Preston people: Robert Hinde of Preston Castle/Farm
I have something in common with Robert Hinde who lived at Preston Castle in the
eighteenth century.
He was descended from kings of England.
It is not this heritage that we share, but rather a common birthday, 12 January.
Robert Hinde was born at Chertsey Abbey, Surrey in 1720/1. On his paternal side, his ancestors
included Scottish and English kings as far back as Alfred the Great. The pedigree of his mother’s
family included the Emperor Charlemagne and one of her ancestors was an attendant of William the
Conqueror.
Robert’s family, although steeped in military tradition, had purchased a brewery at Holborn, London to
bolster finances. From the profits of this venture, Robert’s father bought Hunsdon House at Preston.
This mansion had been built on the site of Preston Castle which dated from around the tenth century.
It was rumoured that a battle had been fought in the area ‘in early times’ and that one of the
protagonists had been based at Preston Castle.
Unsurprisingly, in view of Robert’s military forefathers, he joined the army in 1751 and was appointed
as Ensign in the Eleventh Foot. Three years later, he was promoted to the rank of Sub-brigadier and
Cornet in the Second Horse Guards.
During a lull in campaigns, Robert married Mary Ball who was the daughter of the Governor of Jersey.
The couple had seventeen children including sets of twins. After his parent’s deaths in the early
1750s, Robert inherited Hunsdon House and embarked on a programme of bizarre additions to the
property. ‘He converted the appearance of the house into that of a castle (from which it derives its
present name Preston Castle) by making turrets, embattlements, port holes, port cullises etc. He
raised a small battery of seven guns on the right hand-side of the entrance to the House and planted
a larger gun in front of the same, all of which used to be fired on particular rejoicing days. He also
erected a building, which he called a gazebo, in one of his fields called Mount Garrison’. ‘In the
garden adjoining he raised his earthworks, dug his trenches and built his mimic fortifications’.
Preston Castle - a sketch by Samuel Lucas
If these modifications were insufficient to raise the eyebrows of Preston’s labourers, Robert also
began behaving eccentrically – ‘On the anniversary of the King’s birthday and of famous battles, he
mounted his servant (Samuel Pilgrim*) on horseback and made him ride through Hitchin trumpeting
as he went, stopping occasionally to proclaim, like a herald of old, the event for which the day was
famous’. (2) This odd behaviour escalated. Robert later dressed in full uniform and decorations and
rode to Hitchin’s market place with his retainers to announce important anniversaries in English
heritage. There was a fanfare, an address and the national anthem was sung after which
entertainment the entourage beat a retreat to Preston Castle.
After playing soldiers, in 1756 Robert was no doubt delighted to experience the real McCoy when he
fought in the Seven Years War as Brigadier and Lieutenant in the Light Cavalry. He was again
promoted and finished the campaign as Captain Hinde. Intrigued (perhaps obsessed) as he was with
the tactics of war, after his retirement in 1763 Robert wrote, ‘The Discipline of the Light Horse’ which
was a history of his regiment.
Robert returned to Preston Castle on half-pay. But his make-believe soldiering continued. His ‘army’
included his growing progeny, and the eight children of Mary Taylor who lived at Hitchin Hill. These
were decked-out in a scarlet uniform, blue sash and black beaver hat and called Robert, ‘General’.
He now applied himself to farming – yet his military training asserted itself even in this pursuit. When
he summoned and dismissed his labourers, it was proclaimed by a chorus from his Light-Horse bugle.
However, he took his farming seriously – ‘I pursue the following method: wheat after the fallow, then
peas, turnips, barley, oats, clover, wheat’. He suggested improvements to Arthur Young’s swing-
plough and trialled the Hertfordshire great-wheel plough and the one-handle Essex plough.
He found time to sit at the Hitchin Bench and also lambasted the surveyors of highways concerning
the state of local roads (Link: Preston Highways). His attention to detail and egotism drove him to
correct an entry of the birth of one of his children in the Hitchin parish register. He added ‘Esquire’ to
the record and noted his rank and regiment. It must have been galling to such a man to find that half-
pay did not adequately cover his expenses – and especially the demands of his children. He
sometimes rode to London in attempts to have the £132.0s.51/2d paid early.
