Hexton Manor is a country house in

Hexton, Hertfordshire Hexton is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, about west of Hitchin. This parish is a salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of the parish is part of the chalky downs of the Ch ...

that has been home to the Lautour family, descendants of the

Dukes of Bouillon The Duchy of Bouillon (french: Duché de Bouillon) was a duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in present-day Belgium. The state originated in the 10th century as property of the Lords of Bouillon, owners of Bouillon Castl ...

and

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper.

History

The Manor of Hexton started as part of the estate of St Albans Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1541 at which point it was given away from the church. The estate was owned by seventeen different families although it ended up with the Poyntz family under Newdigate Poyntz. Hexton Manor started as a farmhouse in the 17th century, although was enlarged into a manor house in the 18th century. In 1820 the then owner, Joseph Andrew de Lautour and his wife Caroline Young de Lautour enlarged the house further. De Lautour inherited the property through his wife Caroline Young who was the daughter of William Young, the illegitimate child of

Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank (1703–1778) was a Scottish soldier, lawyer, author and economist. Life He was the son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank (1677-1736), and his wife Elizabeth (née Stirling; died 1756), daughter of George St ...

who had owned the Hexton Estate priorly. The manor remained in the de Lautour family until it was purchased by George Hodgson, a rich textile merchant, in 1901 who enlarged and rebuilt it into its current form. Hodgson later sold the house to the businessman and politician Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper in 1918. Whilst owning the estate, Patrick Ashley Cooper served as

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisio ...

and Deputy Lieutenant of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Hexton was initially put up for sale in 2018 via the estate agents,

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London. ...

for a guide price of £18.5 Million. It was again put on the market in 2022 again via Savills, this time for £15 Million and was later in the year listed on

Knight Frank Knight Frank LLP is an estate agency, residential and commercial property consultancy founded in London by John Knight, Howard Frank and William Rutley in 1896. Knight Frank together with its American affiliate Cresa is one of the world's large ...

estate agents as well.

References

{{reflist

External links

Hexton Manor Estate page

Historic England page
Country houses in Hertfordshire Grade II listed houses Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire