredith; (fn. 10) the latter divided up and sold off all the
property in 1750. They sold 4½ a. with 23 houses,
including the World's End and King's Arms public
houses, to Richard Davis (or Davies) of Chelsea, shoemaker, which represented about half of Parsonage
Close. (fn. 11) Richard Davis (d. c.1769) left his estate to his
wife Sarah for life and then to trustees for his
grand-niece, Mary Ann Jones, who in 1785 married
Stephen Riley. Riley, by will proved 1816, left the estate
to trustees including his widow; it was sold by auction in
lots in 1823. (fn. 12) The other half of Parsonage Close, 5½ a.
with four houses south of World's End Passage, was
conveyed to George Norris (d. 1805), gardener, at the
same time. Norris's estate was still in the hands of his
son, George, also a gardener, in 1827. (fn. 13) They also sold to
Norris a brick house with a courtyard and garden
standing at the south-east corner of Milman's Street, and
a wharf on the Thames opposite the Hole in the Wall
public house. (fn. 14) The Hole in the Wall, by Milman's Street
and facing the river, was conveyed to Charles Munden, (fn. 15)
as well as two houses and gardens on the opposite side of
Milman's Street. (fn. 16) The 3 acres in Westfield lying south of
Lots Lane, used as osier ground in 1747, (fn. 17) was also sold
in 1750 and passed to Benjamin Hoadley. (fn. 18)
GOUGH HOUSE
John Vaughan, 3rd earl of Carbery, had bought 3½ acres
of manorial demesne from Viscount Newhaven called
Little Sweed Court by 1707, the year a conveyance to
Carbery of just under half an acre of manorial demesne
was confirmed by Act, part of a rationalization of
boundaries connected with larger sales to the Royal
Hospital. (fn. 19) The rector referred c.1704 to the land as
'lately-purchased', and to Carbery's newly-built house,
which lay west of the later Walpole House estate. (fn. 20) Lord
Newhaven also granted to Carbery in 1707 a passage and
new gate into the garden ground which was part of the
premises. The half H-plan red brick house, of two
storeys above a tall basement, had a grand river front
with giant pilasters, a central pediment and hipped roof
with grouped chimneystacks; it resembled the main
front of Ranelagh House. (fn. 21) A pedimented door led
through the garden, laid out in broad terraces, to a gate
in the riverside wall, to which was attached a summerhouse as at the neighbouring Walpole House. The north
façade was much plainer.
Carbery died in 1713 and his only child Ann married
Charles Powlett, marquis of Bolton, (fn. 1) who in 1714 sold
the estate with its recently-built mansion house to
Richard Gough, a London merchant knighted by 1716. (fn. 2)
Gough also leased the adjoining Walpole House estate in
1714, where he built stables by the highway, (fn. 3) and
enlarged his estate in 1716 by purchasing from the sister
and heir of Mary Pinner 1½ a. on the west side, (fn. 4) which
Mary had bought from John Greene. (fn. 5)
Sir Richard Gough (d. 1728) was succeeded by his
son, Sir Henry, Bt (d. 1774), whose son Henry (d. 1798)
took the name Gough-Calthorpe in 1788 when he inherited the estates of his maternal uncle; he was created
Baron Calthorpe in 1796. (fn. 6) Gough House was occupied
by 1780, and possibly 1777, by the Pemberton family, (fn. 7)
and in 1790 the widow of Thomas Pemberton opened a
girls' school there. (fn. 8) Lord Calthorpe was leasing land on
the west side of the house and garden for building by
1792, (fn. 9) and by 1846 his property included Druces' wharf
by the Thames. (fn. 10) Gough House remained largely unaltered until it was acquired by the MBW as part of the
Embankment scheme and converted into the Victoria
Hospital for Children in 1866; the house continued to
exist among additional hospital buildings. (fn. 11) The MBW
used some of the riverside land for the Embankment,
and the southern part of Tite Street was constructed over
much of the rest. (fn. 12)
HENRY SMITH CHARITY ESTATE
Henry Smith (d. 1628) of Wandsworth, salter, left
£2,000 to trustees for the benefit of captives and his relatives. His trustees, who included Sir William Blake,
purchased a small farm in the parishes of Kensington,
Chelsea, and St Margaret Westminster, which in 1664
included a close called Quailfield of c. 14 a. lying partly in
Kensington and partly in north-east Chelsea. (fn. 13) In 1772
the trustees for the charity obtained an Act enabling
them to grant building leases of the estate. (fn. 14) Building on
the Chelsea portion began in the late 1830s with St
Saviour's church and Walton Place. Walton Street was
built across the northern part of Quailfield c. 1847, but
most of the close remained open land until the 1880s.
The land was let to Mr Cattleugh in 1836 as nursery
ground, and in 1874 was assigned to Mr Prince who used
it as a playing field for his adjoining cricket club, but
shortly afterwards Pont Street was extended across the
field, and during the 1880s Lennox Gardens and
adjoining mews were built. (fn. 15) In 1995 the Charity sold
the whole estate to the Wellcome Trust. (fn. 16)
LAWRENCE ESTATE
The medieval manor house, (fn. 17) which lay on the east side
of Church Lane next to the parish church, with its
gardens, orchards, and pasture enclosed by a pale, was
leased in 1519 by William Lord Sandys and his feoffees
to Thomas Keyle, citizen and mercer of London, for 40
years at £1 6s. 8d. a year, but excluding the barns and
granary, commons, and the great court and all buildings
of the manor outside the wall; Keyle later assigned the
lease to another mercer, Richard Jervis (Gervoise,
Jervoise) (d. 1556). (fn. 18) In 1557 the Crown granted the
freehold of the house with its gardens, a dovecote, and
adjoining 4-acre close to John Caryll to hold in free
socage of the manor of East Greenwich. (fn. 19) Caryll sold the
property in the same year to James Basset, whose widow
Maria sold it for £120 in 1559 to Thomas Parrys,
another London mercer. (fn. 20) It passed to Robert
Chamberleyn and William Mounsey, both London ironmongers, who sold it in 1583-4 to Thomas Lawrence (d.
1593), citizen and goldsmith of London. (fn. 21) He devised
his house at Chelsea with its grounds and gardens and an
estate at Iver (Bucks.) to his wife Martha for life, and
then to his son Thomas in tail with remainders to his
other son John and to his daughters. (fn. 22) By 1621 the
Chelsea property with 2 gardens, orchard, dovecote, and
close of 4 acres, was in the possession of his son John (d.
1638), baronet from 1628. (fn. 23) He left it to his widow
Grissell (d. 1675) until it had provided enough to pay
portions to his younger children, (fn. 24) after which it passed
with the baronetcy to Sir John's eldest son John (d.
between 1680 and 1682), and grandson Thomas (d.
