Bayfordbury,

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 gov ...

, is a large Grade II* listed country house with surrounding parkland, and the location of a

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

campus, housing its biology/geography field station and observatory.

History of Bayfordbury

Bayfordbury House was originally built between 1759 and 1762 for well-to-do London merchant

Sir William Baker Sir William Baker (5 November 1705 – 23 January 1770) was an English merchant and politician, a Member of the Parliament of Great Britain and Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was the son of John Baker, a London draper. He became a ...

. It was upgraded to its present appearance by his son, also William Baker between 1809 and 1812. After the death of Admiral Sir

Lewis Clinton-Baker Admiral Sir Lewis Clinton-Baker (16 March 1866 – 12 December 1939) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station. History Clinton-Baker joined the Royal Navy in 1879 He took part in the bombardment of Ale ...

in 1940, the estate was leased to the

Dr Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

charity. The 372-acre Bayfordbury estate was then bought by the John Innes Centre in 1948 and developed into a School of

Cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

. A new Cell Biology building was built in 1959, later to become the Science Learning Centre. In 1967 the John Innes Centre moved to its present site in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

and the Bayfordbury estate was bought by the Hertfordshire Council in 1967 for the use of

Hatfield Polytechnic The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

Bayfordbury Observatory

In 1969 the Bayfordbury Observatory was established within the grounds of the house by Hatfield Polytechnic (now the

). This is the university's astronomical and atmospheric physics remote sensing observatory, one of the largest teaching astronomical observatories in the UK.

Science Learning Centre

In 2005 the Regional Science Learning Centre was set up at Bayfordbury to run courses that provided continuing professional development for anyone involved in the teaching of science. The Science Learning Centre had close ties with the nearby

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. ...

and hosted activities during its astronomy open evenings such as

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a Theater (structure), theatre built primarily for presenting educational entertainment, educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navi ...

shows and talks. The building also hosted some of the observatory's scientific instruments on its roof.

Field station

The University of Hertfordshire uses the site as its

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

field station. The university owns a number of Bayfordbury's woodlands and meadows including the Clinton-Baker Pinetum, Sailor's Grove and Hook's Grove. The lake at Bayfordbury was created by the Baker family in 1772 and is now managed for its

newts A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, m ...

and pure genetic stock of

Crucian carp The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval La ...

. The site also houses five large glasshouses, used for plant and aquatic research.

Clinton-Baker Pinetum

The Clinton-Baker Pinetum is a 10-acre pinetum containing over 150 species of conifers from all over the world, many over 100 years old. The first conifers were planted in 1767 by

, the original owner of the mansion.

References

External links

Clinton-Baker Pinetum
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Hertfordshire University of Hertfordshire Education in Hertfordshire Planetaria in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in Hertfordshire Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire Grade II* listed houses Country houses in Hertfordshire Neoclassicism