Hollytrees Museum is a free to visit, publicly owned museum in the centre of

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

and close to

Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to its being built ...

. It is situated in an eighteenth-century house ("Hollytrees"), which was used as a private residence until 1929, when it became a museum. The first house on the site, known as "Symnells" after its owner, was later bought by the Shaw family, and passed from John Shaw to John Shaw III and John Shaw IV. When he died a minor, the house passed into chancery; his mother Jane Lessingham bought it but soon died. The modern house was constructed in for Elizabeth Cornelisen, who had bought the site from Lessingham's executors and promptly tore down the existing structure in poor condition. Construction commenced on 10 May 1718 at a cost of £630 plus brickwork and tiling; the total refurbishment was estimated to have cost £2,000. She died soon after, bequeathing the house to her niece, Sarah Creffeild (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Webster), who left it to her second husband Charles Gray. It was, at that time, known as "Esqr Creffield's ". Possession of the house reverted to the Creffeilds; through Thamer Creffeild to James Round, who left to his brother

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, who left it to his son

Charles Gray Round Charles Gray Round (28 January 1797 – 1 December 1867) was a barrister and the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for North Essex 1837–47. He also served as Recorder for Colchester, and as a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Essex, ...

, who left to it to his nephew

James Round James Round (6 April 1842 – 25 December 1916) was a British Conservative politician and first-class cricketer. Round was born at Colchester, the son of Rev. James Thomas Round and his wife Louisa Barlow. His father was Rector of St. Runwald' ...

. The Rounds finally sold it to the Corporation of

in 1922, a purchase paid for privately by

Viscount Cowdray Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the industrialist Weetman Pearson, 1st Baron Cowdray, head of the Pearson conglomerate. He had already been create ...

and his wife. It became a museum in 1929. The house is known as Hollytrees after two

holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

trees planted in the grounds by Charles Gray in 1729 and is now a free to visit museum serving the centre of Colchester and specialising in local history. It is a grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Ownership

The new house, constructed in 1718, was passed down through the family, as described above. Only those greyed out did not at some time own Hollytrees. It was finally sold by Lt. Col. Charles Round in 1922.

References

External links

Hollytrees Museum and Visitor Information Centre
- Colchester & Ipswich Museums
Hollytrees Museum
- Visit Colchester {{coord, 51.8901, 0.9044, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Colchester (town) Museums in Essex History museums in Essex Local museums in Essex Museums established in 1929 1929 establishments in England Grade I listed buildings in Essex