1714). (fn. 25)
The main house was occupied by Grissell until her
death, and was also for a while occupied by the Dutch
ambassador, who paid £60 a year for the house, gardens,
and 2 acres. He built a stable, coachhouse, hayloft, and 'a
very fair lodging chamber and a little closet', which afterwards burnt down. By 1665 the property consisted of the
old manor house, described as a timber house 'of great
antiquity and much wanting repair', (fn. 1) and in 1666 and
1674 the house, assessed at 13 hearths, was occupied by
Lady Grissell Lawrence. The next property in the assessment for hearth tax had 19 hearths and was occupied by
George Wilcocks in 1666 and Mr Blameber or Bomflur
in 1674: (fn. 2) it suggests that the old manor house may have
been divided, as there is no evidence that a new, larger
house had been built on or near the estate, and it was
probably that part which had been occupied by the
Dutch ambassador. The estate also included three
adjoining cottages on the north side of Lordship Yard,
built on the close, and probably eight on the east side of
Church Lane. (fn. 3) It is likely that Dame Grissell's daughter
and executrix, Frances Lawrence, continued to live in the
house until her death in 1685. (fn. 4) In 1687 Sir Thomas
made a building agreement for the whole four-acre site,
and the house was probably demolished about that
time. (fn. 5)
Sir Thomas and his wife Anne petitioned the king in
1687 for letters under the privy seal, authorizing the
justices of common pleas to allow the Lawrences'
under-age son and heir John to suffer a common
recovery, in order for them to make a long lease of their
old and decayed messuage and a close adjoining in
Chelsea; it was granted on condition that all consented
and the uses were limited. (fn. 6) The estate was conveyed to
trustees that year for the purpose of making building
leases and giving Sir Thomas a life estate, (fn. 7) though a later
settlement seems to have been made to give John a life
estate with remainder in default of male heirs to his
father. In 1705 Sir Thomas relinquished this right in the
property by a sale to his son John for £200, (fn. 8) and the
following year John sold three cottages and gardens on
the north side of Lordship Yard to William Cheyne, Lord
Newhaven. (fn. 9) John's wife had died in 1701, and he had
apparently died without issue by 1710 when Margaret
Lawrence, spinster, sold or mortgaged three houses in
Lawrence Street, two facing the Thames, and seven in
Church Lane, with ground used as a garden by Sir John
Munden, who occupied one of the latter houses, before
her marriage that year to Crew Offley, MP, of Wychnor
(Staffs.); she is assumed to be the only surviving child of
Sir Thomas and Anne Lawrence and was presumably her
brother's heir. (fn. 10) In 1712 Crew and Margaret settled the
estate consisting of 33 newly-erected houses, land not
yet built on, and the lord's chapel in the parish church. (fn. 11)
In 1717 Crew sold three new houses at the upper end of
Church Lane to Adrian Westerband, bricklayer, who
occupied one of them. (fn. 12) Crew (d. 1739) left the estate to
his son John for three years, after which it was to pass to
another son, Lawrence, and his heirs, with remainder to
John. John inherited after Lawrence's death in 1749, (fn. 13)
and in 1750-1 sold many of the houses, usually to the
occupants, including all nine in Church Lane between
Justice Walk and the church, others north of Justice
Walk, the Cross Keys tavern in Lawrence Street with its
garden which had become a yard with stable and
coachhouses in Lawrence Street and Church Lane, and
the five houses of Church Row. (fn. 14)
John Offley, MP, who still owned seven houses and
the lord's chapel in 1780, (fn. 15) was a well-known gamester
who died unmarried in 1784, devising all his remaining
property to a cousin, Lieut.-Col. Francis Needham, to
pay legacies to other relatives and annuities to his
servants. (fn. 16) Needham sold the chapel and some houses to
Henry Lewer, (fn. 17) whose descendant, Henry Furnival
Lewer, conveyed the chapel in 1894 to the rector and
other church trustees. (fn. 18) The land which formed Justice
Walk and other property in Lawrence Street was sold
c. 1788 to John Gregory of Westminster, builder. (fn. 19)
LINDSEY HOUSE
The principal farmhouse on More's estate, which lay
south-west of the chief mansion in 1567, (fn. 20) has been
identified with both the later Gorges House (fn. 21) and
Lindsey House, (fn. 22) but the latter is more likely as it was
called the 'Farmhouse' in 1618 when Sir Arthur and
Lady Elizabeth Gorges settled it with its outbuildings,
garden, orchard, wharf, and a lane on Sir Edward Cecil
(d. 1638), Viscount Wimbledon from 1626, and his wife
Diana for their lives and that of their daughter Anne, and
then on the Gorges and their male heirs. (fn. 23) In 1622 the
Gorges received a licence to make another settlement of
the house, with its gardens, stables, yards, and
coachhouses, all enclosed with a wall, with access for
coaches to the house on the west side of the coachhouse,
the wharf lying between the south side of the house and
the Thames, and common of pasture, by conveying it to
Griffin Robinson and Thomas Brooke in trust for their
daughter Frances after the deaths of Edward and Diana
Cecil. (fn. 1)
Figure 51:
Lindsey House, Cheyne Walk with (right) Belle Vue House and Belle Vue Lodge, showing junction with Beaufort Street before the embankment was built
In 1638, however, Sir Francis Swift, perhaps another
trustee, conveyed the property, described as a messuage,
two barns, two stables, a wharf, two gardens, and two
orchards, with common of pasture, to Sir Theodore
Turquet de Mayerne, Baron of Albin, an eminent physician who attended the royal family from 1611, and his
wife Isabella, apparently in fee. (fn. 2) Mayerne died in 1655,
and his widow shortly afterwards; by will proved in 1655
she left the estate to trustees for their daughter Adriana. (fn. 3)
In 1659, when Adriana married Armand de Coumonde,
marquis de Montpolion, (fn. 4) she granted the capital
mansion where she lived, still called the 'Farmhouse in
Chelsea', to Peter Rousseau, a Frenchman, and Josiah
Cuper to hold as trustees. Cuper died in 1660 and
Adriana in 1661, and her husband's attempts to seize the
property were challenged by Mayerne's relatives. In
1671 Rousseau's conveyance to John Snell and Richard
Newman was opposed on the grounds that Rousseau
was an alien; the grant, however, was confirmed by
letters patent. (fn. 5)
Snell and Newman may have been acting as trustees
for Robert Bertie, 3rd earl of Lindsey and Lord Great
Chamberlain (d. 1701), who was in possession of the
Farmhouse, wharf, and common of pasture in 1671
when he mortgaged it with a 200-year term. He settled
the house at Chelsea and his personal estate c. 1687,
probably on his 3rd wife Elizabeth and his youngest son
Charles, who were also executors of his will: (fn. 6) they reassigned the mortgage in 1716. (fn. 7) By 1727 the estate was
described as a messuage, courtyard, 3 gardens, wharf,
one acre, and common of pasture. (fn. 8) Under his will
proved 1730 Charles Bertie left the Chelsea house and
contents to his trustees and executors to sell to pay debts
with the residue going to his trust, (fn. 9) but instead they
included the house with his other lands which they were
holding for the minority of his nephew, Lord Albemarle
Bertie, second son of the duke of Ancaster, to whom he
had devised his real estate. In 1750-1 the trustees and
Lord Albemarle conveyed the house, by then called
Lindsey House, to trustees for Nikolaus Ludwig, count
of Zinzendorf, patron of the Society of Unitas Fratrum
or the Moravian Church. (fn. 10) Zinzendorf, who also took a
91-year lease of the Beaufort House estate from Sir Hans
Sloane, (fn. 11) bought the property to make it the headquarters of the Moravian Church, and lived there, making
considerable alterations especially to the roof, (fn. 12) but after
he returned to the Continent in 1755 the projected plans
for a Moravian settlement failed. Lindsey House was
sold in 1774 to Charles Cole, carpenter, Thomas
Bannister, bricklayer, and Thomas Skinner,
auctioneer, (fn. 13) who divided the house into five, subsequently seven, dwellings and made other alterations; the
house was then known as Lindsey Row. (fn. 14) Some houses
were sold, (fn. 15) but Skinner and Bannister were still owners
of four, one occupied by Lady Hamilton, in 1780, (fn. 16) and
Bannister still had a house, coachhouse, stables and 'field
behind' in 1795. (fn. 17)
The House
The old house itself, to which pasturage rights for two
cows and a heifer were attached, may have been pulled
down by 1664: a transcription from court books of
1663-4 gives a rather ambiguous reference to a house
losing its right of common when demolished until a new
one is built, which may refer to Sir Theodore Mayerne's
but in any case does not definitely say the old house had
been demolished before that date. (fn. 1) It also leaves open the
question of whether Lindsey's house was an entirely new
structure or incorporated any part of the earlier building,
occupied by Sir Theodore Mayerne 1639-55: some
sources also suggest that Sir Theodore rebuilt the house.