It was on St George’s Day (ironically the day that pay was due), 23 April 1786, that Robert died, aged
66. On the day of the funeral, Pilgrim fired a salute and sounded the ‘Last Post’ from the gazebo. Then
the last Hinde military procession, resplendent in its heraldry and plumes, wound its way through the
Preston lanes to St Mary’s Church at Hitchin.
Robert was laid to rest with his parents inside St Mary, but even here he attracted attention – the
churchwardens objected to the verse on his grave and his Coat of Arms was prone to trip
worshippers. Both the verse and the indentation have been eroded.
Of Preston Castle
What became of Preston Castle? Robert’s children moved to Hitchin Hill and the mansion quickly
became abandoned. On 8 May 1832, there was an advertisement to let Preston Castle which
provided a glimpse of its features:
“The approach, past a neat entrance lodge, was by a gravelled road through a meadow. There were
four bedrooms and a large bedroom for servants on the upper floor of the mansion. On the first floor
were three spacious apartments opening into a gallery, dressing room, water closet, three other
bedrooms, apple room and staircases. The ground floor had a drawing room (30’ x 20’), a dining room
(20’ x 18’), a billiard room, kitchen, pantry, servants’ hall, wash-house and dairy. There were also wine
and beer cellars.
The outbuildings included a double coach house, five-stall stable over which was a granary and a loft,
a coal house and wood barn. There was a 23-feet long greenhouse adjoining the breakfast room, a
20-feet long grapery and a mushroom house. The grounds occupied four and a half acres,(including
the Wilderness) which were thickly studded with lofty firs, chestnut and lime trees. There was a well
planted orchard and garden and walks ornamented with evergreens, American and other flowering
shrubs.
A visitor to Preston Castle in the 1850s observed that it was ‘standing forsaken and dilapidated in the
midst of its still beautiful gardens. A narrow lane running south from Preston led you to a simple lodge.
You then passed over the meadows, well-fenced with hawthorn and holly to the north part of the
house. Over a low strong hedge of sweet briar, you saw a massive grey porch, a little overhung with
Virginia creeper; venerable casements looking out onto the broad carriage road which led to the hall-
door and a circle of flower beds with a central sundial. Well do I remember those grounds and the
woods of pines and chestnuts at the end of them. In the gardens one saw everywhere a happy
blending of modern art with the dear old stately formality of other days.
‘Inside the mansion, all was silent and forsaken. One’s footsteps echoed strangely and the midday
sun, passing into the rooms through an outer blind of sweet roses, starry jasmine and climbing
creepers, could not lighten the gloom within. The sight of the mildewed walls, the faded, falling
papers, the blank deserted hearth would have saddened any heart...’
The mansion was eventually sold to William Mellish a few years later and sold off as building material.
The battery of guns became scrap metal (except two which found their way to Preston Hill Farm); the
gazebo was used to repair a Kings Walden pigsty; the lawn reverted to pasture. Even the avenue of
walnut trees, which led from Chequers Lane to Castle Farm, are no more. The lodge was destroyed
by fire in 1912. Only the name remains – ‘Castle Farm’ – which adorns a nearby farm. There is also a
three-hundred-feet deep well which is thought to be the original well of Preston Castle.
With Hinde-sight, Robert was a colourful, quirky character who no doubt enlivened many a
conversation of Preston villagers and Hitchin spectators. His eccentricity resulted in a literary
everlasting memorial – he was the model on which ‘Uncle Toby’ was based in Laurence Sterne’s
novel, ‘Tristram Shandy’.
Note: *Samuel Pilgrim was baptised on Boxing Day 1732/3 in St Pauls Walden. He died on 21
January 1802 and although he was living in Kings Walden, he was buried at St Pauls Walden. He was
a witness of Robert Hinde’s will.