The Lost Mansions of West Windsor
Published in Windlesora 06 (1987)
© WLHG
On the edge of Windsor Forest about half a mile after the main road to Winkfield leaves Clewer Green, a timbered lodge and what was once a long carriage drive, now lined with executive houses, provides a clue to long-vanished splendours. Further along the main road through the trees giraffes may be seen in this otherwise most English of settings. This still-forested hill site is St Leonard’s Hill; once the humble anchorhold of the hermit of St Leonard’s, it now shares its territory with rhinos and the rich, and yields its secrets to neither. The lost mansions which concern us here are those confusingly known as St Leonard’s Hill and St Leonard’s. Even Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in the Berkshire volume of his monumental Buildings of England confused the two, and indeed the early history of both houses is intricately interwoven. The private housing development now called St Leonard’s Hill hides in its midst the ruined mansion from which it takes its name. The neighbouring estate called St Leonard’s is now better known as Windsor Safari Park.
The story of St Leonard’s hermitage has been dealt with by Jean Kirkwood in Windlesora 4 and need not be reiterated here except to say that the earliest mention of the chapel and hermitage was in 1215, and that it continued until the dissolution of the monasteries, after which only the name Eremytescroft (Hermit’s field) remained to recall a distant memory.
The mansion known as St Leonard’s can be traced back to the 18th century when in 1750 a near-derelict house known as the Hermitage, not to be confused with the medieval religious foundation, was purchased by Lilley Aynescombe, Esq., and was rebuilt by him. Aynescombe sold it in 1773 to his neighbour the Duke of Gloucester, (brother of King George III), who named it Sophia Farm after his daughter born in that year, and added it to his existing estate, now known as St Leonard’s Hill. This estate had come into the Duke’s possession through his secret marriage in 1766 to Maria, Dowager-Countess of Waldegrave, who, sometime between 1761 and 1772 had acquired and rebuilt, under the direction of Thomas Sandby, a former Royal hunting lodge which she called Forest Lodge. Upon her marriage to the Duke, Forest Lodge was renamed Gloucester Lodge, and Aynescombe’s mansion nearby was acquired. A new road was made between the two houses and an agreement made to restrain the deer.
By the late 1770’s Gloucester Lodge, though still owned by the Duke was occupied by Henry Grenville who, in keeping with the prevailing fashion, built a temple and grotto in the grounds. But both estates changed hands in 1781-2; Sophia Farm being sold to I.Birch Esq., and Gloucester Lodge becoming the property of a Mr Macnamara who bought the estate, then comprising about 75 acres for 7,000 guineas, and in the same year sold it to the 3rd Earl Harcourt who was also a Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park. This transaction saw the end of the close link between the two mansions and their subsequent history is less confusing. Upon the Earl’s death in 1830, the property passed to his cousin, Dr Edward Harcourt (1757- 1847), sometime Archbishop of York, in whose family it remained, though occupied under lease for a time by the Earl of Derby, until 1852 when it was bought by Mr Moffat, MP for Southampton.
In 1872 the mansion was bought by Mr Francis Tress Barry who had made his fortune in Portuguese copper mines. In 1876 the King of Portugal created him Baron de Barry of Portugal and he served as Conservative MP for Windsor from 1890-1906. Barry now employed the architect C.H. Howell to substantially rebuild his mansion, hereafter known as St Leonard’s Hill. Of Thomas Sandby’s work only the drawing room, dining room and music room with the bedrooms over, were retained.
The new house, with its mansard roofs giving the appearance of a French chateau, was built of grey ragstone with Cefn stone dressings. A projecting colonnaded portico provided cover for carriages upon their arrival. If the exterior was impressive then the interior must certainly have been, for after passing through the mosaic-floored vestibule the visitor ascended a short flight of marble steps beyond which lay the central hall with its gallery supported by eight Doric columns in octagonal formation and lit by a circular glazed domed roof. Here too was a three-manual organ. The double staircase of English oak led to the gallery, the walls of which were inlaid with Mexican onyx, with hand-painted frescoes above depicting scenes from the siege of Troy.
The three rooms by Sandby which were retained in the new house were decorated after the style of Robert Adam and of particular interest was the drawing room ceiling which was decorated in gilt with sky blue medallions in relief. This room had a fine doorway leading to the Winter Garden. The house comprised six principal bedrooms with ancillary rooms and also a Japanese suite consisting of octagon bedroom, Japanese room with hand-painted walls, dressing room and two other principal bedrooms. All main rooms had marble fireplaces.
