The Manor of Copped Hall (or Coppeed Hall) was located to the south of St Andrew's church in

Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...

, Hertfordshire, in an area that is now part of the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...

Early history

The early history of the manor is uncertain but it may be the capital

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

dwelling In law, a dwelling (also known as a residence, abode or domicile) is a self-contained unit of accommodation – such as a house, apartment, mobile home, houseboat, recreational vehicle, or other "substantial" structure – used as a home by ...

held in the 16th century by John Copwood who owned it at the time of his death in 1543, leaving a daughter, Sophia. It seems to have passed soon afterwards into the possession of the family of Clyffe. Richard Clyffe held a "manor or capital messuage" in

at his death in 1566, leaving it to his illegitimate son William Clyffe or Smyth, with remainder to Richard's brother Geoffrey and his son Richard. In the following century it was held by Edward Clyffe, who died about 1635, leaving two sons, William, on whom the property was settled, and Edward.

Later history

The manor was bought by Joseph da Costa (1683–1753), a wealthy Portuguese-Jewish merchant, in 1722, when it had formal gardens and a large house. In 1758 it was bought by Abraham Chambers, a London banker. The grounds were later reworked by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

to give a more natural appearance.Hulme, Sheila. (2010
''A brief history of Totteridge Valley''.
London: The Mill Hill Preservation Society. p. 5. In the nineteenth century, Copped Hall was for some time owned by William Manning, father of

Henry Edward Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but co ...

(Cardinal Manning), who was born there in 1808 and sold it in 1831. William's wife Mary Hunter re-designed the grounds, probably with the advice of

, damming the

Folly Brook Folly Brook is a long Stream, brook in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of Dollis Brook, which is a tributary of the River Brent, which is a tributary of the River Thames. Folly Brook is lined for most of its length by narrow str ...

to create the ornamental Darland's Lake. It was sold by auction in 1850. From 1875 it was occupied by Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton (1830–1918), who enlarged the house.Parishes: Totteridge.
British History Online. Retrieved 21 October 2016. The house was later known as Darlands. It was demolished in 1928 by George Herbert Kemp, a biscuit entrepreneur. The grounds became a nature reserve in 1971 and currently is a

Site of Nature Conservation Interest Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

References

{{coord, display=title Totteridge History of Hertfordshire Manors in Hertfordshire Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Barnet