Little Grove, originally Danegrove, was a house and estate that once existed in East Barnet on high ground to the south of Cat Hill. The original house on the site dated from at least the mid sixteenth century. In 1719, it was demolished and replaced with a house known as New Place but the house soon returned to the name of Little Grove. That house was demolished in 1932 to make way for a housing development.
A house had stood on the site since at least the 16th century. David Pam dates the construction of the house to 1553. [1] The court rolls of the manor record that William Copwood of Totteridge disposed of some part of Danegrove, or what it then was composed of, to David Woodroffe, citizen and haberdasher of London (died 1563), who as sheriff oversaw the execution of two protestant martyrs in 1555 and was criticised for the cruelty of his methods. Woodroffe's wife Elizabeth took a life interest in the property following her husband's death but surrendered Danegrove (9 acres) and Daneland (12 acres) to other members of the Woodroffe family. [2]
In 1610, Sir Christopher Rooper was renting the property and was threatened with a fine of 20 shillings if he did not remove a manure heap his servants had placed on the King's road between Bourn Gate (later referred to as Bohun Gate) and Doggett's Hill. Meanwhile, the estate continued in the ownership of the Woodroffe family who purchased additional lands and made sales of others, such that Frederick Cass argued in the 1880s in East Barnet that the composition of the estate had no consistent identity over time. [3]
Anthony Bouchier, clerk in the Remembrancer's office of the Exchequer, leased part of the estate in the early 1630s. He is mentioned in church records in 1632 and 1633 as "inhabiting Mr. Woodroffe's house". [4]
In 1719, the existing Little Grove was replaced by John Cotton of the Middle Temple with a house that he called New Place, but the house and estate soon reverted to the original name. [2]
In 1767, Edward Willes, then Solicitor General for England and Wales, purchased the estate. [5] The landscape gardener, Capability Brown, received £700 from Willes for work carried out at Little Grove in 1768. [6] [7]
A number of closes or meadows were amalgamated by the Willes family to create the estate.[ citation needed ]
Frederick Cass senior, father of Frederick Charles Cass (1824–1896) who wrote East Barnet, lived in the house in the mid 19th century and died there on 17 May 1861. [8]
The house was then bought by the Conservative party politician Alexander Henry Campbell in July 1862. In October 1868, The Times carried advertising stating that the house, having failed to sell at auction, was now available for offers. It was stated to be "a moderate-sized mansion, in the Italian style, with charming terraces and gardens, overlooking a delightful and finely-timbered park, with a model farmery; the whole in perfect order, and extending over about 110 acres". [9] It was sold in December 1871 to Sigismund James Stern. [10] After Stern's death in 1885, the house was occupied by his widow Margaret, who was buried with her husband at St Mary the Virgin church, East Barnet. She was described as the "Lady Bountiful" of the parish. [11]
In January 1912, The Times reported that Little Grove with 112 acres had been sold. [12] From 1921 to 1924 the house was owned by the American actress Shirley Kellogg who was said to have spent £10,000 restoring it, a very large amount of money at that time. The house was known as Shirley Grove during her ownership. [13]
On 21 June 1927, [14] the house was sold again by auction, the advertising noting "pleasure grounds of nearly three acres" and "three exceptionally fine building sites". [15] In August 1931, the house was offered for sale again on behalf of the executors of Mr J.J. O'Brien [16] with the completion of the sale announced in The Times in November that year. [17]
Little Grove was demolished in 1932 [18] to make way for a housing estate. Only the remains of a cottage garden now exist. [7] The house is remembered by the street Littlegrove in East Barnet which runs from Church Hill Road to Eton Avenue but is some distance from the site of the former Little Grove house. Danegrove Primary School and the residential street Daneland are near the former site of Little Grove.
Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18,451 inhabitants as of 2011.
Southgate is a suburban area of North London, England in the London Borough of Enfield. It is located around 8 miles (13 km) north of Charing Cross. The name is derived from being the south gate to Enfield Chase.
Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It is part of the Whetstone postal district (N20).
The London Borough of Barnet is a suburban London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London borough by population with 384,774 inhabitants, also making it the 13th largest district in England. The borough covers an area of 86.74 square kilometres (33 sq mi), the fourth highest of the 32 London boroughs, and has a population density of 45.8 people per hectare, which ranks it 25th.
