Whitton Park was a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in the village of Whitton in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

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 ...

. It was demolished in the 1840s and gradually replaced with housing.

Early history

In 1625 two parcels of land were enclosed from

Hounslow Heath Hounslow Heath is a local nature reserve in the London Borough of Hounslow and at a point borders Richmond upon Thames. The public open space, which covers , is all that remains of the historic Hounslow Heath which covered more than . The prese ...

and by 1635 the land included a substantial house.

Georgian estate

In 1722 the estate passed to Archibald Campbell, Lord Ilay, later the 3rd Duke of Argyll. He went on to expand and develop it. He died in 1761, and a large part of the estate was bought around 1766 by George Gostling, a lawyer. Whitton Park then remained in the Gostling family to 1892. In 1735, architect and builder Roger Morris designed and built a

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

villa there; and it was later leased by

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Biog ...

. Chambers had also bought into the Duke's estate, and developed land from it.

Benjamin Hobhouse Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, 1st Baronet (1757–1831) was an English politician. Life The son of John Hobhouse, a slave trader and merchant at Bristol (and nephew to Isaac Hobhouse), he received his education at Bristol grammar school and Brasenose ...

leased the house from 1809 to 1821. Whitton Park came to mean the house, and Whitton Place the villa, which was demolished in 1847. Whitton Park was known for its gardens, with winding paths and groves leading past allegorical urns and temples. The Duke was an enthusiastic gardener and he imported large numbers of exotic species of plants and trees for his estate. He was nicknamed the 'Treemonger' by

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

. On his death, many of these, including mature trees, were moved by his nephew, the third Earl of Bute, to the Princess of Wales' new garden at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

. This later became

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

and one of these trees planted in 1762 still survives to this day; the

black locust ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States ...

. Designed by architect

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...

, the Whitton Park

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

was built in 1725. It functioned also as an

aviary An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds, although bats may also be considered for display. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages. Av ...

. Later converted to a mansion, it was demolished 1912. Gibbs's 1728 ''Book of Architecture'' included designs for three further buildings proposed for Whitton Park, but never executed. The greenhouse stood at the northern end of an artificial canal which was situated near the centre of the main enclosure. At the southern end of this canal was a triangular gothick tower with angle turrets, for which Gibbs may also have been the architect.

Later development

Most of the Whitton Park site was developed for housing around 1935.

Notes

External links

Local History Notes Whitton Park

Local History Time Line Whitton Park
{{Coord, 51, 27, 23.55, N, 0, 21, 52.9, W, scale:25000_region:GB, display=title Houses completed in 1800 Country houses in London Gardens in London Neoclassical architecture in England British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Buildings and structures demolished in 1912 Twickenham Whitton, London Buildings and structures demolished in 1847