It is thought, perhaps based on a datestone of 1674,
re-cut or copied and inserted over no. 100 Cheyne Walk,
that the later Lindsey House was rebuilt in its present
external form by the 3rd earl of Lindsey in 1674. (fn. 2)
However, Lord Lindsey's mortgage deed of 1671 suggests
that a house was standing on the site by that date, and
probably a new one, so that Lindsey House would be the
house of 26 hearths for which Lord Lindsey was assessed
in 1674, and Lord Robartes in 1666. (fn. 3) The thickness of
some walls and general plan arrangement suggest that
the existing house might incorporate the form of an
early-17th century house, but there is no fabric of that
date. (fn. 4) By c. 1700 Lindsey House had the character of a
magnificent town mansion on a relatively restricted site.
In 1705 the house, then occupied by the countess
dowager of Plymouth and her son Lord Windsor, was
described as a 'fair handsome house . . . built in the
modern manner' with a good frontage to the river. (fn. 5) By
1718 it was occupied by Francis, Lord Conway (d. 1732),
c. 1727 by the duchess of Rutland, a niece of the countess
of Lindsey, (fn. 6) and in 1735 by 'Lady Fitzwater'. (fn. 7) Although
altered in the 1750s and 1770s and divided into separate
dwellings, and altered again in the 19th century, it still
survived in 2003, as nos 95-100 Cheyne Walk. (fn. 8)
LOWNDES ESTATE
Two parcels of meadow lying either side of the Westbourne, formerly attached to the lazar house in
Knightsbridge and probably belonging to Westminster
Abbey before the Dissolution, were leased by the Crown
in the late 16th century to Thomas Poultney (or
Pulteney), lessee of other lands in Westminster. (fn. 9) The
parcels were included in a further Crown lease granted to
Michael Poultney by 1619, and described in 1650 as
Great Spittle Meadow in the parish of Chelsea,
containing 11 a. 2 r., and Little Spittle Meadow containing 8 a. 2 r., in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields
adjoining the former on the south-east. (fn. 10) They were
confirmed in the possession of Sir William Poultney (d.
1691) in 1660, (fn. 11) and in 1668 Sir William was granted a
reversionary lease for 34 years of his land in St James,
Westminster, and the Spittlefields in return for surrendering land in Westminster for Green Park. (fn. 12)
In 1692 Sir William's executors sold the lease to
William Lowndes, financier and politician, who became
Secretary to the Treasury in 1695. By that date the
Spittlefields also included a house built by Henry
Swindell, to whom the property was leased for £30 a
year. In 1693 Lowndes petitioned for a further lease of
the property including the Spittlefields, and was granted
a 99-year lease from 1723 at 13s. 4d. a year. (fn. 13) He petitioned in 1723 to purchase from the Crown the reversionary freehold of the property, and the Act was passed
permitting this sale by the Crown. (fn. 14)
William died in 1724 and the Knightsbridge property
passed to his 3rd surviving son Charles (d. 1783), and to
the latter's son William (d. 1808), but from 1805 was
tied up in a trust after the threatened bankruptcy of
William's son William (d. 1831). (fn. 15) Building on the estate
was planned in 1826 but the land in Chelsea was only
finally built over, with Lowndes Square, in the 1830s and
1840s. (fn. 16)
PHYSIC GARDEN
The Society or Company of Apothecaries, which became
an independent society in 1607, leased for 61 years 3½
acres in Eastfield belonging to the manorial demesne
and lying between the highway to Westminster and the
Thames, initially to build a barge-house for the
company's state barge. (fn. 17) The Society built three
barge-houses in the south-east corner of the site by
1675, the easternmost housing the Society's state barge;
the other two, which formed a double house separate
from the first, were leased to various City companies. (fn. 18)
The remaining land was used by the members who were
the proprietors of the Laboratory stock, to grow medicinal herbs, and plants were transferred there from the
Society's garden at Westminster. A wall was built around
the Chelsea Garden in 1674 at the expense of 14 of the
Society's members plus £50 from the proprietors of the
Laboratory stock in return for the privilege of growing
herbs for their own use in the garden. (fn. 1) The garden soon
became well known, visited by Paul Hermann, professor
of Botany at Leiden University in 1683, John Evelyn,
who described its heated conservatory in 1685, and
Linnaeus in 1733. (fn. 2)
Figure 52:
Plan of the layout of the Physic Garden in 1751, showing the Greenhouse and stoves and location of principal trees and plants
In 1722 Sir Hans Sloane conveyed the freehold to the
Society in return for an annual rent charge of £5 and on
certain conditions, chiefly the presentation of 50
different plants annually to the Royal Society until it had
2,000; in case of default Sloane's heirs were to hold the
garden in trust for the Royal Society or Royal College of
Physicians on similar terms. The rent charge does not
appear to have been collected by Sloane or his successors, but by 1794 at least 2,550 specimen plants had been
delivered. (fn. 3)
Under the Thames Embankment (Chelsea) Act of
1868, the Society of Apothecaries lost its river frontage
to the new embankment but gained an additional 3,400
sq. ft of reclaimed land. (fn. 4) The physic garden remained the
private research garden of the Apothecaries until the end
of the 19th century, but because of financial difficulties
the society contemplated giving it up. A local pressure
group ensured the garden's survival and in 1899 its
administration was transferred under a Charity
Commission Scheme to the City Parochial Foundation,
which ran it as a botanical research resource for various
London colleges. In 1981 control passed to a
newly-constituted independent charity which ran it as a
research and educational resource, financing it by
opening the gardens to the public, by letting part of the
premises, and by using the gardens to house various
public and private events. (fn. 5)
RANELAGH ESTATE
The Ranelagh estate, created out of land purchased for
the Royal Hospital, in the early 18th century contained
one of the most significant mansions in Chelsea. Richard
Jones, 3rd Viscount Ranelagh, 1st earl of Ranelagh from
1677, was Paymaster-General of the Army and Treasurer of the Hospital from 1685 to 1702, responsible for
the building and running of the Royal Hospital. (fn. 6) He
designed a house for the Treasurer, which was built
1688-91 to the south-east of the Hospital buildings, (fn. 7)
and was already planting orchards and walling gardens
in 1690 when he obtained a lease of 7½ acres of the
Hospital's lands for 61 years at £15 7s. 6d. a year to the
Hospital. (fn. 1) In 1693 he leased another 15 acres for 5 8 years
at £30 4s. 6d., (fn. 2) and in 1696 he obtained a 99-year lease of
the total 22½ acres for £5 a year. (fn. 3) Pleading the loss of his
Irish property in the late Irish war, he successfully petitioned for the freehold of his Chelsea estate so that he
could make a family settlement, (fn. 4) and in 1698 the Crown
granted to Ranelagh's trustees the freehold of the leased
22½ acres and an additional 5 acres of Crown land,
called St James's Acres, adjoining it on the east side of the
Westbourne in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, all
held of the manor of East Greenwich in free socage on
payment of £5 a year to the Royal Hospital. (fn. 5) The
grounds, converted to orchards and formal tree-lined
and walled gardens, formed the setting for the house, a
substantial brick building of two storeys and attics with a
pedimented centre, entered from the garden by stone
steps. Inside it had a painted staircase and wainscotting
of Norway oak. (fn. 6) In 1710 a visitor considered the estate,
with its views over the Thames and towards London, to
be 'one of the most costly and elegant in all England'. (fn. 7)
In 1695 Ranelagh made a settlement for the benefit of
his two daughters, with the residue left as a charity for
the Royal Hospital. (fn. 8) However, in 1702 the commissioners of accounts found his accounts as Paymaster-General were about 10 years in arrears; this together
