SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



for Nell Gwyn by Charles II. The local tradition 

 is that it was occupied at a later period by 

 George Fitzclarence, 1st Earl of Munster, son of 

 William IV, who, with his wife, is buried in 

 Hampton Church." One of his children, a boy, 

 was drowned by falling into the river from the 

 lawn of St. Albans. Lytton Bulwer, afterwards 

 Lord Lytton, lived there for a time," and after 

 him Sir William Wightman," who married a niece 

 of John Beard the singer,* 5 an old resident of 

 Hampton, who is also buried in the church. The 

 present tenant is Mr. Robert Graham. 



Beyond this house, but on the opposite side of 

 the road, is 'Garrick's Villa,' formerly called 

 ' Hampton House,' which David Garrick bought 

 in 1754" from Mr. Lacy Primatt. The portico 

 was built on to the original house by Garrick, from 

 a design by Robert Adam." In the garden is a small 

 brick building with a dome and a porch, supported 

 by four pillars from the Adelphi Theatre. This 

 used to be called the ' Temple of Shakespeare,' and 

 a life-sized statue of the poet by Roubiliac stood in 

 it." Part of the garden is divided from the house 

 by the road, but can be reached by a passage under- 

 ground. The river side of the garden, where the 

 ' temple ' stands, is well known to frequenters of 

 the Molesey Regatta, which takes place opposite 

 the lawn. Horace Walpole wrote of Garrick's 

 entertainments at the house, and mentioned on one 

 occasion that he met there at dinner the Duke of 

 Grafton, Lord and Lady Rochford, Lady Holder- 

 ness, ' Crooked ' Mostyn, and the Spanish Ambassa- 

 dor." In the Rambler of 1797 is an account of 

 Garrick's charity and generosity to the poor people 

 of Hampton. On I May he always opened his 

 grounds to the children of the parish, and enter- 

 tained them with 'cake, buns and wine.' Both 

 he and his wife were fond of planting trees about 

 their property ; Mrs. Garrick lived there for 

 many years after her husband's death, until she died 

 at the age of ninety-nine in 1822. Mrs. Hannah 

 More used to visit her there.* 93 All Garrick's 

 collections, furniture, and pictures were sold after 

 Mrs. Garrick's death. 80 In 1869 the house 

 became the property of Mr. Grove, a retired 

 tradesman, and his widow lived there till 1905, 

 when the place was sold to the London United 

 Electric Tramway Company, and was until re- 

 cently occupied by Sir E. Clifton Robinson, the 

 manager. 



There are several houses in Hampton which 

 claim to have been designed by Wren : among 

 them Walton House, near the church, at 

 present occupied by Colonel George Stevens. 

 Beveree is also a good house of that period 



HAMPTON 



standing in a charming garden, occupied by 

 Captain Christie-Crawford, J.P. Castle House is 

 one of the oldest houses in Hampton, the tenant 

 is Colonel Graham, late i6th Lancers. The 

 Elms is another of the Wren houses, now tenanted 

 by Dr. Tristram, K.C., Chancellor of the Diocese 

 of London. Opposite the Elms is one of the 

 largest houses in the parish, Grove House, sur- 

 rounded by a high wall and with fine trees in 

 the garden, which extends to Bushey Park. It is 

 now the property of Mr. Stretfield. The Manor 

 House (so-called) stands back from the road in 

 wooded grounds, on which small houses have lately 

 begun to encroach. It was the property of the 

 late Mr. James Kitchin, and is now untenanted. 



The vicarage is a modern house, built within 

 the last thirty years on the site of an older 

 one ; the present vicar is the Rev. Digby Ram, 

 rural dean and Prebendary of St. Paul's. Hill 

 House, near the station, was originally a private 

 school, at which the late Lord DufFerin and Field- 

 Marshal Earl Roberts were educated ; but it has 

 now been demolished, with other good houses in 

 the district, to make room for the Grand Junc- 

 tion Waterworks, which monopolize a consider- 

 able acreage on the road from Hampton to 

 Sunbury. There was a picturesque Tudor 

 building used as an inn, called The Red Lion, 

 almost opposite the church, but it was demolished 

 in 1908. 



The district of Hampton Hill contains no 

 houses of any historical interest. Bushey House, 

 Bushey Lodge, the Stud House, the Pavilion, the 

 Banqueting House, and Wilderness House are all 

 in the precincts of Hampton Court, and will be 

 dealt with under ' Parks and Gardens.' " There 

 is one other large house on the north side of the 

 Green called Hampton Court House, overlooking 

 Bushey Park, of which a wing is said to have been 

 designed by Wren. It was at one time the 

 property of the late J. E. Sampson, City editor of 

 the Times''' and at a later period of Mr. James 

 Campbell, who added a large room as a picture 

 gallery. It was afterwards bought by Mr. A. de 

 Wette, and is now for sale. The Ivy House, 

 which is practically in the palace gardens, with a 

 terrace overlooking the Broad Walk, is a pictur- 

 esque building of uncertain date : part of it is 

 probably old, like the house next to it, which 

 belongs to the King's Arms Hotel. The Ivy House 

 is the property of Colonel Walter Campbell, son 

 of Mr. James Campbell, who formerly owned 

 Hampton Court House. There are various 

 houses, some of them fairly old, and others new 

 and uninteresting, on the Kingston Road looking 



ffl Ripley, Wr. and To fog. of Ham ftcn- 

 an-Tkamtt, II ; Parish Register of 

 Hampton. 



38 Ripley, loc. cit. 



* Ibid. 



86 Born 1716, died 1791. He was 

 one of the 'children of the Chapel Royal,' 

 afterwards one of the lingers in the 

 Duke of Chandos' chapel at Cannon. 

 He became manager of Covent Garden 

 Theatre. His first wife was Hen- 

 rietta, daughter of the first Earl 



Waldegrave, and widow of Lord Ed- 

 ward Herbert. He was a well-known 

 and popular singer. 



* Diet. Nat. Sing. 



" The house had a high wall round 

 it until recently, when part of the 

 garden was given up to make the road 

 wider. The granite posts in front of 

 the house come from the foundations of 

 old London Bridge. Ripley, op. cit. 



>7- 



58 R. Snagg, A Description of thi Co, 



321 



of Midd. (1775) 192-3. Thestatueis 

 now in the entrance hall of the 

 British Museum. Ripley, Hist, lad 

 Topog. of Hampton-on-Tbamci, 13, &c. ; 

 Horace Walpole, Lttttn (Ed. Toynbee), 



"', 3*9- 



89 Ibid, iii, 331. 



Ma Ibid, xiii, 1515 xiv, 19, 290. 



" RJpley, op. cit. 1 6, 78 5 Diet. Nat. 

 Bug. 



BI See pp. 385 et seq. 



81 Ripley, op. cit. 9. 



