Twickenham: Other estates

OTHER ESTATES.

Apart from the holdings which became the nucleus of Twickenham manor, there seem to have been few medieval freeholds in the parish, and even fewer of any size. (fn. 1) A number of larger estates were built up later, many of them copyhold of Isleworth Syon. (fn. 2) With one possible exception, the most important of the estates which can be traced belonged to the owners of large houses in the parish. (fn. 3) The exception was an estate at Whitton which seems to have comprised well over 200 acres of freehold and copyhold from the 18th to the 20th century. Included in it was the house just south of Old Manor Drive, Whitton, which was possibly that described in 1730 as Whitton Court House, (fn. 4) and possibly also another on the south of Whitton, which belonged to Sir John Suckling in the 17th century. (fn. 5) This property at one time belonged to Edmund Hill of Hounslow Powder Mills. (fn. 6) None of the other estates seems to have been so large and many consisted chiefly of pleasure grounds. In 1846, apart from the Whitton estate just mentioned and from that of the Duke of Northumberland, (fn. 7) there were four holdings of over 100 acres. (fn. 8) One of these (101 a.) belonged to Augustus Gostling of Whitton Park, another (190 a.) to Sir William Clay, M.P., of Fulwell Lodge (later Fulwell Park), the third (101 a.) to G. B. Cole of the brewery, and the fourth (151 a.) to the owner of the Lodge, in the Hampton Road. (fn. 9) There were also five estates of over 50 acres (including part of the former Twickenham Park) and eleven more of over 20. (fn. 10) Some of the estates which were largely pleasure grounds have remained intact as recreation grounds in public ownership, but most of the rest have been built over. (fn. 11)

The medieval estates or manors of Worton or Aydstones and Wyke, in Isleworth and Heston parishes, both included lands in Twickenham, (fn. 12) and Sir Thomas Gresham acquired property there when he was accumulating his Osterley estate. (fn. 13) Land in Twickenham was conveyed with Gayles manor in Teddington in 1607, and Sir Charles Duncombe (d. 1711) owned both Gayles and a farm in Twickenham. (fn. 14) Hanworth and Feltham manors were also conveyed with lands in Twickenham in 1670. (fn. 15)