Hillingdon House

Hillingdon House is a Grade II listed mansion in Hillingdon, Greater London. The original house was built in 1717 as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Schomberg. It was destroyed by fire and the present house was built in its place in 1844.

The British Government purchased Hillingdon House in 1915 and it became a military hospital. In 1917, what would become the Royal Air Force station RAF Uxbridge was established within the grounds. In military use, the house has served over time as the first headquarters for No. 11 Group RAF and RAF Bomber Command. The River Pinn passes through the grounds of the house from north to south, splitting the former RAF Uxbridge in two.

The Hillingdon House Farm estate to the north of the house includes the Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex (formerly Uxbridge Lido). The farm ceased operations in 1965 after the local council served a notice to quit on the tenant. The farmhouse on Honeycroft Hill became a council depot, followed by a plant nursery, before it was sold for residential housing.

Under plans approved in early 2011 for the redevelopment of the RAF station, the house will be renovated and converted to include a restaurant. As of 2014 it is not accessible to the public while the site undergoes redevelopment.

History

First house

The first house on the site was built as a hunting lodge in 1717 for the Duke of Schomberg, a British army commander of German origin. He is said to have been very argumentative, to the point where he would argue with all those around him bar the enemy.Sherwood 2007, p.97

The house eventually passed to the Chetwynd family, who sold it to the Marchioness of Rockingham, widow of Prime Minister The Marquess of Rockingham, in 1786 for £9,000. The Marchioness lived there until her own death in 1804, upon which the estate passed to her stepsister Elizabeth, widow of William Weddell MP. Her husband had left her Newby Hall in Mayfair, therefore having no need of Hillingdon House, she sold it to Josias Du Pré Porcher in 1805. In 1810 the estate was sold to Richard Henry Cox, a member of the Cox banking family and the grandson of Richard Cox, founder of the travel company Cox & Kings.Crozier 2007, p.5

Second house

After the first house burnt down, the present structure was built in 1844, in a classical Victorian style. In 1892, an area of the estate south of the house was established as Hillingdon Golf Club, founded by Charles Newton who lived at Hillingdon House, and Charles Stevens, a partner of a local timber company. The estate of Frederick Cox, Richard Henry Cox's grandson, placed the house on the market in 1914, describing it as "a brick and stone building, partly stuccoed, with extensive outbuildings and ornamental gardens." The house and gardens, together with the surrounding parkland and artificial lake created by damming a section of the River Pinn, amounted to more .

The British Government bought the house and grounds in 1915, intending to construct a prisoner of war camp within the grounds. Local opposition to the plan led to the house becoming the Canadian Convalescent Hospital to care for troops evacuated from the front line during the First World War.Crozier 2007, p.6 The hospital opened on 20 September 1915 and closed on 12 December 1917, having had four commanding officers and five sisters-in-charge.

On 19 November 1917, 114 officers and 1156 men of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) Armament School moved into Hillingdon House, with the RFC making a donation of £2289 12s 9d to the Canadian Red Cross

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