The Grove, Hertfordshire

The Grove
Hertfordshire
The Grove and its golf course
Location
Grid reference:	TQ082987
Location:	51°40’39"N, 0°26’11"W
History
	Built 1720
By:	Charles Buck
	country house
Information
Condition:	Converted to luxury hotel
Website:	www.thegrove.co.uk

The Grove is a large former country house, now a hotel, to the north of Watford in Hertfordshire, set within a 300–acre private park next to the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal. It touches on its north-west corner the M25 motorway.

The parkland of the hotel contains an extensive golf course, for those with very deep pockets, and the hotel itself is Hertfordshire's most prestigious conference venue. Since 2006, the Grove has hosted a number of prestigious international events, including the WGC-American Express Championship golf tournament, the G20 London summit and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference.

The house was remodelled by various architects including Surveyor of the King's Works, Robert Taylor on the site of a mediæval manor house as a home for the Earls of Clarendon, of the Villiers family. It has been altered and extended four times since its Georgian construction. The Earl of Clarendon sold the Grove in the 1920s following the 1914 increase of estate duty, to reduced his estates to one his family have long held at Swanmore in Hampshire.

The estate is close to Watford, but defies attachment to any town or village. Most of the land and the mansion itself are in the Parish of Langleybury ecclesiastically, and the civil parish of Sarratt (and Rickmansworth in terms of its post town), but the nearest hamlet, which the hotal gives as its address, is Chandlers Cross, a hamlet to the west in the ecclesiastical parish of Chipperfield.

History

Archaeology

Excavations on the estate in 2002 revealed evidence from all periods of cultural development. The earliest evidence of human activity is a Neolithic polished stone axe that was discovered in a small pit with the remains of a pot that appears to be of Middle Bronze Age. The first evidence of settlement consists of traces of oval and circular dwelling structures from the Early Bronze Age (around 4,000 years old). The Iron Age gives some pottery evidence but none of settlement. Two burials have been found dating to the Roman period, although they seem to be in the native rather than Roman tradition. Traces of Saxon settlement, rare in Hertfordshire, have been found. There are remains of at least eight grubenhäuse; sunken-floored buildings that are typical of this period. mediæval pottery contemporary with the building of the first manor house have been found in ditches.

First references to The Grove

In 1294–5 John de Brittewell and Sarah his wife conveyed land and a third part of a mill written as 'La Grava' to Albreda de Brittewell and her two sisters Alice and Ellen. In 1324–5 Thomas de Harpesfield and Joan his wife held land in the demesne of St Albans at La Grava in the vill of Cassio, and the abbot released them from rent due for it. There is a monumental inscription in Watford church to John Heydon of the Grove, who died in 1400. John Rayner and Joan his wife conveyed the manor in 1481–2 to John Fortescue, John Sturgeon, John Forster, and Henry Heydon, to the use of John Fortescue. Upon its administration in the Court of Chancery the estate passed to John Melksham or Melsam, who died in 1487, leaving John his son and heir, who, in 1503 with his wife Elizabeth, granted it to Reginald Pegge reserving a rent of £10. It passed to his son William, who, with Margaret his wife and the late wife of Pegge snr. (and her new husband Geoffrey Oxley), conveyed the manor in 1518 to William (d.1545) and John Heydon. William's son was Henry (d. 1559) who inherited and left the Grove to his son Francis, who sold the manor in 1602 to Clement Scudamore.

Scudamore sold the estate in 1631 including two water-mills under one roof, called the Grove Mills, to Sir William Ashton who left it to his second son Robert. His son died without issue in 1703 so it passed to Sir William Buck who died in 1717, great-grandson of Sir William Ashton. It passed to son Charles Buck, who had it totally rebuilt (see below) and in 1728 sold it to the trustees of Fulke Greville (1717–1806). In 1743, Greville sold it to Arthur M St Leger, 3rd Viscount Doneraile, who conveyed it in 1748 in legal title not equity to Charles Unwin (as his trustee) — so on death in 1750 without issue, Doneraile's will confirmed his wish it pass to cousin Elizabeth St Leger 'until marriage' — she then married Major Ralph Burton.

