Moor Park 
pensation for the harsh treatment she had 
received from her sovereign. In 1720, after 
having married and buried another husband, 
she sold Moor Park to Benjamin Hoskins 
Styles, who had amassed a large fortune in 
the South Sea Bubble, and, unlike most of 
the speculators in that hazardous enterprise, 
managed to sell his shares when they were 
at their highest value, and thus became 
enormously wealthy. He mightily trans¬ 
formed Moor Park, encasing it in Portland 
stone, erecting a magnificent portico, adding 
two wings connected with the house by colon¬ 
nades in the Tuscan style. Sir James Thorn¬ 
hill was the director of the work, and an 
Italian, Leoni by name, was the chief designer 
of the alterations. Solid marble doorways, 
ceilings painted and gilded, magnificent 
pictures, galleries and staircases adorned 
with paintings remain as noble monuments 
of Mr. Styles’s work at Moor Park. Admiral 
Lord Anson bought the place from the repre¬ 
sentatives of the Styles family, and added 
lustre to the mansion, expending vast sums 
on the house and grounds, employing in the 
latter that archpriest of destroyers of old 
gardens, “Capability Brown.’’ Here in his 
Beautiful home the gallant sailor used to 
recount his victories in the war with Spain, 
his adventurous voyage round the world, his 
captures of Spanish galleons, and his wonder¬ 
ful exploits which made him a prince of 
sailors. Here came Dr. Johnson to stay 
with the Admiral, and was not impressed by 
the gallant sailor’s stories. He hated Whigs, 
to which party Lord Anson belonged. He 
loved to hear his own voice, and perhaps 
could not get a word in when Lord Anson 
was describing his fights and his victories. 
Hence his sarcasitc epigram:— 
Gratum animum laudo. Qui debuit omnia veniis, 
Quam bene ventorum surger templa jubet. 
Sir Laurence Dundas, Bart., next acquired 
the property in 1763. He was commissary- 
general and contractor to the army in several 
wars, and amassed a large fortune. He 
added much to the decoration of the mansion, 
and entertained here the Prince of Wales, 
afterwards George IV. A Mr. Rous wrought 
much evil, pulling down the wings and colon¬ 
nades, with the chapel and offices. He was a 
sorry vandal, and his memory at Moor Park 
is not revered. The next owner was Mr. 
Robert Williams, a man who raised himself 
by his own exertions from an upholsterer’s 
apprentice to a distinguished position in the 
East India Company and became the head 
of the banking house which is now known as 
that of Williams, Deacon & Co. His son sold 
the house to Robert, Earl of Grosvenor, after¬ 
wards Marquis of Westminster. This is not 
the place to record the annals of this distin¬ 
guished house, which has left its mark on 
many a page of England’s history. Here the 
Marquis entertained right royally KingWilliam 
IV. and his Oueen. On the death of the 
Marchioness of Westminster the property 
passed to her third son, Lord Robert Gros¬ 
venor, who was created Baron Ebury in 
1 857, a great benefactor, the friend and col¬ 
league in many charitable enterprises of the 
good Lord Shaftesbury. Here Queen Vic¬ 
toria and the Prince Consort came to pay a 
memorable visit in 1854. On the death of 
the first Lord Ebury, at the great age of 
ninety-two years, Moor Park passed into the 
possession of his eldest son, the present Lord 
Ebury. 
We have recorded briefly the history of the 
present mansion. We will now visit the site 
of the old palace, of which the moat and an 
old brick wall partly surrounding an orchard 
are the only visible remains. Here we must 
construct again in imagination the great 
house which once stood there, and people it 
with the host of kings, princes, cardinals, 
prelates, and warriors who once thronged its 
magnificent hall. This mansion was of 
brick, the chief buildings forming a square 
court, which was entered by a gate-house 
flanked with towers. 
Originally the property belonged to the 
Abbey of St. Albans, having been granted by 
Offa, King of Mercia, in atonement for the 
murder of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia. 
Here a cell of the abbey was established, and 
the tenant was obliged to provide a horse for 
the abbot whenever he wished to visit Tyne¬ 
mouth, near Newcastle. 
The real history of the Park begins with its 
acquisition by that powerful ecclesiastic, 
George Nevil, brother of the great Earl of 
Warwick, styled “the King-maker,” Arch¬ 
bishop of York in 1464, and Lord Chancellor 
of England. He obtained a license from 
Henry VI. to enclose six hundred acres in 
53 