with large sums of money issued throughout the war led
to rumours of embezzlement running into millions of
pounds. He was expelled from the House of Commons
and forced to resign his post on the grounds of misapplying public money, mainly as part of an attack by the
Tories against the previous administration: no real
evidence of misappropriation or embezzlement was put
forward then or in a second report in 1704. He spent the
rest of his life trying to settle his accounts, and died in
1712 leaving the large debt to the Exchequer hanging
over his estate; (fn. 9) his attempts to sell Chelsea and his other
property to pay off his debts were unsuccessful because
of the fear that the Crown would seize them for the
debt. (fn. 10) His daughter Catherine (d. 1740) continued to
live in the house, but his debts were such that there was
an unsuccessful attempt in 1717 to pass a bill to sell the
estates. (fn. 11) Eventually in 1730 trustees for the Chelsea
estate were appointed by Parliament, and the estate was
sold in ten lots in 1733. (fn. 12) The largest section, 12¾ acres
including Ranelagh House and the Avenue from the
house to the highway at Ebury, was bought by Benjamin
Timbrell, master builder, and lames Swift, (fn. 13) partly as
building land, but most of it, including the house, was
leased out to create Ranelagh pleasure gardens, which
opened in 1742. (fn. 14) In 1742 the Royal Hospital used Ranelagh's legacy to purchase 4 acres of his former estate,
which became the Governor's Meadow. (fn. 15)
Subscriptions were raised to finance the pleasure
gardens, and after the bankruptcy of the remaining
lessee of the grounds, 36 shares in the property were
issued to the proprietors. (fn. 16) Sir Thomas Robinson (d.
1777), a wealthy London merchant who was instrumental in promoting the gardens, held several of the
shares, and by 1767 had built a large house called Prospect Place to his own design to the east of the rotunda. (fn. 17)
After his death his house and shares were bought by the
proprietors, and by 1793 the freehold of almost all the
pleasure gardens was vested in Tompkins Dew and
Albany Wallis as trustees for the proprietors. (fn. 18) Ranelagh
Gardens closed in 1803 and Ranelagh House and
rotunda were demolished in 1805. (fn. 19) The Royal Hospital
purchased another 6¾ acres of the Ranelagh estate,
including the site of the 'place of amusement', from
G.W. Bulkley in 1826. (fn. 20)
The Wilford/Brett Estate
One of the 36 proprietors of the Ranelagh estate in 1777
was Edward Wilford, who held a parcel of the former
Ranelagh estate next to that of Robinson, as well as land
adjoining Ranelagh on the east side of the parish
boundary. (fn. 21) In 1788 Wilford conveyed his share of the
Ranelagh estate to his son Richard, (fn. 22) who as General
Richard Wilford purchased most of the remainder of the
Ranelagh estate, demolished Prospect Place, and built
another house for himself, three-storeyed with a 100-ft
frontage, parapet roof, and cupola, on an adjacent site.
The estate was broken up after his death in 1822, but
part including his house passed to the Brett family, who
may have been related. (fn. 23) The Revd Joseph George Brett
(d. 1852) owned 10 acres on the eastern border of the
Ranelagh estate in 1847. (fn. 24) Wilford's house was demolished to make way for Chelsea Bridge Road in 1854, (fn. 25)
and in 1857 Brett's son, Wilford George Brett, and other
trustees sold to the Royal Hospital 3 acres forming a strip
along the south-west side of Chelsea Bridge Road, which
was inclosed into the Hospital's grounds. (fn. 1)
Chelsea Barracks The War Office, which originally
planned Chelsea Barracks to face the river at what is now
the lower end of Ranelagh Gardens, built them instead in
1860-2 on the eastern section of the Brett estate, east of
Chelsea Bridge Road. (fn. 2) In 1959-60 the barracks were
demolished and replaced in 1962 with new accommodation, including a 700-ft long building for other ranks,
and two 14-storeyed blocks of flats for married quarters,
designed by Tripe and Wakeham under the direction of
Sir Donald Gibson. (fn. 3)
THE ROYAL HOSPITAL ESTATE
King James's Theological College
A college of divinity to defend the protestant religion was
promoted by Dr Matthew Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, and
supported by James I, who laid the foundation stone of
the college building in Chelsea in 1609, and granted a
charter of incorporation in 1610. The king also endowed
the college with the reversion of 27 acres of Chelsea
manorial demesne in the south-east of the parish,
consisting of Stonybridge Close (4 a. meadow),
Thamesshot (20 a. arable), and 3 a. arable in Eastfield on
the west side of Thamesshot, stretching westward from
the Westbourne and lying on the south side of the road
from Westminster to Chelsea. (fn. 4) The earl and countess of
Nottingham, who then held the manor for the life of the
countess and for a 40-year term after her death, surrendered their interest in the 27 acres in return for £7 10s. a
year to the Crown as holder of Chelsea manor. (fn. 5) By the
1630s the college was being treated as one manorial lease
among many, the provost paying £7 10s. a year for the
college buildings and 6 acres around them, while the rest
of the land was leased out to other farmers, (fn. 6) and the
college and its lands were included in the conveyance of
the lease for life and 40-year term of the manor by
Monson and his wife to James, marquess of Hamilton, to
whom the freehold of the manor was granted by the
Crown in 1638. (fn. 7) In 1647, by which time it was claimed
that no such college at Chelsea had been created, (fn. 8) there
was a case in Chancery over title between Monson and
his second wife and the provost, Samuel Wilkinson. (fn. 9) In
1651, when the Commonwealth authorities were
considering using the college buildings to house prisoners, they conceded Wilkinson's claim, (fn. 10) but when the
estate was surveyed the next year, the buildings and the
27 acres were deemed to be in the possession of the
Commonwealth because the college was discontinued. (fn. 11)
Only one wing of the proposed college buildings had
ever been built, measuring 130 ft by 33 ft in 1652. (fn. 12)
At the Restoration the college's farmland was listed by
the Hamilton estate as part of the property from which
payment of Monson's mortgage was taken. The college
itself, described as a large house, and its 6-acre grounds
were in hand, valued at £1,000. (fn. 13) Among various claimants to the buildings was John Sutcliffe, nephew of the
first provost, who was granted the property, with power
to sell, in 1664, (fn. 14) but the grant was stopped when the
Royal Society petitioned for the college. (fn. 15) The grant to
the Royal Society of the lands granted by James I to the
College was authorized in 1666, and passed in 1668, to
be held in socage of the manor of East Greenwich. (fn. 16)
Hamilton's heirs in 1667 assigned their rights in the
lease of Chelsea College and 5 acres for the residue of the
40-year lease and all other claims to their agent, Andrew
Cole, who in 1668 assigned all interests to the Royal
Society. (fn. 17) The royal grant was formally confirmed in
March 1669, with the proviso that the Society should not
sell or alienate the lands. (fn. 18)
The Royal Hospital
In 1682 the Royal Society sold the estate back to the king
for his new Royal Hospital. (fn. 19) The Hospital was planned
on a much more lavish scale than the college, however,
with a building 240 feet long being built by early 1683, (fn. 20)
and more land was needed, especially to give a frontage
to the river. Several purchases of manorial demesne were
made from Charles Cheyne: 21 a., probably Thamesmead, between the original 27 a. and the river in 1682; (fn. 21)
6 a. known as Sweed or Swede Court on the west side of
the college site in 1686; (fn. 22) 13 a. of Eastfield on the north
side of the Hospital, which formed Burton's Court, in
1687. (fn. 1) The Crown also bought 10 a. which formed the
detached triangle of Kensington parish by the Thames
from William Greene of Westminster in 1685: (fn. 2) 1 r. 26 p.
