A History of Preston in Hertfordshire
Stagenhoe Park, Hertfordshire
The visitor to Stagenhoe will be attracted by the peaceful solitude of its setting in the rolling
Hertfordshire countryside. The mansion house now stand in splendid isolation while the parkland
which once surrounded it is given over to farming.
Stagenhoe was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 when the area was known by its Old
English name ‘Stagnehou’ meaning the ‘spur of land where the stags lived’. The last Anglo-Saxon
owner was Thorbern, a loyal subject of King Edward the Confessor but when William of Normandy
conquered England he gave Stagenhoe to one of his followers, Ranulf brother of Ilger.
The hamlet of Stagenhoe grew up not far from the old Roman road which ran from St Albans through
Whitwell to to Hitchin. It is intriguing to note that from the evidence of local place-names Walden
(St Paul’s Walden and King’s Walden are adjacent parishes) means ‘valley of the Britons’. Perhaps
the inhabitants of the settlement were descendants of Iron Age people who lived in this part of the
Chilterns before Roman times.
Always a small community, only eight families loved here in Norman times, and through plague and
climatic changes its decline was inevitable. There was no church but for centuries Stagenhoe was
linked by a lane across Church Field Common to All Saints Church at St Paul’s Walden. Now the site
of the original hamlet is lost among the fields and woodland.
In 1315, Thomas de Verdune had here, ‘a capital messuage with a garden, 180 acres of arable, two
acres of meadow land and ten acres of woodland’. No doubt the medieval owners used it as a
hunting lodge as the great Hitch Wood lay to the north. About two centuries later, Thomas Pilkington,
a great Lancashire magnate, held Stagenhoe manor but he was killed when fighting for Richard III
and all his lands were confiscated by Henry Tudor. Henry VII then granted Stagenhoe to Thomas,
Earl of Derby, but through lack of heirs it again reverted to the Crown. In 1582, Queen Elizabeth
disposed of the estate to William Godfrey or Cowper and it was he who thirteen years later sold
Stagenhoe to Richard Hale of King’s Walden for £1,650.
The Hales, an old Hertfordshire family, were linked with Stagenhoe during the whole of the 17th
century. William, a son of Richard Hale, married Rose, the daughter of Sir George Bond, Stagenhoe
was given to her for her lifetime. William and Rose Hale had a large family and it was John, her
seventh son, who inherited Stagenhoe and rebuilt the old manor house in about 1650. Although the
Hales had much property at King’s Walden and elsewhere, some members of the family lived at
Stagenhoe. John Hale was knighted in 1660 and became Sheriff of Hertfordshire three years later -
therefore his new mansion befitted his status.
Rose, his only daughter, inherited Stagenhoe and after she married Sir John Austin of Hall Place in
Kent, her husband commissioned the artist Drapentier to engrave a view of Stagenhoe which was
used by Sir Henry Chauncey when he published, ‘The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire’ in 1700.
The drawing is of a two-storied mansion with seven bays an a basement standing in parkland. The
front has a two-storied porch while dormer windows and eight tall chimney pots can be seen at roof
level. The stylised plan shows walled yards and gardens with rows of rectangular flower or vegetable
beds. There are avenue of trees and one large tree has a seat built around its trunk. A gardener
pushes a wheelbarrow and another man holds a long-handled tool. Double gates lead to the
parkland while in the foreground a hunting party is in full pursuit of a stag. Time stands still in this
delightful 17th century drawing.
When Sir John and Lady Austin died, their son, Sir Robert, sold Stagenhoe to Robert Heysham of
London in 1703 and the new owner and his descendants owned the estate for about 130 years.
The 18th century saw many changes for Heysham was a wealthy London merchant and Member of
Parliament. As his son had no heirs, a kinsman inherited the property on condition that he took the
family name, consequently Giles Thornton-Heysham became the new squire.
According to tradition, he ordered the house to be extensively restored but when almost completed in
1737, workmen accidentally caused a fire which burnt down the building, Within three years the old
mansion had been built in the new Palladian style and enlarged to eleven bays. The depth was
almost double that of the 17th century house erected by John Hale. The only trace of this earlier
building can be seen in the cellars where deep niches or wall cupboards are evidence of the previous
house.
Giles Thornton-Heysham and his son Robert continued the policy of enlarging the estate and by the
end of the 18th century their lands lay not only in St Paul’s Walden and King’s Walden but also in
Bendish nearby.
Unfortunately, the family were by this time in financial straits so the property was mortgaged and the
owners moved away. Tenants were put in and some of these included Thomas Whetham between
1780 and 1790, the Carbonnel family, who were port wine merchants in the early part of the 19th
century and a few years later Lord Egmont whose butler died there in 1813. Finally the Heysham
connection with Stagenhoe ended and in 1839, Baron Feversham of Duncombe Park, Yorkshire
bought the estate for £25,500 from the trustees. Whether he ever stayed at the house is not known
but in 1841 only four servants were in residence.
