Wickham Court is a semi-fortified country house in

West Wickham West Wickham is an area of South East London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Bromley with some parts lying in the London Borough of Croydon. It lies south of Park Langley and Eden Park, west of Hayes and Coney Hall, north of ...

, Bromley, a borough of south-east London and historically and traditionally part of the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The house dates from the time of Henry VII and is a

Grade I listed 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 ...

building. The house is a square brick-built structure of 3 storeys which once enclosed a small open courtyard, since roofed over. There are octagonal 5-storey turrets at each corner and both the house and turrets have castellated parapets. The east front has 4 windows, the other fronts 3 windows. A porch with a crow-stepped gable was added to the west side during the reign of Charles I. A modern attic storey with dormer windows and a modern wing on the South front have also been added.

History

The house was originally built for Sir

Henry Heydon Sir Henry Heydon (died 1504) was the son of John Heydon of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, 'the well-known opponent of the Paston family'. He married Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, great-grandfather of Henry VIII's queen Anne Boleyn ...

(died 1504) who married Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Sir

Geoffrey Boleyn Sir Geoffrey Boleyn (1406–1463; also Jeffray Bulleyn, Bullen, etc) was an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London from 1457 to 1458. He purchased the manor of Blickling, near Aylsham, in Norfolk from Sir John Fastol ...

, great-grandfather of Henry VIII's wife

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

. It was then sold by the Heydon family to John Lennard in 1579 and passed down in the Lennard family, many of whom were baronets, to 1929. In that year Sir Stephen Lennard, Bt. emigrated to Canada, and Wickham Court became an hotel. It was requisitioned in the Second World War for use as Army offices and accommodation. In 1952 it was acquired by Coloma College of Education (a teacher training establishment), and then from 1978 to 1996 occupied by

Schiller International University Schiller International University (SIU) is a private for-profit university with its main campus and administrative headquarters in Tampa, Florida. It is named after the German playwright and philosopher Friedrich Schiller. It has campuses on tw ...

. It is now home to Wickham Court Preparatory School.

References

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External links

Wickham Court Preparatory School website
Country houses in London Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Bromley