Stanwell Place was a

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 ...

and associated estate and

tenant Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer *Anchor tenant, one of the larger stores ...

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 ...

s, located to the west of the village of

Stanwell Stanwell is a village close to two of the three main towns in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, about west of central London. A small corner of its land is vital industrial land serving Heathrow Airport – most of the rest is residential ...

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 ...

. During the early part of the 20th century parts of the estate were sold off to create a reservoir and a series of local small holdings. The manor house was constructed in the 17th century at least, standing about half a mile to the west of the parish church, north of Park Road. The last house to stand on the site is believed to have been built in the early part of the 19th century by the

Sir John Gibbons, 2nd Baronet Sir John Gibbons, 2nd Baronet (c.1717 – 9 July 1776) was a British Member of Parliament. Gibbons was born in Barbados, the son of Sir William Gibbons, 1st Baronet, speaker of the assembly and lieutenant-general of Barbados. He represented S ...

, who owned the manorial rights from 1754 to 1933. The house had two storeys and was cement rendered with a low-pitched roof behind a parapet. The later west wing was built of red brick, and some of the outbuildings were older than the main house. The surrounding park land was laid out in the 18th century. The bend at the entrance gates in Park Road is probably due to Sir John Gibbons diverting the road in 1760. After Gibbons had enclosed Borough Field in 1771, the Park extended from Oaks Road in the east to Borough Green to the north and was over . The size of the park went down over the years, however.
'Stanwell: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 36-41 The last of the Gibbons family to live there sold Stanwell Place to a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, Sir John Watson Gibson, in 1933. Gibson moved to Stanwell whilst building the Queen Mary Reservoir at Littleton (then the largest water storage reservoir in the world). He lived at Stanwell Lodge before his purchase of Stanwell Place (90 acres), and the adjoining Stanhope farm (261 acres, including Hammonds farm). In 1936 the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

bought most of Gibson's estate, in a contract encompassing 346 acres. It used this land in 1947 to develop the

King George VI Reservoir The King George VI Reservoir sits between Stanwell Moor and Staines upon Thames, south-west of Heathrow, England. It is between Staines Moor and a north–south road abutting the Staines Reservoirs. The reservoir was opened in November 1947 and ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Gibson, as deputy director-general civil engineering (special) at the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

(1943–44), was one of the principal people responsible for the construction of the top secret Mulberry Harbours. It was as a result of this that he lent Stanwell Place to the SHAEF Commanders, and they held two top level meetings there during the buildup to

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

and the

Normandy Invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

. The highest level US commanders, including

Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

General George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S ...

, General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

Admiral Ernest J. King Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the Un ...

, and General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold, stayed at Stanwell Place for these meetings. Spelthorne Borough Council - Local List of Buildings and Structures of Architectural or Historic Interest - February 2004: Burial Monument of Sir John Gibson After Gibson’s death, Stanwell Place and 22 acres were sold to King Faisal II of Iraq, leaving 17 acres of Stanhope farm still in the ownership of Gibson's sons. After the assassination of King Faisal in 1958, the house and its grounds was purchased for gravel extraction. Despite local attempts to prevent it, the house was allowed to become derelict and was eventually demolished.

References

{{Spelthorne Demolished buildings and structures in England History of Middlesex Middlesex