Two years later the property again changed hands for £29,500 and the new owner was Henry
Rogers of Norfolk. The Rogers and their sons enjoyed all the advantages of living on a large estate in
Victorian times. They kept their own dog kennels and hunted on weekdays, while on Sundays they
attended St Paul’s Walden Church where they sat in their box pew accompanied by their servants.
Squire Rogers improved Stagenhoe Park with new carriage ways and lodge gates. A large
ornamental lake was created with small islands, a fountain, waterfall and stew ponds for fish, the soil
from the lake being used to build up the terrace in front of the house. It must have been about this
time that the main entrance to the house was moved to its present position. Rebuilding of lodge
houses, farm buildings and additions to the mansion were undertaken - the bricks and tiles being
supplied from the estate kilns.
In the garden one small cast-iron gate leading to the ha-ha can be identified as being made by
Barnards, the ornamental iron work specialists of Norwich. The large double gates, known a s the
stag gates, leading into the walled garden may also have come from Norfolk. Perhaps it is not a
coincidence that Henry Rogers came from the same county and it can be assumed that he
patronised a firm whose work he knew.
A broad-stepped terrace led down outside the walled garden to woodland through which a path led to
St Paul’s Walden Church. On the north side of the walled garden there were two cottages for the use
of the servants who did not live in the big house. In the area known as Hare Dell, an ice house was
built in the field to the right of the present white double gate.
On the drive leading towards Whitwell, an iron bridge carried the road over the stream which fed the
lake. Part of this drive was known as the Lime Avenue but it appears from older maps that both this
Avenue and the Chestnut Avenue through the Old Park as well as the walled garden were in
existence before the the 19th century. The new driveway to the Hitchin Road which visitors now use,
was constructed during this period.
An engraving of 1852 shows the house with a balustraded roof and a conservatory at one end. By
this time Stagenhoe had been the seat of Henry Rogers for almost ten years. The household
included Mr and Mrs Rogers,
three of their sons and eleven servants who consisted of two grooms, a housekeeper, lady’s maid,
two housemaids, a cook, kitchen maid and dairymaid. Their coachman lived at Stagenhoe Lodge
with his wife and family. The head gardener was at the Garden Lodge with his wife and four small
children while the butler occupied the other Garden Lodge.
Henry Jones also became a J. P. For Hertfordshire and probably he performed some of his duties at
Stagenhoe Park for the room on the left of the entrance hall was known for many years as the
magistrates room. After Mr Rogers was widowed he continued to live at the mansion with his
barrister son but on his death, the son moved back to Norfolk.
In 1869 the estate was bough by James, 14th Earl of Caithness for the sum of £37,700. He was to
be the most aristocratic of all the occupants of Stagenhoe. His first wife died in Scotland not long
after but he brought his two teenage children to live with him at Stagenhoe. The Earl, his son,
George and daughter, Fanny Georgina had fifteen servants living in together with a governess for
Lady Fanny.
The Earl undertook a comprehensive rebuilding programme which not only included the repair of
farmhouses on the estate but also alterations to the house. He employed Jeeves, a Hitchin builder, to
enlarge the house. The middle bays were heightened to three storeys and the Earl’s coat of arms
and motto, “Commit Thy Work to God” added to the pediment above the windows. Various gate posts
around the garden were decorated with stags and it was no doubt during the Earl’s occupation that
the coronets were added.
While on holiday abroad in 1872, the Earl married the Duchesse de Pomar who was the widow of
Spanish General and of good family. During her stay at Stagenhoe the countess became well-known
for her interest in spiritualism. According to tradition she held seances to which she invited small
groups of people from Whitwell. Later, she wrote a book on the subject entitled, ‘The Mystery of the
Ages’.
Before coming to live at Stagenhoe the Earl had been a Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria. The
Queen became well acquainted with his enthusiasms and was known to have commented that the
Earl “has much to say for himself as he knows so much”. He had arranged for her to see a
demonstration in Windsor Park of Thomas Rickett’s steam car. Two years later in 1860, he drove a
similar machine from Inverness to his castle at Barrogill (now the Castle of Mey). The Earl’s epic
journey on which he was accompanied by his wife and a friend as passengers and with Thoma
Rickett as stoker was reported in the Scottish press. Unfortunately, the passing of the Red Flag Act in
1865 prevented any further experimentation by the Earl and he turned to other scientific interests
which he continued at Stagenhoe.
About eight wears after his second marriage in 1881, the Earl planned a lengthy tour of the U. S. A.