of that was conveyed to Cheyne to tidy up the boundaries. (fn. 3) In 1687 a two- or three-acre parcel of meadow
belonging to the manor of Ebury (Westm.) was
purchased from Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt, (fn. 4) and a small
piece of glebe was leased to the Hospital, probably by
1692, for the Royal Avenue. (fn. 5) Charles Cheyne died before
a proper conveyance was made, but an Act of 1707
confirmed the purchases and authorized final payment
to William Cheyne, making some boundary adjustments
in which just under half an acre was transferred to the
earl of Carbery. (fn. 6)
The Crown granted leases in 1690 of parts of the
Hospital's estate not required for the building and
grounds. On the west side 4½ a. were leased for the
house and grounds which became Walpole House, while
on the south-east side 7½ a. were leased for Ranelagh
House, to which another 15 a. was added in 1693. The
Walpole House land was returned to the uses of the
Hospital in 1808 and 1889, but the freehold of the Ranelagh land was granted away in 1698. (fn. 7) In 1742 the
Commissioners of the Hospital repurchased 4 a. of the
Ranelagh land, lying between the Hospital and the river
and known as Governor's Meadow, (fn. 8) another 6¾ a.,
including the site of the rotunda, in 1826, and 3 a.
adjoining Chelsea Bridge Road in 1857. (fn. 9) Some 4¾ a. east
of the parish boundary in the parish of St George's
Hanover Square, were purchased for the Hospital from
the Grand Waterworks Company in 1843, and another 3
a. from the Royal Commissioners of Works and Buildings in 1858, including land reclaimed from the river
during the building of the Embankment. (fn. 10)
Initially the Royal Hospital was managed by commissioners who included the Paymaster-General, and from
1702 an independent Board of Commissioners was
appointed by letters patent, who managed not only the
Hospital but all army pensions. (fn. 11) Management of the
Hospital property passed on the abolition of the office of
Clerk of Works in 1837 to the Office of Works, (fn. 12) and
then by 1847 to the Commissioners of the Queen's
Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, whence it was
transferred by Act in 1875 to the Commissioners of
Chelsea Hospital. (fn. 13) By 1872 the Royal Hospital estate
totalled 61¼ a., including 3½ a. leased for Gordon
House, 1½ a. outside the parish boundary also leased
out, and 6¾ a. outside the parish boundary which
formed the south-east corner of the estate in the angle
formed by Chelsea Bridge Road and Chelsea Embankment. (fn. 14) In 1947 the Hospital bought the freehold of the
small piece of glebe at Royal Avenue. (fn. 15)
Walpole House
In 1690 the Crown granted to William Jephson, Secretary to the Treasury, a 61-year lease of 4½ a. of Great
Sweed Court, on the west side of the Hospital's outbuildings, containing an old brick tenement which Jephson
intended demolishing and replacing with a house and
garden. (fn. 16) He died the following year before he could
build, and left the estate to his widow Mary, who in 1696
with her second husband Sir John Awbrey, Bt, assigned
the residue of the lease to Charles Hopson, Deputy Clerk
of Works. Hopson may have been acting on behalf of
Edward Russell, earl of Orford, as he assigned the lease to
him, and Orford's ownership was later confirmed by an
Act of 1708. (fn. 17) When Orford acquired the estate there
was no house on it, and he requested permission c. 1696
to occupy Hopson's rooms in the south-west corner of
the stables, which bordered the Jephson lease. He
enlarged the accommodation at the Hospital's expense,
with additional rooms, garrets, coachhouses, and basement, and laid out a garden on the 4½ a. with a gazebo
on the riverbank. (fn. 18) In 1703 the lodgings which Orford
had adapted were given to the new Treasurer of the
Hospital, the previous Treasurer's house having been
retained by Lord Ranelagh. Orford tried to regain them
with a lease in 1708, claiming that the land he had
acquired from Jephson's executors was too small for a
house, but the Board refused, and the house, now known
as the Treasurer's Lodgings, passed to Robert Walpole in
1714 on his appointment as Paymaster-General.
Walpole began making improvements, designed by Sir
John Vanbrugh, building new coachhouses and stables
and enlarging the small walled garden. (fn. 19)
Having failed to get his lodgings back, in 1714 Orford
granted the remaining years he held in the Jephson lease
to Richard Gough, (fn. 20) who had just acquired the mansion
and grounds adjoining to the west, (fn. 21) and who paid the
rent to the Hospital until 1719. (fn. 22) Walpole, having
obtained a lease of the Treasurer's Lodgings, is said to
have persuaded Gough to join with him in getting
Orford to assign the Crown lease to them both, with
Walpole taking possession of most of the 4½ a., leaving
to Gough some stables he had built near the highway and
Lord Orford's gazebo near the river. (fn. 1) Walpole obtained a
further Crown lease of the estate and of the Treasurer's
lodgings for 29 years after the expiry, in 1751, of the
original term, as well as leases of some of the Hospital's
outbuildings in the stable yard. (fn. 2) The latter were necessary to allow major extensions to be made to the Treasurer's Lodgings 1720-3, with a new wing making the
whole building Z-shaped, and it was subsequently
known as Walpole House. Walpole again employed
Vanbrugh for the alterations and to design garden buildings, including an octagon where Walpole entertained
royalty in 1729. (fn. 3) Walpole also leased 16 a. on the south
side of King's Road 1724-5, (fn. 4) abutting west on Robinson's Lane (Flood Street).
In 1742 Walpole (d. 1745) was created earl of Orford
and retired to Houghton (Norf.); (fn. 5) the Chelsea house was
occupied by the duke of Newcastle. In 1749 Walpole
House estate was leased by the Crown for 50 years to
John Murray, earl of Dunmore (d. 1752), at the nomination of Robert Walpole, 3rd earl of Orford; (fn. 6) there was an
adjustment of boundaries with the Royal Hospital at the
same time. After Dunmore's death his executors let the
house to Viscount Palmerston from 1754 to 1757, and
to the duke of Norfolk in 1758. In 1759 they sold the
leasehold estate for £2,700 to George Aufrere, a London
merchant and art connoisseur, who in 1760 obtained
from the Crown an additional 10-year lease to run from
1799, and another in 1776 for 15 years from 1810; (fn. 7) he
also leased 16½ a. of manorial demesne. (fn. 8) In 1796 he
assigned the leases of Walpole House to his son-in-law,
Charles Anderson-Pelham, Lord Yarborough, who
granted Aufrere and his wife a life interest. (fn. 9) In 1808
Yarborough sold the outstanding leases back to the
Crown so that the Hospital could be given full possession. (fn. 10)
The Royal Hospital retained the northern part of the
estate, which was used for additional buildings including
a new infirmary, built 1808-12 by Sir John Soane, Clerk
of Works, and incorporating part of Walpole House.
