Bron-y-de
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Bron-y-de () was a house and surrounding farm in the village of
Churt Churt is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey, England, about south of the town of Farnham on the A287 road towards Hindhead. A clustered settlement is set in areas acting as its green buffers, which include the ...
in the southern English county of Surrey. The main house was designed by
Philip Tilden Philip Tilden (31 May 1887 – 25 February 1956) was an English architect, active in the early twentieth century, who worked for some of the most prominent members of English society, including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Lord Beaverb ...
for the former British Prime Minister
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
in 1922. The house and farm were situated on 60 acres of land bought by Lloyd George from
Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe Roland Calvert Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe, (26 January 1899 – 28 October 1962) was a member of the British aristocracy. He became Baron Ashcombe on the death of his father Henry Cubitt, 2nd Baron Ashcombe, in 1947. He was the maternal grand ...
as part of the sale of Ashcombe's 2,000 acre Churt estate in 1921. Lloyd George added to the estate until it reached some 700 acres. Though the local scrub land was unsuitable for farming, Lloyd George established a successful fruit and pig farm at Bron-y-de and sold excess produce at his own farm shop. A water diviner travelled from Wales to the farm and found a source of irrigation underground. Lloyd George's private secretary A. J. Sylvester was dismissive of Lloyd George's managerial and financial abilities regarding his ownership of Bron-y-de, writing in 1940 that 'Churt becomes a bigger mystery to me every day. Nobody knows what are the true facts about the financial aspect. The agricultural aspect is totally mucked up and discontent is rife amongst all the staff. It is an unhappy place and is a cemetery to many an innocent and enthusiastic person'. With the assumption of Lloyd George's occupation of Bron-y-de, Tilden wrote that the 'centre of the political universe was moved from London'. Lloyd George's mistress,
Frances Stevenson Frances Lloyd George, Countess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (née Stevenson; 7 October 1888 – 5 December 1972) was the mistress, personal secretary, confidante and second wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Frances Louise Stevenson ...
lived nearby in 'Avalon', overlooking the orchards of Bron-y-de, having previously occupied the 'Old Barn', a former farm building. A timber bungalow, 'Avalon' was designed for Stevenson by the modernist architect Anthony Chitty. Tilden’s undoubted skills did not prevent him making practical mistakes, and falling out with many of his clients. Thomas Jones, visiting Bron-y-de in 1926 noted; “Tilden forgot to put a
scullery A scullery is a room in a house, traditionally used for washing up dishes and laundering clothes, or as an overflow kitchen. Tasks performed in the scullery include cleaning dishes and cooking utensils (or storing them), occasional kitchen work, ...
at Churt: what he forgot at Chartwell I did not discover because he was a subject to be avoided.” Bron-y-de was the subject of the main article of the 4 November 1922 issue of '' Country Life''. The architect and engineer Owen Williams installed a large panoramic window at Bron-y-de at Lloyd George's behest following the latter's visit to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's Berghof residence at
Obersalzberg Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. Located about south-east of Munich, close to the border with Austria, it is best known as the site of Adolf Hitler's former mountain resi ...
in the Bavarian Alps which featured a similar window. The library at Bron-y-de was the largest room in the house at 36 ft in length with a curved ceiling. A mural painted by John Churchill of the Gulf of Tigullio dominated one end of the library. Several amateur films of Lloyd-George at Bron-y-de are in the collection of the
National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales was established in 2001 in order to preserve and promote the audio visual heritage of Wales. The archive is funded by the National Library of Wales and the Welsh Government and located at the Nationa ...
. A 1938 film shows a new apiary and 'larch gathering' at Bron-y-de. Honey from the apiary at Bron-y-de was later sold at Harrods. Lloyd George was President of the British Beekeepers Association from 1939 until 1943. Another film shot in 1938 demonstrates the use of a rototiller and caterpillar tractor on the farmland at Bron-y-de. A 1936 film filmed by Lloyd George's private secretary, A. J. Sylvester, shows Lloyd George in his orchard at Bron-y-de. A 1929 film shows Lloyd George at Bron-y-de reading accompanied by his
chow chow The Chow Chow is a spitz-type of dog breed originally from northern China. The Chow Chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears with rounded tips. The breed is known for a very dense ...
dog, 'Y Chow Du' (The Black Chow). In his memoirs, published in 1954, Tilden expressed the view that Bron-y-de would "become as world-known as many a city, and will no doubt some future day fall into the category of Hatfield,
Hughenden Hughenden may refer to: *Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia *Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada *Hughenden Valley Hughenden Valley (formerly called Hughenden or Hitchendon) is an extensive village and civil parish in ...
or
Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had ...
". His hopes were not fulfilled; Bron-y-de was destroyed by fire in the 1960s.


References

{{David Lloyd George Borough of Waverley David Lloyd George Demolished buildings and structures in England Houses completed in 1922 Philip Tilden buildings Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom