– A book review by the WLHG
published in Windlesora 11 (1992)
© 1992 WLHG
Perhaps it was the the distant prospect of Mentmore Towers peeping above the treetops two or three miles from my childhood home which gave me an abiding fascination for large country houses. It all looked so imposing and yet was so inaccessible and I longed to see the rest, a longing which was not fulfilled until many years later. And even now the sight of a lodge, a long carriage drive, the glimpse of a facade or a roofline fills me with a sense of curiosity. So when I moved to Windsor and began research into the history of Clewer parish it was inevitable that the lost mansions of St Leonards, St Leonard’s Hill, Clewer Park and Clewer Lodge should occupy part of my quest. Now the sum of local knowledge has been greatly augmented by the publication of Sheila and Pat Rooney’s book St Leonard’s Hill.
Starting with an account of the medieval chapel and hermitage which relies to a large extent on previously published material, the authors give us a fair summary, though much of the detail in this chapter has to be left to conjecture. But as the sub-title suggests, the book covers a broad spectrum and would have been impoverished without reference to this early period. The main part deals with the 18th to 20th centuries and the various mansions which have stood on the hill during that time, and this is by far the most important part. Many readers will be fascinated by this account of the Walpoles, the Waldegraves, the Gloucesters and the Harcourts. Especially helpful is the chart on page 16 which endeavours to sort out the confusion between St Leonard’s Hill and its near neighbour, St Leonard’s, something which even Sir Nikolaus Pevsner failed to elucidate correctly in his Berkshire volume. From my own point of view the final period of St Leonard’s Hill, under the ownership of Sir Francis Tress Barry is the most interesting; its rebuilding in the style of a French chateau, its brief half century of glory, and its final decline into a sad and neglected ruin. The book comes up to the present day, covering the ownership of much of the estate by the Try family, and the more recent housing developments.
A book such as this depends on illustrations and there are many throughout the text. There are useful genealogical charts, maps of the area, extracts from sale catalogues as well as a wealth of photographs. Some of these are a little dark, but the overall quality is good and very helpful. The cover is splendid and deserves a mention on its own. Many readers will be glad to see portraits of the owners and their families; it is always good to put faces to names. And no one who looks at this book can fail to be impressed by the grandeur of the Victorian mansion with its frescoes, its marble hall, and porticoed grand entrance; nor can they fail to be saddened by the ruin. One is reminded of those words of Shelley: “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains.”
All in all this is a worthwhile addition to anyone’s local history bookshelf from the newest member of the Windsor Local History Publications Group.
Valerie Bonham
ROONEY, Sheila and Pat St Leonard’s Hill Windsor: House, Hermitage and Hill Windsor Publications 1991
ISBN 1 870417 07 0 Casebound £14.95
ISBN 1 870417 08 9 Paperback £9.95 104 pp.
Windsor Local History Group 