Whetstone is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, bearing the postcode N20. It is to the east of Totteridge, and these areas are known together as Totteridge and Whetstone. Whetstone is around 8.5 miles North of Charing Cross and is within the boundaries of the historic county of Middlesex. The combined areas of Totteridge and Whetstone was, at the outset of the 21st century, found to be the 63rd-richest of the more than 9,000 wards of the United Kingdom.
East Barnet is an area of north London within the London Borough of Barnet bordered by New Barnet, Cockfosters and Southgate. It is a largely residential suburb whose central area contains shops, public houses, restaurants and services, and the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. East Barnet is close to the M25 and the A1 and M1.
Osidge is a district in the London Borough of Barnet, between Brunswick Park and Southgate, just west of the border with the London Borough of Enfield. It may be loosely defined as the part of postal district N14 that is in Barnet. Osidge has no formal border and is entirely enclosed within the electoral ward of Brunswick Park, East Barnet; however Oak Hill Park forms a natural boundary to the North and Pymmes Brook to the West, with the A111 to the East and the Piccadilly line to the South/East.
New Southgate is a residential suburb straddling three Outer London Boroughs: a small part of the east of Barnet, a south-west corner of Enfield and in loosest definitions, based on nearest railway stations, a small northern corner of Haringey in North London, England where estates merge into Bounds Green.
The London Borough of Barnet, located on the northern periphery of London and having much of the area within its boundaries in the Metropolitan Green Belt, has many parks and open spaces. In addition there are large areas taken over by cemeteries and golf courses, and part of Hampstead Heath.
Hadley Wood is an affluent suburb in the north of Greater London, close to the border with Hertfordshire. It appears to be a stand-alone village surrounded by Green Belt land, however, under the Local Government Act 1972 it is part of the London Borough of Enfield, about 11 miles (17.7 km) north of Charing Cross.
Edward Willes was an English barrister, politician, and judge.
Beech Hill Park is a Grade II listed building off Beech Hill in Hadley Wood, North London, that is used today as the club house of Hadley Wood Golf Course. It was built in 1781 for Francis Russell, secretary and surveyor to the Duchy of Lancaster, on land he received when Enfield Chase was broken up. It was later in the ownership of Charles Jack, a property developer who was primarily responsible for the development of Hadley Wood.
William Franks was a landowner in East Barnet, Hadley Wood and Cheshunt, and the owner of a large estate in the former Enfield Chace.
Frederick Charles Cass (1824-1896) was the rector of the parish of Monken Hadley in north London. His father, also Frederick Cass, owned the relevant advowson giving the right to make such appointments. He was the author of works of local history relating to South Mimms, Monken Hadley and East Barnet.
Frederick Cass DL was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, 1844–45. He was resident at Beaulieu Lodge, Winchmore Hill, Edmonton, and later Little Grove, East Barnet.
Sigismund James Stern was a German-born merchant in the Manchester cotton trade. He was later active in banking in London and owned the Little Grove house and estate in East Barnet to the north of the city.
Folly Farm, originally Folly House, on the southern edge of Monken Hadley Common, was a farm that dated from 1686 and became a popular recreation site in the early 20th century. The site is now occupied by the Jewish Community Secondary School.
Danegrove Primary School, formerly Littlegrove Mixed School and Oakland School, is a primary school in East Barnet in north London. It is on two sites, Ridgeway Avenue and Windsor Drive. The school buildings at Ridgeway Avenue, which joins Daneland, are grade II listed with Historic England.
Minchenden Oak Garden is a public park in Southgate, London owned by the London Borough of Enfield.
Willenhall House was a house and estate located to the south of Chipping Barnet, on the borders of Hertfordshire and Middlesex, in what is now north London. It was designed by John Buonarotti Papworth in 1829 for the East Indies merchant Thomas Wyatt to replace an existing house on a piece of land that was once part of the ancient Pricklers estate. Wyatt named it after Willenhall in the English West Midlands, the place of his birth. The house was demolished in 1890 and the site developed for housing over the following decades.
Media related to Little Grove at Wikimedia Commons Coordinates: 51°38′42″N0°09′12″W / 51.6449°N 0.1534°W