The building was extended in 1868-9, and only that later
part survived bombing in 1941; by 1980 it was the site of
the National Army Museum. (fn. 11)
Gordon House
Soane's original plans for the infirmary incorporated the
whole of the 4½ a. of Walpole House, but had to be
altered when in 1810 a Crown lease was granted of 3½ a.
at the southern end of the estate to Lieut.-Col. James
Willoughby Gordon, who had already commissioned
Thomas Leverton to build Gordon House there: the
yellow-brick house was used for the entertainment of
grandees, including the Tsar of Russia, in 1814, and
additions were made in 1825 and in 1931-2. (fn. 12) The lease
lapsed in 1889, and c. 1893 the house became a home for
the Hospital's infirmary nurses. (fn. 13)
SHREWSBURY OR ALSTON HOUSE
Shrewsbury House, a courtyard building with 1½ acres
of grounds, may have been built well before the 16th
century: illustrations of the house made shortly before
its demolition suggest an earlier building, perhaps
timber framed, which was faced with brick in the 16th
century and had subsequent alterations. (fn. 14) The owners
were freeholders of Chelsea manor in the 16th century
and had commoning rights, suggesting a medieval origin
for the holding. (fn. 15) In the early 16th century the house
belonged to George Talbot, 4th earl of Shrewsbury (d.
1538), steward of the household of Henry VIII, and he
occasionally resided there; his son Richard was born in
Chelsea in 1519. (fn. 16) George was succeeded by his son,
Francis (d. 1560), 5th earl, who was listed among the
freeholders of Chelsea in 1543, (fn. 17) and his entry into
Chelsea accompanied by 140 horse was described in
1551. (fn. 18) His son George (d. 1590), 6th earl, dated letters
from Chelsea in the 1580s which refer to his longing to
be in the country, and make it clear he was only in
Chelsea because of his duties at court. (fn. 19) Under a settlement the house passed at his death to his formidable
widow Elizabeth (Bess of Hardwick), (fn. 20) and when she
died in 1608 it passed under her will to her son William
Cavendish (d. 1626), created earl of Devonshire in
1618. (fn. 21) His wife Elizabeth wrote to Lionel Cranfield in
1624 of her affection for the friends she had in Chelsea, (fn. 22)
and she lived there after her husband's death until her
own in 1643. (fn. 23)
The house was acquired by a London merchant,
Joseph Alston, presumably by 1659 when the family is
mentioned in the parish registers; (fn. 1) it is not known
whether there was a connection with the Alstons who
were trustees of the manor in the 1640s. (fn. 2) When Joseph's
son Joseph married in 1662 the Chelsea property was
described in the settlement as the mansion house where
the elder Joseph lived and three other houses near it, (fn. 3)
and Alston was assessed in 1666 for 21 hearths and as the
owner of an empty house of 6 hearths. (fn. 4) He had pasturage
rights in 1664 and 1674. (fn. 5) By 1674 the house was apparently divided, with Alston and 'Esquire Maynard' next to
him assessed at 16 hearths each in addition to the smaller
house, now 8 hearths. (fn. 6) In 1684 Alston House, as it was
now usually called, was still occupied as two dwellings,
with part still the residence of the Alstons and the other
part, in which Lady Bateman had once lived, occupied
by Banaster Maynard for a rent of £100 a year. Sir
Joseph, granted a baronetcy in 1681, by will proved 1688
left his 'great house at Chelsea' to his son Joseph on
condition he allow Sir Joseph's second wife Anne to
continue living there, with the use of a stable, hayloft,
and coachhouse: his wife received 2 coaches and 2 horses
as well as use of Alston's plate. (fn. 7) Anne (d. 1696) was very
highly assessed on her personal estate in Chelsea in
1694, (fn. 8) where she was resident when she wrote her will. (fn. 9)
The property was in the possession of William
Wollaston, clerk, c.1700 who with Anthony Roch
conveyed it to Robert Butler. (fn. 10) Butler by will proved
1712 left it to his wife Martha (d. 1739) for life, and then
to his son Edward. (fn. 11) Edward Butler, president of
Magdalen College Oxford, in 1739 leased the whole
building to two men, one of whom was occupying part,
for 7 years with covenants to make substantial repairs to
brickwork, tiled floors, and window frames. A plan of
the 1½-acre estate shows the buildings on three sides of
the courtyard, with the gateway, a butcher's shop, and
slaughter house on the south side facing the river; on the
north side of the house were gardens stretching north to
the glebe, and a long narrow garden stretched eastwards
from the northern end of the garden, behind the house
and garden of the bishop of Winchester. (fn. 12) On Butler's
death in 1745 the property passed to his daughter and
heir Mary, who in 1747 married Philip Herbert (d.
1749), MP. In 1765 she married her first cousin
Benjamin Tate, (fn. 13) who was taxed in 1780 for four properties in Chelsea, one of them large. (fn. 14) Mary died in 1798
without children, and the Chelsea estate together with
the Tate estates she had inherited through her mother,
Mary Tate (d. 1730), passed to George Tate, Benjamin's
son by his first marriage. George died in 1822 devising
his property in Chelsea and Brompton, including 9 acres
near Blacklands, to his only child Mary for life, and then
to his stepson Richard Moore and his children, the Revd
John FitzMoore Halsey, Mary Bridget Moore, Charlotte
Selina Hobart, Mary Jane Moore, and Edward
FitzMoore. Mary Tate assigned her life interest to the
Moore family in 1829. (fn. 15)
From the late 17th century the house had a variety of
occupants, and was apparently divided into two dwellings by 1674. After Lady Alston's death it was apparently
no longer occupied by its owners. From 1695 to 1713 it
was occupied as a school run by Robert Woodcock (d.
1710) and his wife Deborah, (fn. 16) who were probably in
residence in part of the house before Lady Alston died, as
Robert was a witness to her will in April 1694. (fn. 17) In 1771
it was converted into a distillery, (fn. 18) and later housed a
paper factory. (fn. 19) The house was pulled down and the
materials sold in 1813 by the 'speculating builder' to
whom George Tate presumably sold it. (fn. 20) The house was
described c.1810 as an irregular brick building
surrounding three sides of a quadrangle, with one room
120 ft long, carved oak wainscotting, panels painted with
portraits, and a room which had been an oratory. (fn. 21)
Remnants of Jacobean panelling supposedly belonging
to the west wing of the house survived until 1934,
embedded in nos 43-45 Cheyne Walk including
Terrey's shop, which were either built on the site of a
wing of the mansion, or possibly incorporated the original walls of the wing. (fn. 22) Later building revealed old brickwork, including splayed window surrounds and Tudor
boundary walls. (fn. 23)
SLOANE STANLEY ESTATE
William Roper, listed as a free tenant of the manor in
1543, (fn. 24) in 15 47 was said to hold for life a house and close
called Butts close, with houses built there, a barn, and
garden, rent-free by gift of his father-in-law Sir Thomas
More. The property, called the Morehouse in 1617, was
supposed to revert to More's main estate after Roper's
death, (fn. 1) in 1578, but it was not specified in the grant by
Cecil to Henry Fiennes, 2nd earl of Lincoln, in 1599. The
Roper family seem to have continued to have at least a
leasehold interest in it: Lord Lincoln was said to have
bought it from 'Mr Roper', (fn. 2) and Anthony and Henry
Roper, presumably descendants of William and
Margaret, assigned leases to the earl. It passed with
Lincoln's principal estates to his heir Thomas, 3rd earl
(d. 1619), who in 1617 sold the Morehouse to Sir John
Danvers, to whom the Roper leases were also assigned.
