A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



chestnut avenue of Bushey Park to Teddington, 

 Twickenham, and Brentford. 4 It is well known 

 that these roads and all the district surrounding 

 Hounslow Heath were once infested with thieves 

 and footpads. In 1667 Lord Bridgman's chil- 

 dren were robbed going from Teddington to Tun- 

 bridge, and the Dowager Lady Portland between 

 Twickenham and Hampton. 6 The Staines road, 

 which leads north-west from Hampton Court 

 Bridge to Hampton town, following the course 

 of the river, passes several interesting houses ; 

 opposite them lie ' the Green ' and Bushey Park. 

 At the foot of the bridge is an old hotel, ' The 

 Mitre,' probably the successor of 'The Toy," 

 which originally stood on the opposite side of the 

 road, near the ' Trophy Gates ' of the palace. It 

 was built in the time of Henry VIII, and is men- 

 tioned in 1653 in the Parliamentary Survey of 

 Hampton Court as a ' Victualling house, worth by 

 the yeare seaven pounds.' s This house was famous 

 for the convivial meetings held there by the ' Toy 

 Club,' of which William IV, then Duke of Clarence, 

 was president. The club included many well- 

 known names among its members. 9 



The first house on the road to Hampton is said 

 to have been occupied by Sir Andrew Halliday, kt., 

 the famous physician, and the second, known as 

 ' Old Court House,' is that which Sir Christopher 

 Wren rented of the Crown for 10 a year in 1 708 

 and almost entirely rebuilt. 10 It was originally 

 only of timber and plaster, but is now a solid brick 

 house, and remains very much as it was when the 

 great architect died there in his sleep after dinner 

 on 25 February 1723, in the panelled room on the 

 east side of the house." There is a garden going 

 down to the river, and the old tree under which 

 Wren used to sit is still there, and so is the 

 tool-house he built. After his death the house 

 became the property of his son and grandson suc- 

 cessively, and after passing through many hands " 

 was eventually leased to Mr. James Fletcher, a 

 well-known inhabitant of Hampton Court, who 

 held it for many years and died in 1907. 



The next house but one was occupied by Pro- 



fessor Faraday the scientist, to whom it was given 

 in 1858. He died there in 1867," and the house 

 was afterwards granted to Lady MacGregor, widow 

 of Sir John Atholl Bannatyne MacGregor, bart., 

 and daughter of Sir Thomas Hardy, Nelson's flag- 

 captain at Trafalgar. 14 It is now the residence 

 of the Princesses Dhuleep Singh. Several houses 

 on this side of the Green are probably of about 

 the period of Wren, if he was not actually con- 

 cerned in building them, and they have charming 

 slips of old-fashioned garden going down to the 

 river. They are all Crown property ; some are 

 occupied by tenants and some held by ' grace and 

 favour.' A little further up the road, beyond a 

 large new private hotel, is the range of low Tudor 

 buildings surrounding a square courtyard, which 

 constituted the ' Royal Mews,' built by Wolsey 

 and enlarged by Henry VIII." These buildings, 

 it is said, were at one time used as an inn, called 

 ' The Chequers." " They are now granted by the 

 king to private individuals ; one suite of apart- 

 ments was occupied by the late Mr. Charles 

 Maude, Assistant Paymaster-General, 17 others of 

 smaller size being allotted to pensioners of Queen 

 Victoria's household. The adjoining building 

 to the west is Queen Elizabeth's stables, built in 

 I 5 70. 18 Some of the remaining stables are made 

 use of by the ladies of the palace. There are one 

 or two more modern houses, and to the right, on 

 the Green, just before the paling of Bushey Park 

 commences, is a square building of the time of 

 William III, now used as supplementary barracks. 1 * 

 From this point the road used to be a pretty 

 one, lying between the river and Bushey Park. 

 The electric tramway now spoils its picturesque 

 appearance. Nearer to Hampton, on the river 

 side, is a large, comparatively modern house called 

 the Cedars, which it appears that David Garrick, 

 the actor, bought and bequeathed to his nephew.* 

 It is now the property of Mr. J. W. Clayton, one 

 of the partners in the firm of Messrs. Day & 

 Martin. 81 It has a pretty terraced garden on the 

 bank of the river. The next house is a picturesque 

 building called 'St. Albans.' It was originally built 



s This was probably the route fol- 

 lowed by the king's coach. The present 

 route through Eaton Square (Five 

 Fields), Sloane Square (East Field and 

 Great Bloody Field), and so along King's 

 Road, represents the sovereign's private 

 way from St. James's Palace to Hampton 

 Court and Windsor, in later times to 

 Kew. In 1719 Sir Hans Sloane, as lord 

 of the manor, petitioned the Treasury 

 for right of way, but the Commissioners 

 of Woods and Forests did not relinquish 

 rights in the private road till 1829, 

 when it became a public thoroughfare. 

 Midd. and Hera. N. and Q. i, 195 

 (1896). 



6 Hiit. MSS. Cam. Rep. vii, App. 486 ; 

 ' Sir H. Verney's Papers.' 



1 Pulled down about 1852. There 

 were some buildings adjoining which 

 remained and were occupied as apart- 

 ments till 1867. Ernest Law, lint. 

 Hampton Court Palace, iii, 490. 



8 Parl. Surv. of Hampton Court, 

 P.R.O. Midd. no. 32. Trade tokens of 



the house are still extant. Larwood 

 and Hotten, Hist, of Signboards, 505 ; 

 cit. Law, Hist. Hampton Court Palace, 

 iii, 190 ; Henry Ripley, Hist, and Topog. 

 of Hampton-on-Thames, 83. 



9 Law, op. cit. iii, 330 et seq. ; 

 Houston, Memories of World-known 

 Men, \, 35, 36, 41. 



10 Lysons, Midd. Parishes, 76 ; Rec. 

 of Office of Woods and Forests ; cit. 

 Law, op. cit. iii, 228. 



11 Wren, Parentalia, 346 ; Elmet, 

 Lift of Wren, 523. 



13 Colonel Sir Henry Wheatley, 

 K..C.B., father of Colonel Wheatley, late 

 Bailiff of the Royal Parks (? Faraday 

 House). Colonel Braddyll, probably the 

 Colonel Braddyll, Coldstream Guards, 

 who had rooms in the palace (vide Law, 

 op. cit. iii, 457), and others are among 

 the tenants of Wren's house ; Ripley, 

 op. cit. ii. 



18 Diet. Nat. Biog. It is now called 

 ' Faraday House.' 



320 



14 Law, op. cit iii, 489. Lady Mac- 

 Gregor's son, Sir Evan MacGregor, 

 G.C.B., was Permanent Secretary to the 

 Admiralty from 1884 to 1907. 



15 Chapter House Accts. 



16 Ripley, op. cit. 9, &c. 



17 Son of the late Colonel Sir George 

 Maude, K.C.B., Crown Equerry to 

 Queen Victoria. (See below, p. 387.) 

 Mr. Charles Maude died in April 

 1910 : the rooms are now occupied 

 by his widow. 



18 Nicholls, Progresses of Queen Eliza- 

 beth, i, 263, 274, &c. 



19 Less than a hundred years ago there 

 used to be a gate across the road from 

 the ' New Barracks,' with a watchman 

 in a box near the river, to open it for 

 passengers. It was called ' Bob's Gate,' 

 and was intended to prevent cattle from 

 straying off the Green. 



20 Ripley, Hist, and Topog. of Hampton- 

 on-Tbames, 12. 



Ibid. 



