Hunton Park is a large country house and estate in
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and was f ...
, in south west
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 ...
, in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. It was originally called Hazelwood House when first built in the early 19th century. The original house was destroyed in 1908 and completely rebuilt. It is now a hotel owned by the Khanna family.
History
A wealthy Londoner Henry Botham built the first Hazelwood House from around 1810 as a country residence. Between 1810 and 1826 he acquired some of surrounding land as a park. The ownership of Hazelwood House stayed in the Botham family for many years. It later passed around 1850 to Sir Henry Robinson Montagu, the 6th Lord Rokeby, a soldier who had fought at Waterloo as a 16-year-old Ensign and later commanded a division of the British army in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. Other notable owners include Admiral Ralph Cator from 1886 and the Vicar of
Honingham
Honingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, located to the west of Norwich along the A47 trunk road. It covers an area of and had a population of 342 in 145 households at the 2001 census,Violet Cressy-Marcks. During their absences, the house was left empty or rented out. Among the short-term occupants of this period was the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, an exile from his country after the invasion by Italy in 1936.
From 1939 to 1971, the house went through various uses and often stood empty. Part of the estate was taken over by the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
for aircraft manufacture, later becoming the
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
aircraft factory, and, in the 1990s,
Leavesden Film Studios
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an studio complex in Leavesden in Watford, Hertfordshire, in South East England. Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studios or simply Leavesden, it is a film an ...
. In the 1970s, the cinema industry became interested in the house as a location, and a number of the Hammer House of Horror Productions were filmed there (including
Lust For a Vampire
''Lust for a Vampire'', also known as ''Love for a Vampire'' or ''To Love a Vampire'' (the latter title was the one used on American television), is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Barbara Jeffo ...
Sam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker, (born Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director who moved to the United Kingdom after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views. He is credited as ...
, and ''
The Raging Moon
''The Raging Moon'' (released in the US as ''Long Ago, Tomorrow'') is a 1971 British romantic drama film starring Malcolm McDowell and Nanette Newman and based on the book by British novelist Peter Marshall. Adapted and directed by Bryan Forbes ( ...
'' (1971) by director
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 an ...
. Shortly after this period, Paul Edwin Hember, the owner of several small businesses, bought the house and changed its name to Hunton Park.
References
*''Abbots Langley, An Outline History'', by Scott Hastie, Abbots Langley Parish Council, 1986