The estate comprised the house and a two-acre close of
pasture with barns, stables, and other buildings. (fn. 3) Some
difficulty ensued between Danvers, Sir Arthur Gorges,
and Lincoln's heirs over a garden plot occupied with
Danvers House, which Danvers subsequently found
belonged to Gorges as part of More's estate; (fn. 4) in 1623
Theophilus, 4th earl of Lincoln, confirmed the sale to
Danvers but minus the garden plot. (fn. 5)
According to Aubrey, Danvers 'had a very fine fancy,
which lay (chiefly) for gardens and architecture': he had
travelled in Italy and was credited with introducing Italian-style gardens to England. (fn. 6) John Thorpe produced
drawings of a house on the property, which he probably
designed. (fn. 7) Danvers House was a compact villa in Italian
mannerist style, planned on an axis of hall and staircase;
its deep cellars were uncovered when Crosby Hall was
transferred to the site in 1909. The English sculptor,
Nicholas Stone, was working on statues for the garden in
1622. (fn. 8) Pepys, who visited in 1661, described Danvers
House as 'the prettiest contrived house that ever I saw in
my life'. (fn. 9)
In 1652 Danvers, who had been deeply in debt for
many years, settled some lands on trustees to pay his
debts and the rest on his son Henry, and died in 1655
leaving his personal estate to his wife and infant son
John. Henry, who was heir to his uncle, the earl of
Danby, died before his father, in November 1654, (fn. 10) and
left both the lands settled on him and those to which he
was heir to his sister Anne and her heirs, and also
appointed her as executrix. (fn. 11) After Sir John's death,
however, there may have been a further settlement of
lands, though Anne still received the Chelsea estate. (fn. 12)
Anne died in 1659 a few months after her husband, Sir
Henry Lee, Bt, leaving her lands and leases to trustees,
and her two infant children, Eleanor and Anne, and her
goods to the care of her mother-in-law Anne, countess
of Rochester. (fn. 13) In 1661 the estate, described as the house
where Danvers had lived, then occupied by John
Robartes, Lord Robartes and later earl of Radnor (d.
1685), and another house held by Richard Gilford and
then Francis Gilford, (fn. 14) was forfeited to the Crown
because Danvers had been a regicide. (fn. 15) The estates were
still held by the Crown in 1670, (fn. 16) but seem to have been
restored to the Lee heiresses by 1675. (fn. 17) In 1666 Lord
Robartes occupied a house of 26 hearths in Chelsea, but
its location in the tax assessment between Buckingham
(Beaufort) House and Gorges House makes that more
likely to have been Lindsey House. (fn. 18) However, the location in the list of the 48-hearth house occupied in 1666
by Charles Rich, 4th earl of Warwick, former
brother-in-law and cousin by marriage of Robartes, and
in 1674 by the Lord Chancellor (Sir Heneage Finch),
makes that more likely to be Danvers House; it was the
second largest house in Chelsea. (fn. 19) Lord Robartes
continued to be named as in possession of the house, (fn. 20)
and held a lease of the property, which was referred to as
Lord Robartes' house in the 1670s, but he was not necessarily the occupant during that period. In 1673 the king
and court were entertained there by the duke of
Monmouth, and by the French ambassador. (fn. 21)
In 1668 the trustees for Anne Lee's daughters
acquired 5 acres of the Buckingham House estate called
Dovehouse or Dovecote Close, which lay north of
Danvers House and gardens, and in 1670 they also
bought the 4O-acre Chelsea Park. (fn. 22) In 1672 Eleanor (d.
1691) married James Bertie, Lord Norreys or Norris,
younger son of the earl of Lindsey and created earl of
Abingdon in 1682, and in 1673 Anne (d. 1685) married
Thomas Wharton (d. 1715), Lord Wharton, created earl
of Wharton in 1706 and marquess of Wharton in 1715, (fn. 23)
In 1681 the sisters and their husbands agreed to the
equal partition of all their inherited estates and in 1685
the Chelsea property, consisting of Danvers House,
Dovehouse Close, and Chelsea Park, was allotted to
Anne Wharton for life with remainder to her husband. (fn. 24)
Danvers House was later demolished and Wharton
granted building leases for the site on which the
southern end of Danvers Street was begun in 1696. (fn. 25) In
1717 the devisees of Thomas, marquess of Wharton, and
Montagu Bertie, earl of Abingdon, the heirs of the Lee
sisters, conveyed their interests in the Danvers estate to
Sir Hans Sloane; the estate was described as the site of the
mansion, its gardens, the site of former stables and
coachway from Church Lane, houses held by Francis
Gilford and Thomas Gilbanck or others, waste 60 ft by
40 ft enclosed by a brick wall and adjoining the Thames
between the horseferry and the above houses, 11 brick
houses in the tenure of Benjamin Stallwood in Danvers
Street and facing the river, the 5-acre Dovehouse Close
and the 40-acre Park both enclosed with brick walls. (fn. 1)
The estate included pews in the parish church in 1719. (fn. 2)
A series of conveyances of the estate were made from
1719 between Sir Hans and his nephew, William Sloane
junior (d. 1767) (fn. 3) who had bought up the building leases
on the property. (fn. 4) Sir Hans settled it in 1726 to give his
brother, William Sloane senior, the right to charge the
lands with portions for his younger children, but in 1733
it was resettled on William Sloane junior, reserving the
us. quitrent owing to Sir Hans as owner of Chelsea
manor. In 1721 William Sloane or Sir Hans Sloane
bought 2 houses at Little Chelsea and 18 a. stretching
southwards to King's Road from Sir John Cope, (fn. 5) and
they were also settled in 1733 on William Sloane. (fn. 6)
William Sloane's estate passed to his son Hans (d. 1827),
who added the name Stanley in 1821 after the death of
Sarah D'Oyley, when he inherited Paultons (Hants.) and
other property under the will of Hans Stanley (d. 1780). (fn. 7)
The Sloane Stanley estates descended in direct male line
to William (d. 1870), William Hans (d. 1879), Hans (d.
1888), and Roger Cyril Hans (d. 1944), who was
succeeded by his daughters, Lavender Elizabeth, wife of
John Everett, and Diana, wife of Elwyn Villiers Rhys. (fn. 8)
STANLEY HOUSE OR GROVE
Dudley, widow of Sir Robert Lane, by 1630 had bought
from her mother, Lady Elizabeth Gorges, a little house
called the Brickills with 6 acres, of which 4 acres had
been inclosed from Westfield and were subject to
lammas grazing rights; in 1630 Lady Lane agreed to give
a rent of 20s. a year forever to the poor if she was
permitted by the freeholders of Chelsea to enclose 3
acres of the lammas lands. She and her mother were
presented to the Privy Council for inclosing the ground,
which had been converted to gardens, but were
supported by the inhabitants of Chelsea. Lady Lane also
held another 11 a. inclosed from Westfield. (fn. 9) The property was the site of the later Stanley House, standing just
north of King's Road at the western end of the parish.
