10 Jul Lordship Title of Strowdes or Park Place or Vynes Place ID1636
Posted at 20:05h
in
County:
Parish:
Title Type:
Previous Lords:
STROWDES or VYNE'S PLACE, now called PARK PLACE, possibly derived its first name from a family of Strode, of whom Richard de la Strode owned land in Remenham in 1257. John de la Strode, called of Dunsden, bought land in Aston in 1294 and 1305, and Thomas de la Strode, called of Remenham, granted land in Hurley to the priory in the reign of Edward I. The property probably took its second name from Thomas Vyne, for whom a messuage and 9 virgates of land in Remenham were held in trust at time of his death in 1479, when they descended to his son and heir Ralph. In 1591 Thomas Marriott died seised of the capital messuage or farm called Strowdes and Vyne's Place and all the lands there late in the tenure of Stephen Vyne. John, his son, who succeeded, made a settlement of the property upon the marriage of his son William with Anne Faldo in 1628, and three years later William Marriott leased it for ninety-nine years to William Faldo. The latter and the owners conveyed it in 1632 to Robert Salter of Cookham, who apparently parted with it shortly afterwards, for in 1642 Robert Draper died seised of the messuage called Pecks Place or Strowdes. Thomas, his son and heir, was aged sixteen. The use of the former name suggests that the property had formerly been held by William Peck, who was living at Remenham in the reign of Henry VI. Roger Draper held the estate in 1676, when it was called Perkes Place alias Strowdes. From a deed now in the Reading Liberary, dated 18 and 19 September 1719, it appears that Lord Archibald Hamilton, son of William third Duke of Hamilton, purchased certain lands called Park's Place alias Strowdes from Mrs. Elizabeth Baker. He built the house on the site of the present house called Park Place. About 1738 Lord Archibald sold the estate to Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III, who occupied it during his estrangement from his father King George II. In 1752 it was purchased by General (afterwards Field-Marshal) the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, who started the cultivation of lavender in Remenham and established a distillery there. The house, which he had much improved, became the rendezvous of many distinguished people, among whom were Horace Walpole, David Hume, the poet Gray, and Mrs. Damer the sculptress, who carved the keystones of Henley Bridge. The grounds were laid out by Conway according to the taste of the period. At the upper end of the Happy Valley in the park was placed a Grecian ruin built of stones brought from Reading Abbey, and stones frome the same place were used to build and stones from the same place were used to build the bridge over the valley which carried the road from Henley to Wargrave. On a hill beyond the pleasure grounds was a Druidic temple presented to Conway by the inhabitants of Jersey (where it was found near St. Helier in 1785), when he was governor of that island. After Conway's death in 1795 the house was sold by his widow, Lady Aylesbury, to James first Lord Malmesbury, who was visited there by Pitt, Canning, and many others. In 1816 it was purchased by Mr. H.P. Spurling, who exchanged it in 1824 with his cousin, Mr. E. Fuller-Maitland, of Shinfield Park, for Norbury Park, co. Surrey. Maitland died in 1858. His son Mr. William FullerMaitland of Stansted Hall, Essex, sold it in 1867 to Mr. Charles Easton of Whiteknights, who pulled down the library and altered the house. He also built the house called Temple Combe. The estate passed in 1870 to Mr. J. Noble, who built the present house. His son Mr. Wilson Noble is now the owner.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
No