Belhus is a golf course, country park, former stately home and manor in the parish of Aveley in Essex, England. The historic manor was known in medieval times variously as "Bellhouse, Belhouse (as commemorated by today's "Belhouse Avenue" in the village of Aveley), Bell House", etc. It is now part of the Thames Chase woodland planned for the area.
The name Belhus derived from the 14th-century tenants of the manor who, according to Morant (1768), came from Ramsden Bellhouse.[1] The name is associated with Nicholas de Belhus,[2] who may have taken his surname name from the manor. It was later the home of the Barrett family, later the Barrett-Lennard family.
The house was visited by Queen Elizabeth I in 1578.[3] Belhus was among the properties owned by Dorothy, Lady Dacre, after the death of her husband.[4] After her own death, an inventory was taken of her possessions at Belhus.[5]
In the middle of the 18th century, the mansion was substantially altered to conform to the fashionable "gothic" style.[7] Thurrock Museum has a 19th-century copy of an earlier original painting showing how the mansion looked around 1710.[8]
The portrait of Mary Neville, Baroness Dacre, that once hung at Belhus
Among the family portraits at Belhus was a work by Hans Eyworth - Mary Neville, Baroness Dacre - now in the National Gallery of Canada.[9] This was seen at Belhus in 1761 by the art historian, Horace Walpole.[10]
The Barrett-Lennard family auctioned the contents of Belhus in 1923 and the house was demolished after World War II, due to suffering bomb damage as well as vandalism from the military personnel who were stationed there.
Belhus today
The grounds around the mansion were landscaped by Capability Brown in the 1740s and 1750s.[11] Some of the features including earthen mounds can be seen in the original parkland which is currently used for part of the golf course operated by Impulse Leisure. The remains of the mansion can still be seen on the 10th hole of the golf course.
The 'long pond' is another feature designed by Capability Brown although it was actually built by Richard Woods.[12] It can still be seen, although the construction of the M25 motorway has robbed it of its original rural setting. A wooded country park has been developed using other parts of the grounds of the house.
Some parts of the original interior are in the Thurrock Museum, including a magnificent fireplace. Other parts of the interior were rescued when the house was demolished and are displayed at Valence House Museum, Dagenham.
The grounds of the estate were placed on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2018. In 2021 Historic England carried out onsite research into the grounds, and the remains of Tudor gardens were discovered.[13]
Thurrock is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames immediately east of London and has over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront including the Port of Tilbury, the principal port for London. Thurrock is within the London commuter belt and is an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The borough includes the northern ends of the Dartford Crossing.
Baron Dacre is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England, each time by writ.
Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England.
Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom census it had a population of 9,801.
South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to the north is North Ockendon. In 2019 it had an estimated population of 22,303 and in the 2021 United Kingdom census it had a population of 22,442
Cassiobury Park is the principal public park in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It was created in 1909 from the purchase by Watford Borough Council of part of the estate of the Earls of Essex around Cassiobury House which was subsequently demolished in 1927. It comprises over 190 acres (77 ha) and extends from the A412 Rickmansworth Road in the east to the Grand Union Canal in the west, and lies to the south of the Watford suburb of Cassiobury, which was also created from the estate. The western part is a 62-acre (25.1 ha) Local Nature Reserve managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. The park hosts the free, weekly timed parkrun 5 km event every Saturday morning at 9 am, starting on the field near the Shepherds Road entrance to the park, and finishing by the bandstand.
Cassiobury House was a country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison, it was substantially remodelled in the 17th and 19th centuries and ultimately demolished in 1927. The surrounding Cassiobury Park was turned into the main public open space for Watford.
Moor Park is a Neo-Palladian mansion set within several hundred acres of parkland to the south-east of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is called Moor Park Mansion because it is in the old park of the Manor of More. It now serves as the clubhouse of Moor Park Golf Club.
Mary Fiennes, Baroness Dacre was the daughter of George Neville, 5th Baron Bergavenny by his third wife, Lady Mary Stafford, youngest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.
Sir Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh,, Bt, was an English politician.
Sir Hugh Dacre Barrett-Lennard, 6th Baronet was a Catholic priest. He previously served in the British Army in the Second World War, being mentioned in dispatches and ending the war as a captain. He became a priest of the London Oratory after the war, where he was noted for his eccentricity.
Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and 25 miles (40 km) from central London.
Lypiatt Park is a medieval and Tudor manor house with notable nineteenth-century additions in the parish of Bisley, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The grounds include a fine group of medieval outbuildings. It is a Grade I listed building.
Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 1st Baronet FSA, DL was a British politician and baronet.
The Mardyke is a small river, mainly in Thurrock, that flows into the River Thames at Purfleet, close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. In part, it forms the boundary between the Essex hundreds of Barstable and Chafford. The river gives its name to the Mardyke Valley—a project aimed at increasing appreciation and usage of recreational land around the Mardyke.
Orleans House was a Palladian villa built by the architect John James in 1710 near the Thames at Twickenham, England, for the politician and diplomat James Johnston. It was subsequently named after the Duc d'Orléans who stayed there in the early 19th century. By the early 20th century it was derelict and in 1926 it was mostly demolished. However, parts of the property, including a baroque octagonal room designed by architect James Gibbs, were preserved. The octagon room and its service wing are listed Grade I by Historic England and, together, with a converted stable block, are now the Orleans House Gallery, a gallery of art relating to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and neighbouring areas of London.
Sir Thomas Richard Fiennes Barrett-Lennard, 5th Baronet, was a British banker who had served as vice-chairman of Norwich Union and Chairman of the East Anglian Trustee Savings Bank.
Thomas Barrett-Lennard was a British Whig politician.
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