Later in 1630 Lady Lane sold to her mother a small
house and half an acre adjoining it where pits had been
dug, and one acre of pasture on the south side of Fulham
Road, with access through Lady Lane's land from King's
Road to the premises; and in 1631 she sold to her 220
rods of land recently converted into an orchard, also
lying on the south side of Fulham Road and next to Lady
Elizabeth's land; (fn. 10) both transactions are probably of
parts of the Brickills property.
Lady Lane may have sold all of the Brickills back to her
mother, as in 1637 Lady Elizabeth Gorges leased the
Brickills and 5 acres to another daughter, Elizabeth
widow of Sir Robert Stanley, for 31 years for payment of
£20 a year to James Stanley, Elizabeth's second son. (fn. 11)
Lady Stanley may have bought the freehold from her
mother before 1643, when she was assessed in Chelsea
for £60. (fn. 12) Lady Elizabeth Gorges, by will dated 1643, left
her other property in Chelsea for the benefit of the children of her eldest son Arthur, on condition he did not try
to claim the Brickills. (fn. 13) By 1646 Lady Stanley (d. 1675)
had married her cousin Theophilus Fiennes, 4th earl of
Lincoln (d. 1667), (fn. 14) and as Lady Lincoln she was assessed
for 11 hearths in 1666, (fn. 15) being listed just before houses at
Little Chelsea; she presumably lived in the house on the
Brickills. The estate was inherited by her son, Sir Charles
Stanley (d. 1676), and then successively by his sons
Clinton (d. 1682) and William (d. 1691). (fn. 16)
The estate was described in the 1690s as a capital
messuage and 7 acres with barns, stables, gardens and
orchards. At the request of William Stanley, Thomas
Panton had spent £2,000 by 1683 in rebuilding the
house, later known as Stanley House, which was
unfinished at William Stanley's death. Stanley married
Panton's sister Dorothy, but she was presumably dead
by 1691 when he made his will leaving the estate to his
sister-in-law, Elizabeth Panton (d. 1700), who married
Henry Arundell (d. 1726), 5th Lord Arundell of
Wardour. (fn. 17) From 1703 to 1726 the house was occupied
by Joseph Collins, (fn. 18) and from 1727 to 1751 by Thomas
Arundell, a younger son of Lord Arundell, who seems to
have been the owner. (fn. 19) The subsequent rate-payers for
the house, John Jackson 1754-72, Mrs Frances
Southwell 1773-5, and Miss Mary Southwell 1777, were
probably also the owners. (fn. 20) Miss Southwell sold Stanley
House in 1777 to the countess of Strathmore (d. 1800),
an enthusiastic botanist who added conservatories to the
house and raised exotics which were destroyed by her
barbaric husband Andrew Robinson Bowes. After the
marriage broke up the countess sold Stanley Grove in
1780 to Lewis Lochie or Lochée, founder of a military
academy at Little Chelsea and a military adventurer who
was executed by the Austrians in 1791. (fn. 1)
Figure 53:
Stanley House or Grove in the 1820s
The estate was acquired c. 1815 by William Hamilton,
the English envoy at Naples, who had accompanied Lord
Elgin to Greece and who built a large hall on the east side
of the house to accommodate his antique casts,
mentioned by Fanny Burney, who visited in 1821. In
1841 Hamilton sold the estate to the National Society,
which built St Mark's College in the grounds and used
Stanley House as the principal's residence. (fn. 2) When the
college moved to Plymouth in 1973 the GLC purchased
the estate, which was subsequently sold to Chelsea
College. (fn. 3) After that college left, the buildings were
threatened with demolition, but from c. 1999 the college
buildings were converted into residential accommodation, called Kings Chelsea, with the grove on the east side
being kept for public access. (fn. 4)
Stanley House, 'in excellent condition and but little
altered' c. 1892, (fn. 5) had been considerably altered and was
in a poor state of repair by 1991 when it was under threat
of conversion to commercial offices. The square house,
with characteristics of the 1680s when it was rebuilt, had
two principal floors of equal grandeur linked by a
spacious staircase, a hipped roof and dormer windows,
surmounted by a leaded flat roof with a balustrade and
cupola, and early 18th-century internal panelling. (fn. 6) It
was exhaustively renovated by the developers of the
estate c.2000, but no plans for its use were available in
2002.
WARTON ESTATE
In 1650 and 1651 Sir Michael Warton of Beverley
(Yorks.) bought a considerable part of the Gorges estate
in Chelsea and Kensington, (fn. 7) including in Chelsea 53½ a.
arable and 3½ a. and 28 lots (c.7 a.) of meadow, mostly
in Little Chelsea, Westfield, and Eastfield near Chelsea
common; it was occupied by five lessees, two of whom
had farmhouses in Little Chelsea. (fn. 8) After Sir Michael's
death in 1655 his estates passed to his son Michael (d.
1688), and then to the latter's son Sir Michael (d. 1725).
Sir Michael left his estates to his heirs, his three sisters
Elizabeth (d. 1726), wife of Charles Pelham, Mary (d.
c. 1727), wife of Sir James Pennyman, Bt, and Susannah
(d. 1737), wife of Sir John Newton, Bt; he appointed his
nephew Michael Newton as his executor. (fn. 9) In 1775 an Act
was passed for the partition of the Warton estates in
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex and the City of
London among the grandsons of the sisters, Charles
Anderson-Pelham (d. 1823), later Lord Yarborough, Sir
James Pennyman, Bt (d. 1808), and Michael Newton. (fn. 10)
Newton's portion included the 3½-acre close called
Queen's Elm Field, at the junction of Upper Church
Lane and Fulham Road, occupied by John Rubergall,
gardener, and sold for building in 1792; the western
portion became the Jews' burial ground. (fn. 11) Pennyman's
portion, including property in Fulham, Kensington, and
Holborn, with 1½ a. meadow by the Thames in Chelsea,
was sold by auction in 1780. (fn. 12) The Kensington property
was acquired in 1812 by James Gunter (d. 1819), confectioner of Berkeley Square, (fn. 1) who had made a fortune as a
fashionable pastrycook in Mayfair. He built up a
substantial estate at Earl's Court (Kens.), where he lived
and which was the centre of his family's successful
market gardening business. (fn. 2) In 1817 he also acquired the
Warton land which lay between Stanley House and Little
Chelsea and stretched from Fulham Road to King's
Road. (fn. 3) The estate, entailed under his will, passed to his
son Robert (d. 1852), who in 1847 had 19 acres of
unbuilt land at Little Chelsea. (fn. 4) He was succeeded by his
son Robert, later Sir Robert Gunter, Bt (d. 1905), the
latter's son Sir Robert Benyon Nevill Gunter, Bt (d.
1917), and his son Sir Ronald Vernon Gunter, Bt. (fn. 5) The
estate was sold off gradually: land forming the eastern
part of St Mark's College chapel was sold to the National
Society in 1854, (fn. 6) many houses and parcels of land were
sold by auction in 1857, including nos 429-35 Fulham
Road (formerly nos 1-4 Hollywood Place), and Week's
Nursery in King's Road, (fn. 7) and part of Fernshaw Road
(formerly Maude Grove) in 1918. (fn. 8)