On Elizabeth's marriage the estate re-vested in trustees, who sold it in 1753 to the Hon. Thomas Villiers, a successful diplomat and second son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey. Thomas Villiers married the heiress to the wealthiest branch of the Hyde family whose 1st Earl was a minister under Charles, Charles II and grandfather of Queen's Anne and Mary II. Thomas was soon created Lord Hyde (Baron Hyde of Hindon) for his diplomatic services in 1756 and in 1776 the Crown revived the old Earldom of Clarendon, which had run in his wife's family and raised him to become 1st Earl of Clarendon (of second creation).

The Grove gardens

Seat for the new Earls of Clarendon

George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon was a statesman, diplomat (architect of the Quadruple Alliance of 1834), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Privy Seal, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, President of the Board of Trade and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was honoured with knighthoods in the Order of the Garter and Order of the Bath. Consequently, regular guests in the mid and late nineteenth century included Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and Edward VII.

Twentieth century

The Villiers family sold The Grove in the 1920s, reducing their estate in view of reducing the effect of Estate Tax. The Grove was then used as a gardening school, a health centre (National Institute of Nutrition and College of Dietetics), a riding school, and a girls' boarding school. It was the wartime headquarters of one of the 'Big Four' consolidated railway companies. It became a management training centre for the British Transport Commission and later British Rail.

In 1996, the estate was acquired by Ralph Trustees Ltd, at which time the mansion was extended and converted into an hotel. Jeremy Blake, an architect with listed buildings and sustainability expertise, was appointed to undertake these works. The Grove is a former AA Hotel of the Year and was voted the UK’s Favourite Leisure Hotel by Condé Nast Traveler readers in 2008.

The formal gardens were designed by the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medallist and judge, Michael Balston. Other features include an 18-hole championship golf course designed by the Californian Kyle Phillips.

In 2006, the Grove was the venue of the WGC-American Express Championship golf tournament. It was the venue for the April 2009 G-20 major economies#London Summit|G20 London summit.

The 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place in the hotel and in 2016 it hosted the British Masters golf tournament.

Architecture

• The Grove was built about 1720 by Charles Buck; its foundations and its internal structure dates to that year.
• Altered 1754-61 by architect Matthew Brettingham for the 1st Earl
  • He produced a seven-bay south front with two wings, facing south, between 1754 and 1761. Its south facing main entrance front features a "2:3:2, main range articulated by Giant Roman Doric pilasters...To [the] centre a larger round-headed sash with apron panel and key blocked surround in an aedicular frame with pediment rising above 20th century stone coped parapet. Cross axial stacks."
• Extended and altered c.1780 by architect Sir Robert Taylor for the 1st Earl.
  • Demolished the Brettingham wing with the family chapel and created a Palladian two-storey mansion with Venetian windows and, internally, Italian plasterwork. The eastern front was designed in response to the new Repton-inspired drive, winding through the Gade Valley over a bridge and between lakes (which have all been restored).

Taylor was also responsible for four fireplaces, one of which was destroyed to make way for a secretary’s desk when the mansion was used as railway offices. A replica of the fireplace was created during the restoration of the mansion.

• Level added, altered and extended c.1870–5 by architect Edward Blore for the 4th Earl.
  • Under the 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800–1875), the family’s political prominence meant that they entertained regularly. Third storey added to the house. Grander ground floor and main staircase created to make space to display the Earl’s large collection of Old Masters.
• Altered and extended mid 20th century.
• Altered and extended 1996-2000.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about The Grove, Hertfordshire)

• The Grove
• Archaeology at the Grove 2002
• History of The Grove, Archaeology at the Grove 2002
• Preliminary investigations at the Grove, Archaeology at the Grove 2002
• Stratigraphy and paleoenvironment, Archaeology at the Grove 2002