Botleys Mansion
Botleys Mansion is a Palladian mansion house located in Chertsey, Surrey, England. The building's ownership dates back to the 14th century but was most notably owned by Henry VIII and Joseph Mawbey. The mansion and the park surrounding it were once the site of Botley's Park Colony Hospital. Today the building is owned by a company called Bijou Wedding Venues.
History
The history of Botleys Mansion is unclear. The building standing today was built in the 1760s as a reconstruction of an old manor.[1][2] The mansion's ownership was transferred often throughout its history.[3] In 1932, Botleys Mansion became the site of the Botley's Park hospital, which specialised in patients with psychiatric disorders.[4] When the Metropolitan Asylums Board was dissolved in 1930, the responsibility of caring for the mentally deficient was passed to city councils.[5] The Surrey County Council decided set up new buildings in Botleys Park to house patients while the mansion housed the hospital staff. The first section of the new hospital was opened on 24 June 1939 by Lady Henriques, wife of then chairman of Surrey County Council Sir Philip Henriques.[4] In September of the same year, many of the hospital's patients were moved to Murray House in Ottershaw so that Botleys could receive wounded soldiers from the war. During this time, the mansion was adapted into a nurses' home.[6] In 1995, a fire severely damaged the building, and within two years, most of the Botleys Park Hospital closed down.[7]
Architecture
Botleys Mansion is a stone-built house of Palladian architecture surrounded by park land and iron gates.[1][2] The house is almost cubic in form, and the estate is about two miles in circumference. A double flight of steps leads to the marble-paved entrance hall of the house. The entrance hall ceiling is supported by Scagliola columns and Ionic pilasters. Several of the furnishings, such as the chimney pieces, are made of marble. In the eastern façade, there is an Ionic tetrastyle. The stone used for the building came from quarries in Heddington, Barrington, and Oxfordshire.[8] It is a Grade II* listed building. [9]
Ownership
In 1319, the original Botleys Mansion was either owned by John de Butteley or John Manory of Chertsey. In 1505, de Butteley's son Thomas gave the mansion to Richard Merland, Thomas Pervoche, and Henry Wykes; soon after though, Wykes became the sole owner of the mansion, then called Botlese Mansion. Ownership of the mansion changed hands several times and was owned by King Henry VIII in 1541, after he purchased it from Sir Roger Cholmeley. In 1763, the mansion was transferred to Joseph Mawbey, the man responsible for the house's reconstruction. The mansion was passed around after Mawbey's death until it was purchased by Robert Gosling in 1839. The Gosling family lived in the mansion until 1931, when the London City Council purchased the building for £30,000.[3]
The mansion was bought and restored by a company called Bijou Wedding Venues in 2010 and is used to host weddings and events as a Grade II* listed mansion house.[1]
References
- Footnotes
- ^ a b c Cutmore-Scott, Mark. "About Botleys Mansion: Hitory". Bijou Wedding Venues.
- ^ a b Brayley 1841, p. 221
- ^ a b Chertsey Museum. "From Manor House to Medicine". Runymede Borough Council.
- ^ a b National Archives. "Botleys Park Hospital, Chertsey: Records". Surrey History Service.
- ^ Higginbotham, Peter. "The Metropolitan Asylums Board".
- ^ Runymede Government. "Local Heroes 1".
- ^ "Lost Hospitals of London".
- ^ Brayley 1841, p. 223
- ^ Historic England. "Botleys Park Hospital (1029181)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- Bibliography
- Brayley, Edward; Britton, John (1841). A Topographical History of Surrey. Oxford University. pp. 221–223.
External links