Large Houses in Aldenham
Return to Aldenham main page
|
|
Aldenham Abbey
WALL HALL, N of Edge Grove. Castellated, turreted, and cemented house of 1802 (then given the fancy name Aldenham Abbey) and c.1830. Some artificial ruins, an Ionic covered garden seat, and an icehouse in the grounds. Since 1945 a teacher training college, with extensive buildings by the County Architect's Department (1961-8 by R. L. Pye; library 1970-1 by A. J. Janes) linked to the old house by the facade of the big Gothic conservatory. The stable block, with weather boarded clock tower, has been attractively converted. [The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire]
The house has now been converted to apartments as part of a housing development [details].
See Wall Hall: From Farmhouse to University
 |
Aldenham Grange Postcard posted 1917 In 1917 Major Kenelm Edgcumbe lived at Aldenham Grange, Letchmore Heath. [Kelly's Directory for Hertfordshire] [Kenelm William Edward Edgcumbe (1893-1965), later 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe] |
|
Aldenham House Aldenham House, formerly called "Wigbournes," the seat of Lord Aldenham, is a spacious mansion of red brick, erected about the end of the 17th century, and standing in a park of about 200 acres; to the right of the house is a lofty clock tower with vane. [Kelly's Directory, 1912] There is a detailed description of the house in Pevsner's Hertfordshire. |
 |
|
Aldenham House is now the home of the Haberdashers' Aske School. |
Tykeswater runs from Aldenham Reservoir, which is said to have been built by French POWs in the Napoleonic Wars. It runs towards Radlett through the grounds of Aldenham House, where the Lord Aldenham of the time created Tykeswater Lakes with a very fine, and ornate, bridge on his drive to the Lodge at Alum Lane. All of the gardens were rated as high as Kew Gardens until the rare shrubs and trees were sold by auction on the death of Vicary Gibbs (Lord Aldenham) in 1932. The BBC took over the estate in 1941 and the gardens were allowed to go wild - but there is still evidence of the original design (see Don Wratten's book for this story). For us the lakes and the bridge are a beautiful relic of the past. [Aldenham Parish Council Guide, 2000] |
 |
Otterspool posted 1910 Stephen Taprell Holland (1843-1922) lived at Otterpool, and built and paid for Holy Rood Church, Watford. See lengthy biography on the Holy Rood Church web site
See Wall Hall: From Farmhouse to University for a history of the house.
|
| Aldenham
School
Books
The History of Aldenham School Web Site |
 School as built in 1599
|
Return to Aldenham main page
If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.