Shendish Manor is a country house at Apsley in Hertfordshire.
Shendish Manor is a country house at Apsley in Hertfordshire.
The history of Shendish Manor goes back to the 13th century when Ralf de Chenduit was granted land in the area. [1] Ralf de Chenduit's family built a manor on the site in about 1300; it passed to Richard and Alice Parker in about 1364, to John Cheyne, the local squire, in about 1560 and then to John Beale, a London grocer, in about 1650. [1]
The house changed hands many times before coming into the ownership of Charles Longman, who was part of the long standing family publishing firm Longman, in 1853. [2] Charles also joined the associated company of John Dickinson and Co. In 1835 he married Anna Maria Surman Lewis who was the daughter of John Hampton Lewis of Henllys in Wales. [3]
In 1853 Charles Longman commissioned the architect John Griffith to build Shenish. The famous landscaper Edward Kemp was employed to design the gardens. Kemp wrote about this task in his book “How to Lay Out a Garden”. [4] The house was described by one newspaper in the following terms:
When Charles died in 1873, his son Arthur Hampton Longman (1843–1908) inherited the property. He also inherited a very large fortune which had been accumulated by Charles. Arthur was also in the publishing business but was particularly interested in local public affairs. He was also enthusiastic about many forms of sport including hunting, yachting, shooting and fishing. [7] An article, with photo, was in the publication "Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes". [8]
In 1866 he married Alicia Forster, daughter of John Forster of Malverleys, Newbury, Hampshire. However the couple had no children so when Arthur died in 1908 Shendish Manor was inherited by his cousin Thomas Norton Longman (1849–1930) who lived there from 1908. [9] After Longman's father died he became a Director of the Longman publishing firm. [10]
The house was used as a British Army camp during World War I. [11] Henry Longman sold the property in 1936 to John Dickinson Stationery who used it as a sports and social club. [11] In 1994 it became a hotel and conference centre. [12]
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford, and the county town is Hertford.
Apsley is a village in Hertfordshire, England, in a valley of the Chiltern Hills below the confluence of the River Gade and Bulbourne. It was the site of water mills serving local agriculture and from the early 19th century became an important centre for papermaking. Today it is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead.
Viscount Davidson, of Little Gaddesden in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 June 1937 for the Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead, Sir J. C. C. Davidson.
Sir John Evans was an English antiquarian, geologist and founder of prehistoric archaeology.
Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park are the medieval St. Mary's Church and the Lytton family mausoleum. It was the seat of the Earl of Lytton, and now the house of the family of the Baron Cobbold of Knebworth.
Hertfordshire is an English county, founded in the Norse–Saxon wars of the 9th century, and developed through commerce serving London. It is a land-locked county that was several times the seat of Parliament. From origins in brewing and papermaking, through aircraft manufacture, the county has developed a wider range of industry in which pharmaceuticals, financial services and film-making are prominent. Today, with a population slightly over 1 million, Hertfordshire services, industry and commerce dominate the economy, with fewer than 2000 people working in agriculture, forestry and fishing.
John Dickinson Stationery Limited was a leading English stationery company founded in southwest Hertfordshire. In the 19th century, the company pioneered a number of innovations in papermaking. It became part of Dickinson Robinson Group in 1966; after changes of ownership, the John Dickinson brand was retired in 2008.
Bayford is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 435, increasing to 466 at the 2011 Census. The village is about three miles south of Hertford, and is served by Bayford railway station.
Westonbirt House is a country house in Gloucestershire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of the town of Tetbury. It belonged to the Holford family from 1665 until 1926. The first house on the site was an Elizabethan manor house. The Holfords replaced it first with a Georgian house, and then Robert Stayner Holford, who inherited Westonbirt in 1839, replaced that house between 1863 and 1870 with the present mansion which was designed by Lewis Vulliamy. He also remodelled the gardens, diverted the main road and relocated the villagers.
Langleybury is a country house and estate in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the centre of the town of Watford. The house stands on a low hill above the valley of the River Gade.
The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the title of Sheriff of Hertfordshire was retitled High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. The High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown in England and Wales, their purpose being to represent the monarch at a local level, historically in the shires.
Wigginton is a large village and civil parish running north–south and perched at 730 ft (220 m) on the edge of the Chiltern Hills and aside the border with Buckinghamshire. It is part of Dacorum district in the county of Hertfordshire. The nearest towns are Tring in Hertfordshire and across the other side of the A41, Chesham and Wendover, both in Buckinghamshire. Adjacent to the main village is the settlement of Wigginton Bottom where a number of farmworkers cottages were built during the 19th century.
Hanbury Manor, centred on the multi-wing Hanbury Manor Hotel, is a converted late-Victorian country house and adjoining golf course in Thundridge, north of Ware, Hertfordshire, some 10 miles (16 km) north of Greater London. It is part of a leisure retreat and country club owned by Marriott Hotels. The house is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England.
The Grove is a large hotel in Hertfordshire, England, with a 300–acre (1.2 km2) private park next to the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal. It touches on its north-west corner the M25 motorway and remains a small part in Watford. The estate is situated within three different settlements; most of the land and all of the mansion itself are in the civil parish of Sarratt, and also in the ecclesiastical parish of Langleybury, while the estate lies within the post town of Rickmansworth.
Kings Langley Palace was a 13th-century royal palace which was located to the west of the Hertfordshire village of Kings Langley in England. During the Middle Ages, the palace served as a residence of the Plantagenet kings of England. It fell into disuse sometime during the 16th century and became a ruin. Today, nothing remains of the building except for some archaeological remains. The site is a scheduled ancient monument.
Dorchester House was a mansion in Park Lane, Westminster, London, which had many different forms over time. The last version used as a private residence was that built in 1853 by Robert Stayner Holford. It was demolished in 1929 to make way for the present Dorchester Hotel.
Sir Richard Combe of Hemel Hempstead, was knighted by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell during the Interregnum and again shortly after the Restoration by Charles II.
The Bury is a building of historical significance in Hemel Hempstead in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It was erected in about 1790 by an attorney who worked in the town. It was the residence for the next two centuries of many notable people. It is now owned by the Dacorum Borough Council and is Grade II* listed.
Gennings Park, located on Lughorse Lane near Hunton, Kent, is a Grade II listed house which was built between 1727 and 1745. The home was listed on 5 December 1984. The document indicates that the house "possibly incorporating part of a late C16 or C17 house" was extensively modified in the subsequent years, and was "thought to be the setting for 'Pride and Prejudice'. ". That assumption is not supported by other sources, however. The house was seriously damaged by fire in March 2024.
Hitchin Priory in Hitchin in Hertfordshire is today a hotel built in about 1700 on the site of a Carmelite friary founded in 1317, which was closed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII. Parts of the original priory are incorporated in the existing building, which has been a Grade I listed building on the Register of Historic England since 1951.