Ludgrove Hall is an historic

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

in the parish of

Monken Hadley Monken Hadley is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. An ancient country village north of Barnet, it is now a suburban development on the very edge of Greater London north north-west of Charing Cross, while retaining much of its rural cha ...

, formerly within the county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. Today the property has been overtaken by the suburbs of North London, and is situated on Games Road,

Cockfosters Cockfosters is a suburb of north London to the east of Chipping Barnet, lying partly in the London Borough of Enfield and partly in the London Borough of Barnet. Before 1965, it was in the counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. Origins and ...

, on the edge of

Monken Hadley Common Monken Hadley Common lies within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, and is listed as a “ Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I,” by the London Borough of Barnet. It is registered common land, and it is owned by the Tr ...

. It was originally a private home but then became Ludgrove School and has now been converted to flats. Additional buildings have since been constructed in the grounds.Following compulsory purchase it was used as residential accommodation for students at Trent Park College of Education in 1960s and 70s. This was later taken over by Middlesex University.

Background

The Hall was built on land that was originally part of the

Ludgrove Ludgrove, or Ludgrave, or Ludgraves, was an estate and farm in Middlesex between Monken Hadley in the west and Cockfosters in the east in what is now north London. It was centered on Ludgrove Farm (the Blue House) near to Cockfosters. History The ...

(or Ludgraves) estate"Take a Tour of the Common"
Monken Hadley Common. Retrieved 8 August 2015. and it was known as Ludgrove Farm before 1422, in the original sense of the word "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

" denoting a form of

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

, not meaning an agricultural business. As the parish of Monken Hadley was a possession of

Walden Abbey Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190. Soon after its foundin ...

, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the parish and its constituent estates were transferred to the Crown in 1542.''Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement''

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

, Barnet, 2007, pp. 39-41. Having been sold by the crown, the estate of Ludgrove was later owned by

Sir Roger Wilbraham Sir Roger Wilbraham (4 November 1553 – 31 July 1616) was a prominent English lawyer who served as Solicitor-General for Ireland under Elizabeth I and held a number of positions at court under James I, including Master of Requests and surve ...

who in 1612 built

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

s in the village of Monken Hadley. It was once known as the Blue HouseTaylor, Pamela, & Joanna Corden. (1994) ''Barnet, Edgware, Hadley and Totteridge: A pictorial history''. Chichester: Phillimore. Image caption 90. and appears in that name on Francis Russell's 1776 map of

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Country ...

The house

The current house dates from the 1830s and was the home of

Francis Bevan Francis (Frank) Augustus Bevan (17 January 184031 August 1919) was a British heir and banker. He served as the chairman of Barclays Bank, a British multi-national financial institution, serving from 1896 to 1916. Early life Francis Augustus Bev ...

until 1890 when Bevan moved to

Trent Park Trent Park is an English country house, together with its former extensive grounds, in north London. The original great house and a number of statues and other structures located within the grounds (such as the Orangery) are Grade II listed b ...

following his father's death.''Christ Church Cockfosters: 125 years''.
Franey & Co., London, c. 1964. p. 7. From 1892 the house was

Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent boys preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed as a master at Elstree School, which sent boys ...

, a boys preparatory school, until the school moved to Wokingham in 1937. The school was founded in 1892 by

Arthur Dunn Arthur Tempest Blakiston Dunn (12 August 1860 in Whitby, Yorkshire – 20 February 1902 in Ludgrove near Barnet, Hertfordshire) was a noted amateur footballer who founded the English boarding school, Ludgrove, in 1892. Education Dunn, son of ...

in north

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Dunn, a footballer, recruited a number of sportsmen to assist him as masters and was succeeded, on his premature death, by two

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

captains,

G.O. Smith Gilbert Oswald Smith (25 November 1872 – 6 December 1943
), familiarly known as G. O. Smith or simply as G. O. ...

and William Oakley, who became joint headmasters. According to Nancy Clark, it was a "famous preparatory school for Eton" attended by young Royals and sons of the aristocracy. Pupils at Ludgrove Hall included

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and li ...

, John Dunville VC, and Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia. Ex-pupil

Alistair Horne Sir Alistair Allan Horne (9 November 1925 – 25 May 2017) was a British journalist, biographer and historian of Europe, especially of 19th- and 20th-century France. He wrote more than 20 books on travel, history, and biography. Early life, ...

wrote an unflattering account of his time at the school in the 1930s in which he described "humbug, snobbery and rampant, unchecked bullying" which he thought was intended to toughen the boys up. The house was built for redevelopment in 1939 but no action was taken due to the Second World War. It was compulsorily purchased in 1950. In the 1980s and 90s the building was used as accommodation and a conference centre for Middlesex Polytechnic, later

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

. Around 1999, the building was converted into apartments by St James Homes and detached houses built in the grounds.LUDGROVE HALL.
Priest Stonework and Restoration. Retrieved 10 January 2016.

References

External links

*http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/answers/answers-2012/ans12-013-ludgrove.htm {{coord, 51.65511, -0.15867, region:GB, display=title Cockfosters Bevan family Middlesex Ludgrove

Background

The house

References

Further reading

External links