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 I. 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 
