Cross Deep House was an 18th-century house, on the banks of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in Cross Deep,
Strawberry Hill, south of
Twickenham
Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
town centre. It was demolished in 1906 and the remains of its grounds form part of present-day
Radnor Gardens.
Etymology
The name reflects the name of a small stream that flowed into the Thames nearby.
History
''Cross Deep House'' was built in 1724 by Twickenham carpenter, Robert Parsons.
It was sited between
Radnor House
Radnor House was an English 17th-century house on the banks of the River Thames in Cross Deep, Strawberry Hill, London, south of Twickenham town centre. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1940, and the remains of house and grounds form part of pre ...
to the north and what subsequently became
Strawberry Hill House
Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the "#Strawb ...
to the south. The house itself was located on the opposite side of the
Cross Deep road from its riverside garden.
It was bought by George Jones,
solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
, in 1745 and sold to
slave trader
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...
, Robert Cramond, in 1752. The following year it was inherited by Eleanor Land and James Newton, and acquired by Isaac Fernandez Nunez in 1756.
William Cole, on a visit to Walpole, noted:
From the garden you discover the elegant Chinese Temple, being the last building on the bank of the Thames, and close to my Lord Radnor’s house or garden wall – though the house belonging to it is on the other side of the road, and is the last house on that side next to Strawberry Hill, and is an handsome new square building – I say, from this garden of Mr Walpole you discover the Chinese summer house in which, about last August, Mr Isaac Fernandez Nunez, a Jew, shot himself through the head, on the loss of the Hermione, a rich French ship which he had insured, and by that means ruined his fortune and family. His house and furniture were sold by auction while I was at Strawberry Hill, and I was at the sale for a few minutes.
The ''Chinese Temple'' Cole refers to may have been a larger garden structure that existed at the time, rather than the
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
summerhouse that remains a feature within Radnor Gardens to this day. Although Cole refers to the lost ship as being French, it was the Spanish frigate ''
Hermione
Hermione may refer to:
People
* Hermione (given name), a female given name
* Hermione (mythology), only daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology and original bearer of the name
Arts and literature
* ''Cadmus et Hermione'', an opera by ...
'' captured in the
action of 31 May 1762.
In 1764 Stafford Briscoe (1713–1789), a goldsmith and jeweller based in
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...
, acquired the property. In 1775 he sold some land to his neighbour,
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
, in the latter phases of Walpole's development of the Strawberry Hill estate. Cross Deep House passed to James & Thomas Land by inheritance and at some point thereafter to William Land. It was next acquired by John Briscoe in 1789 by inheritance from his uncle and, on his death in 1809, passed to his son,
John Ivatt Briscoe
John Ivatt Briscoe (12 October 1791 – 16 August 1870) was an English Whig and later Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1857 to 1870.
Early life and education
Briscoe was the only son of John Briscoe of Cross Deep, Twick ...
. In 1831 Briscoe purchased the neighbouring Radnor House, selling it in 1840 to
Francis Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey
Francis Jack Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey (12 December 1787 – 20 June 1880), known as Viscount Newry from 1822 to 1832, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Member of Parliament.
Biography
He was the son of General Francis Needham, 1st Earl of Kilmore ...
. He subsequently sold Cross Deep House to Lord Kilmorey in 1843 and Kilmorey made it his home for a while before moving downstream to
Orleans House
Orleans House was a Palladian villa built by the architect John James in 1710 near the Thames at Twickenham, England, for the politician and diplomat James Johnston. It was subsequently named after the Duc d'Orléans who stayed there in t ...
in 1846.
In 1853 Frederick G Watkins bought Cross Deep House, followed by Edward Chapman in 1855. Sometime thereafter
Charles James Freake
Sir Charles James Freake, 1st Baronet (7 April 1814 – 6 October 1884) was an untrained English architect and builder, responsible for many famous 19th-century façades in London, including Eaton Square, Exhibition Road and Onslow Square, ...
acquired the house, over a decade before his more substantial development of
Fullwell Park nearby. The house changed hands again in 1858, sold to Frederick G Watkins and sold again in 1860 to Edward Jas Coleman Esq and Charles Clark & Son, surgeons.
In 1871,
William Vernon Harcourt MP owned the house for a year before sale to Richard Laming in 1872. It was then owned by three successive members of the Quick family until the house's eventual demolition in 1906 following acquisition of the gardens by
Twickenham Urban District
Twickenham was a local government district in Middlesex, England from 1868 to 1965.
History
Twickenham Local Government District was formed in 1868, when the civil parish of Twickenham adopted the Local Government Act 1858. The district was gove ...
in 1903 and the creation of the riverside public open space of ''Radnor Gardens'',
now owned by
Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council
Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London, the United Kingdom capital. Richmond upon Thames ...
.
Garden
Ordnance Survey
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maps show that during the late 1800s, the riverside garden of ''Cross Deep House'' also shared access to a former island, ''Cross Deep Ait'', via a footbridge. Like its neighbour ''Radnor House'', the metal remnants of the bridge are visible lining the southern footpath near the present-day
bowling green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
in Radnor Gardens.
References
{{LB Richmond
1724 establishments in England
1906 disestablishments in England
Buildings and structures demolished in 1906
Former houses in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Former structures on the River Thames
History of Middlesex
Houses completed in 1724
Twickenham