The servant’s quarters and nurseries made up fifteen rooms in all, and the house was really quite advanced in domestic facilities for its time. For instance, the 1923 sale catalogue states that as from 1915 the principal reception rooms and corridors had been heated by radiators, and that one of the principal bedrooms had a bathroom (hot and cold). This however appears to be the only bathroom except for the one in the servants quarters. Lighting was by gas made on the estate, and the water supply was pumped by engine to each floor. At least the servants did not have the back-breaking task of carrying every drop of water upstairs.
One of the most striking things about St Leonard’s Hill was its position; in fact it was higher than the Castle and commanded a superb view. And if all that were not enough, the grounds themselves with their profusion of oak trees, rhododendrons and camellias never failed to delight all who came to visit. The mile-long carriage drive climbed ever higher until it swept to a halt underneath the colonnaded portico.
Sir Francis Tress Barry died in 1907 but his widow remained there until her death in 1923 when the whole estate, comprising house, grounds, and surrounding farms, was sold. The profusely illustrated sale catalogue serves as the only testimony to the splendour of St Leonard’s Hill, for the new owner Mr Thornton Smith, (who with his brother owned Fortnum and Mason), immediately began to demolish the mansion; parts of it were sold all over the world, the remainder being left in a ruinous condition. In 1940 Mr Reg Try acquired 40 acres of the former estate including the ruins, and they remain within the family at the present time, though inaccessible to the public. The once stately portico now lies fragmented and moss covered; the lawn with its breathtaking view of the Castle is overgrown, and the once immaculate grounds with its flowering shrubbery now encroaches to within the very walls.
During succeeding years prestigious houses were built on the former estate, at first along the carriage drive, and more recently as self-contained developments. One major development which mercifully did not proceed further than the drawing board was that proposed in 1935 by the leading architects Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry. They planned to build 110 luxury flats and apartments in a series of high rise developments in the then fashionable ‘International Style’, together with a restaurant, a lounge and a ballroom. Garages were to be out of earshot, and a variety of services from window-cleaning to valeting were to be available. Children were to have a secluded play area together with qualified nurse to care for them. An article in the May 1935 issue of the Architectural Review called ‘Cry stop to havoc’, describes the flats as being designed, ‘for those who want some approach to a country gentleman’s life near London…the rents being from a little over £100 per annum to £500 per annum and the flats from one to seven rooms.’ An integral part of the scheme was the preservation of much of the surrounding parkland and shrubbery. But the dream never became reality mainly because of the difficulties of providing an adequate water supply.
So much for St Leonard’s Hill, but the neighbouring mansion, St Leonard’s has had an equally difficult history. Following the sale of both mansions by the Duke of Gloucester in 1781, St Leonard’s was bought by I.Birch, Esq. By 1813 it was owned by William Dawson who enlarged it under the direction of James Wyatt who had done work at Windsor Castle. From 1854-1920 the house was owned by the Brinckman family. Sir Theodore Henry Brinckman, 2nd Baronet, was MP for Canterbury 1868-74; he was succeeded by his son, Colonel Sir Theodore Francis Brinckman (1898-1937) in 1905. The 3rd Baronet sold St Leonard’s in 1920 and from 1922-32 it was owned by Mr James Railton. Ten years later, in 1932, the estate again changed hands.
The new owner was Mr Horace Dodge the American motor magnate, and he almost completely rebuilt the house which had been little changed since Wyatt’s extensive alterations. During these years the house was lived in intermittently, and whilst Joseph Kennedy was American Ambassador in London (1937-40) it was put at his disposal, and was occupied by him for about a year. After World War II the house stood empty for many years, until in 1960 Dodge finally put it on the market.
There was much conjecture about the future of the estate, and not a little concern at the prospect of it falling into the hands of speculative builders who would not give due care to preserving the surroundings. Memories were stirred of the plans for the neighbouring estate in the 1930’s. And then the news broke: St Leonard’s had been acquired by circus owner Billy Smart. In 1969 the Windsor Safari Park was opened and became an immediate tourist attraction. There have been several subsequent owners, but the rhinos look all set to stay. The mansion itself has been restored and provides the administrative headquarters for the whole operation, yet somehow seems irrelevant; the crowds pass by and the house is overlooked, almost as though it were not there at all. Although not lost in the same way as its sad neighbour, it seems to serve no useful purpose.
There is a sad irony about these lost mansions of west Windsor. Few who live on St Leonard’s Hill today are even aware of the ruined grandeur close by, so completely has nature taken over since Man gave up caring and cultivating. It is no longer possible to view the distant prospect of the Castle and town of Windsor from the lawn of the Barry mansion, but if one is prepared to give the lions and rhinos a wide berth, to turn one’s back on the dolphins and vie with the crowds, then from the unlikely setting of the Safari Park, this same stupendous view is there for all, and with it a fleeting glimpse of vanished splendour.Valerie Bonham
Windsor Local History Group 