APPENDIX TO PRIVATE 

 GARDENS 



CHARLTON 



WING to unavoidable circum- 

 stances it was not possible to 

 include Charlton in the foregoing 

 chapter on private gardens, but 

 some account of this place of 

 historic interest is necessary to 

 complete this book. Further 

 from the centres of fashion, on 

 the eastern limits of London, it has not been the scene 

 of such brilliant assemblies as Holland House on the 

 west ; yet its early days share that speculative fascination 

 which gathers round the personality of Henry, Prince of 

 Wales, who figures for such a short time on the pages of 

 English history. Only two miles from Greenwich, in the 

 hundred of Blackheath, lies the manor of Charlton, which 

 was bestowed by William the Conqueror on his half- 

 brother, Odo of Bayeux. Later on it passed by gift to 

 the Priory of Bermondsey, and so remained until the Dis- 

 solution of the Monasteries, when it became crown land 

 until James L gave it to Sir Adam Newton, " who built 

 a goodly brave house " thereon. Born in Scotland, Sir 

 Adam had spent much of his life in France, and passing 

 himself off as a priest, had taught Greek at St. Maixant 

 in Poitou. On his return to Scotland in 1600, he was 



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