| Battlesden House | |
|---|---|
 The coach house of Battlesden House | |
| General information | |
| Type | Manor house |
| Location | Battlesden, Bedfordshire |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°57′08″N0°36′27″W / 51.95215°N 0.60743°W |
Battlesden House was a large manor house situated in parkland, Battlesden Park, close to the hamlet of Battlesden in Bedfordshire, England.
Battlesden is a hamlet and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is just north of the A5, between Dunstable and Milton Keynes. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 38. Because of its low electorate, it has a parish meeting rather than a parish council. It is in the civil parish of Milton Bryan.
Bedfordshire is a county in the East of England. It is a ceremonial county and a historic county, covered by three unitary authorities: Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
A manor house was constructed in the late 16th century and was associated with the family of Lord Bathurst before he sold the estate to Sir Gregory Page in 1724. The estate was later inherited by Page's great-nephew Sir Gregory Page-Turner in 1775. [1]
Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst,, of Oakley Park, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire known as The Lord Bathurst from 1712 to 1772, was a British Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bathurst.
Sir Gregory Page, 2nd Baronet, was an English art collector and landowner, and a baronet in the Baronetage of Great Britain.
Sir Gregory Page-Turner, 3rd Baronet was a wealthy landowner and politician in late 18th century England, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Thirsk for 21 years.
The original house was demolished in 1860 and a new house was built in 1864. [2] This had 40 rooms and a large ballroom and cost £70,000 to build, while the surrounding parkland and lake were created by Sir Joseph Paxton. [2] However, the owner, Sir Edward Page-Turner did not like the house, preferring to let it to a wealthy tenant before selling the estate to Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford in 1885. [2] The Duke, who already owned two country houses in the county, was interested in the land rather than the building, so he ordered the partial demolition of the house in 1886. [2] Only the ground floor was retained, which was used as a nursing home during the First World War and a maternity home in the Second World War. [2] This was demolished after the war leaving just the Garden House, which is today a private dwelling. Two identical lodges built in a style to match the house, one on the A5 Watling Street and the other on A4012 (now, in 2019, the B5704) near Milton Bryan provided access to the estate, and remain in existence although in private ownership. [2]
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener, architect and Member of Parliament, best known for designing the Crystal Palace and for cultivating the Cavendish banana, the most consumed banana in the Western world.
Francis Charles Hastings Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford KG was an English politician and agriculturalist.
According to legend, the house was haunted by the ghost of a steward, who would recite the rhyme:
- 'Milk and water I sold ever,
- Weight and measure I gave never
- And I shan't rest, never, never.' [1]
