Latimer House
| Latimer House | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Latimer House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU99969882 |
| Location: | 51°40’45"N, -0°33’20"W |
| History | |
| Built 1838 | |
| By: | Edward Blore |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to a hotel |
Latimer House is a large, Victorian country house at Latimer in Buckinghamshire. A mansion on the hill on the edge of the village, it was once a home of members of the Cavendish family who became the Barons Chesham. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]
The house is now branded as 'De Vere Latimer Estate'[2] and functions as a countryside hotel used for country house weddings and conferences. Latimer Place has a small church, St Mary Magdalene, which was built by Lord Chesham, in the grounds.
History
The Cavendish family
The earlier house that stood here was Elizabethan. King Charles I was imprisoned there in 1647 and his son, King Charles II, took refuge in the house before fleeing abroad. This house was gutted by fire in the early 1830s.
The present red brick Tudor-style mansion was designed by Edward Blore, was completed in 1838[3] for Charles Compton Cavendish 1st Baron Chesham (1793-1863) in 1838. His father had inherited the Latimer Estate some time before, with the Elizabethan mansion upon it. After the fire, Charles commissioned the famous architect Edward Blore to build the new house which was completed in 1838. A newspaper of that time made the following comment about the property. It stated:
Mr Blore has fully sustained his character as the most skilful reviver of the domestic architecture of “Merrie Old England” in his admiral restoration of the quaint and picturesque Latimers.'[4]
Charles died in 1863 and his son William George Cavendish 2nd Baron Chesham (1815-1882) inherited Latimer House. He was born in 1815 and was educated at Eton College. He gained the rank of Officer in 1833 in the 10th Light Dragoons.[5] The 3rd Baron Chesham too was military man, and served in the Boer War,[6] where he received very favourable commendations. The 4th Baron Chesham served in the 10th Hussars and fought in both the First and Second World Wars.[7]
Second World War
During the Second World War, the house was the headquarters of IV Corps from August 1940.[8] It was also one of three stately homes where captured German U-boat submarine crews and Luftwaffe pilots were initially held before being transferred to conventional prisoner of war camps.[9]
National Defence College
John Compton Cavendish, 4th Baron Chesham died in 1952 and a year later the house became the home of the British military's National Defence College.[10]
On 12 February 1974, a bomb containing about 20 lbs of explosive, was placed close to one of the main buildings at the National Defence College by the Irish Republican Army. At 9.10 am the bomb exploded injuring 10 people but with no fatalities. Damage estimated at over £6,000 was caused.[11]
Present day
In the 1980s the house was renovated and became the Coopers & Lybrand training and conference centre, and conference facilities and accommodation buildings were constructed in the grounds. It is now run as an independent hotel with conference facilities and branded the De Vere Latimer Estate.[12] It was the subject of a television documentary in the ITV series Britain's Secret Homes.[13]
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1000370: Latimer Park
- ↑ "De Vere Latimer Estate". https://www.phcompany.com/de-vere/latimer-estate.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1000370: Latimer Park
- ↑ The Bucks Herald - Saturday 30 March 1839, p. 3.
- ↑ "Chesham, Baron (UK, 1858)". Cracroft's Peerage. http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/chesham1858.htm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ↑ "Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham, KCB PC". Cracrofts Peerage. http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/chesham1858.htm. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ↑ The Peerage: online reference
- ↑ Newbold, p. 367
- ↑ "The Nazi prisoners bugged by Germans". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20698098. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- ↑ Latimer House; National Defence College - British Listed Buildings
- ↑ "Regina versus Ward". Court of Appeal. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/ward.pdf. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
- ↑ "Latimer Place wins Britain's Secret Homes". Bucks Free Press. 9 September 2013. http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/leisure/latest/10659505.Latimer_Place_wins_Britain_s_Secret_Homes/. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ↑ "Britain's Secret Homes Episode 5". presscentre. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep5week27/britains-secret-homes. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
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