With his son and daughter. Unexpectedly, he was taken ill on the Atlantic steamer and died in a Fifth
Avenue hotel in New York. Litigation followed over his English estates and after three years of
wrangling, half went to his daughter and half to an Australian relative.
During this period the house was let furnished first to Lord Templemore and then to Sir Arthur
Sullivan the famous composer. He must have enjoyed his stay at Stagenhoe as when the house was
auctioned in 1893, he put in a bid, but his offer was too low and the estate went to William Bailey-
Hawkins.
The new owner spent considerable sums of money on the property and in 1910, when a gardening
journalist visited Stagenhoe he wrote about the gardens in great detail. He described the kitchen
garden protected by high walls with a variety of fruit trees such as peaches, nectarines, figs, apricots,
plums, and cherries. There was a large pool planted round with flowers and shrubs and spanned by
a creeper-clad bridge. The whole of this are was encircled with rambling roses trained over poles
and connecting chains. A pergola made from oak cut on the estate led to the north and south of the
pool. Altogether, twelve varieties of roses grew in this part of the rose garden.
The vegetable garden was laid out lower down. Here they grew prize celery, onions and peas while
many other vegetables were grown for the household. There were three vineries for grapes and an
orchid house, while other greenhouses were used for an extensive variety of tender plants. No less
than forty flower beds were cut in the lawn at the front of the house and these contained a wide
selection of bedding plants. Garden statues gazed in silent wonderment at the profusion of flowers.
Partly shaded by an ancient Cedar of Lebanon the old cast-iron conservatory, now used as an extra
drawing room was also decorated with flowers. Great hanging baskets hung from the roof and
bougainvilleas climbed among the iron supports. The five broad stone steps leading down the old
walk past the Stag gates had four large ornamental stone vases at each flight, making twelve vases
in all, each filled with summer bedding plants. At the end of this walk was the wilderness garden
abounded on the lower side by an old pleached alley of lime trees. The head gardener, Mr W Munt,
was re-planning this wild area of tall trees, laurels and rhododendrons by thinning out and adding
flowering shrubs, ferns and spring flowers. Nearby was a rosery of some antiquity with high thick
hedges of ancient rambling roses. Inside the hedges were beds of modern roses and four large
standards of Crimson Rambler making the air fragrant with perfume.
By 1910, the lake had become the home for many wild British water plants which had long been left
undisturbed. The ancient chestnut avenue leading towards the medieval St Albans Highway used by
pilgrims was considered to be well over two hundred years old. All these features combining past and
present created a garden which was considered almost unsurpassed in Hertfordshire at that time.
During the time Mr Bailey-Hawkins lived at Stagenhoe, he also built White Lodge on the King’s
Walden road and several other cottages. He was an enthusiastic cricket player and had a pavilion
and cricket ground laid out near the house. Here he entertained his friends and neighbours including
the Bowes-Lyon family who lived on the adjoining estate. When he died in 1922, the estate was
partly broken up and those fields on the King’s Walden side were sold to Major J. F. Harrison.
Sir Henry Whitehead, the new owner, kept the remainder of the estate which he maintained with
lavish expenditure. The old staircase was removed and the new one installed in the present position.
As a result of the alterations which took place during the early part of this century, very few of the
original fittings or decorations remain in the house. Fortunately, the ambitious plan to raze the
mansion and replace it with one designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens came to nought. However, the
architect, Oswald P. Milne, was employed to design four cottages for the estate workmen together
with a new entrance lodge and handsome wrought iron gates which were made by Messrs. Starkie
Gardner, a well-known specialist wrought-ironwork firm. The same architect also engaged in
designing a Keepers Cottage on the Sandringham Estate for H.M. King George V as well as cottages
on the Chequers Estate for Lord Lee just before he handed Chequers over to be the home of Prime
Ministers.
On the death of her husband, Lady Whitehead in 1931 ordered the property to be sold. The detailed
sales catalogue included eighty acres of woodland, Stagenhoe Bottom Farm, Home Farm, various
cottages, water-cress beds, the lake with a boathouse, a power station for the house and the cricket
field.
The Dewar family who took over the property were probably the last to run Stagenhoe as a large
estate and its subsequent history is of recent memory. During the last war the house became a
maternity home, then a preparatory school for boys who must have revelled in their surroundings.
When the lease ran out, the school closed and the new owner unfortunately destroyed much of the
estate by selling off trees, garden ornaments, wall panelling and other moveable items. His stay was
brief, but the gardens fell into disuse and many of its features have disappeared forever. The house
endures and the history of Stagenhoe since 1969 has been the history of the Sue Ryder Home. That
is another story, a story of hope for the future of its occupants who truly live up to the motto, “Commit
Thy Work to God”.