| Colworth House | |
|---|---|
 | |
  | |
| General information | |
| Type | Manor house/Science park |
| Location | Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°13′50″N0°33′54″W / 52.23053°N 0.56505°W |
| Ordnance Survey | SP9810060108 |
| Construction started | 1715 |
| Client | Mark Antonie |
| Owner | Wrenbridge |
| Designations | Grade II* listed |
Colworth House is an 18th-century mansion set in an area of parkland on the edge of the village of Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. [1]
The surrounding site has been occupied since prehistoric times. The current house was started in 1715 by Mark Antonie, a self-made man who aspired to become part of the landed gentry. It passed down to John Antonie, who bequeathed it on his death to a cousin, the MP William Lee, who then adopted the additional surname of Antonie. On his own death in 1815 William Lee Antonie left it to his nephew, the astronomer and antiquarian John Fiott, who thereupon adopted the surname of Lee. [2]
The house and extensive grounds were acquired in 1935 by Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett and subsequently sold to Unilever in November 1947, who restored and developed them into a research laboratory through 1948, with the first staff moving in during 1950. Unilever employed up to 1,750 people at Colworth during the 1970s and constructed several laboratory buildings surrounding a central grassed park.
In 2004 Unilever entered into a joint venture with property investment company Arlington Securities to manage Colworth Science Park, with the aim of turning it into a science cluster by attracting science businesses, academic outposts, and science-based entrepreneurs. Arlington was subsequently acquired by Goodman, a property group involved in long-term ownership, development, and management of commercial and industrial property. In 2015, the joint venture vehicle was acquired by Palmer Capital and Wrenbridge Land. Colworth Science Park remains one of Unilever's six research centres located around the world with around 750 Unilever employees. An additional 200 personnel are employed by several small companies located on the site. [3]
The Colworth House grounds was the location of a Channel 4 Time Team programme, first broadcast on February 22, 2009. Numerous finds by amateur archaeologists led to the discovery of a Roman villa and farm in a field adjacent to the property. [4]
Colworth House has also given its name to the Colworth Medal, established by the late Professor Tony James of Unilever Research and Professor Henry Arnstein of the Biochemical Society in 1963. The award recognises outstanding research by a young biochemist of any nationality who has carried out the majority of their work in the UK.
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The Frythe is a country house set in its own grounds in rural Hertfordshire, just south of the village of Welwyn, about 30 miles north of London.
Bedfordshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Bedfordshire in England. It was established on 24 January 1889 and was abolished on 31 March 2009. The county council was based in Bedford.
Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, situated around 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Bedford town centre.
Arlington House is the historic family residence of Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War in Arlington County, Virginia. The estate of the historic home along with a memorial to Lee are now the center of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, where they overlook the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
John Lee LL.D, FRS, born John Fiott, was an English philanthropist, astronomer, mathematician, antiquarian, barrister, and numismatist.
William Lee Antonie was an English politician.
Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett was a British politician, industrialist and financier.
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Bedfordshire was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 until 1707, then the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1801 and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1885 when it was divided into two constituencies under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.
Luton was a constituency including the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1885 to 1974, elected by the first past the post system.
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Luton is a town located in the south of Bedfordshire, England.
This is a list of high sheriffs of Bedfordshire.
Villa Torlonia is a villa and surrounding gardens in Rome, Italy, formerly belonging to the Torlonia family. It is entered from the via Nomentana.
The School of Biological Sciences is a research-led academic community at the University of East Anglia. It works with partners in industry on a range of activities, including translating research discoveries into products, making knowledge and research expertise available through consultancies, contract research and provision of analytical services, as well as partnering industry in training both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The Unilever Research & Development Port Sunlight Laboratory is the multinational consumer goods company Unilever's main research and development facility in the United Kingdom. It is located in Bebington, Merseyside.
Anne Philippa Cobbe was a mathematician at the University of Oxford. She was an inspirational and supportive pure mathematics tutor at Somerville College which, during her time there, was still a women's college.
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