Henlow Grange - Bedfordshire, UK
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Dragontree
N 52° 01.858 W 000° 16.562
30U E 686855 N 5767985
This impressive estate lies in Henlow Park to the east of the village of Henlow.
Waymark Code: WMBHNB
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/23/2011
Views: 1
Henlow Grange dates to around 1700 and is a chequered brick building of three storeys. The loggia is later, dating to probably 1930 according to Pevsner.
The property was built in the heart of the Henlow Llanthony estates and can be traced to the earliest date of 1680.
Henlow Parish Council describes the history:
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'Henlow Grange's most notable occupant was Alan Tindall Lennox-Boyd, who represented Mid-Bedfordshire in Parliament from the 1930’s until the 1950’s. Later he became Colonial Secretary and finally Lord Boyd of Merton and was responsible for the granting of independence to most of the former British overseas colonies.
The gates leading to the Pit recreation ground were erected in his memory and his family donated the Boyd Field (formerly known as Paddling Ditch Meadow) to the Scouts of the district. A much earlier occupant of the Grange in the 17th century was a Richard Raynsford, reputed to be Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Raynsford Lower School bears his name. For several hundred years, the squire made contributions to the parish houses, schools and employment on the estate and farms. The majority of families depended in one way or another on the land and were very poor, often existing on a staple diet of turnip and potatoes and living in grossly overcrowded conditions. The main cottage industry was straw plaiting and quite young children had to do their share, often before going to school. This seems to have died out at the end of the 19th century. In medieval times Henlow was best known for bowstring making. On 23 June 1885, in The Sun Hotel in Hitchin, almost half of the physical areas of the village of Henlow was sold at auction by Firbrothers, Ellis & Clarke Ltd of London. The sale was the result of the bankruptcy of one Thomas Alexander Addington, who had inherited the Grange from his kinsman Rev. Henry Addington who had held the estate since 1868.
Other more noteworthy inhabitants of Henlow Grange since that time have been the Gribble family from 1896-1909. George James Gribble endowed the village with the original Cricket Pavilion and the Pyghtles (meaning enclosure) recreation ground. His wife, Nora Gribble was a well-reputed Slade artist who decorated several rooms of The Grange in murals, executed in tempera. Of their children who spent some of their formative years in Henlow, the youngest, Julian Royds Gribble, won a VC at Harmies Ridge. Philip Gribble became a war correspondent for the News Chronicle during WWII and later a racehorse owner and trainer. Leslie Gribble married Hugh Exton Seebohm and was later mother of Lord Seebohm the Banker and social work innovator.
In 1961, after spending several years uninhabited, Henlow Grange was acquired by Leida Costigan who transformed the near derelict house into the first Beauty Farm in the United Kingdom.'