Anglesey Abbey, Lode, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

A priory of Augustinian canons was founded at Anglesey by Henry II. The remains of their early 13th century building survive within the present fabric and earthworks in the garden mark the position of fishponds and drains. The priory was dissolved in 1536 and three years later was granted to John Hynde of Madingley, upon whose death in 1550 it passed to Sir Francis Hynde. When Sir Francis died in 1595 the site came into the ownership of the Fowkes family, who converted what remained of the priory into a house. This subsequently passed through a number of owners, including the Cambridge carrier Thomas Hobson, his son-in-law Thomas Parker, Sir George Downing, Jacob Whittingham, the Reverend George Jenyns and the Reverend John Hailstone. It was Reverend Hailstone who, in the 1860s, added a service wing on the west side of the house and remodelled the small gardens and pleasure grounds, which had been created by the beginning of the 19th century (Ordnance Survey 1817). The house was put up for sale in 1926 and was purchased by Huttleston Broughton, first Lord Fairhaven. Anglesey became his principal residence in 1930 and from that time on he began to alter the house and to develop and greatly extend the gardens. On his death in 1966 Lord Fairhaven left Anglesey Abbey and its extensive grounds to the National Trust, who have conserved his gardens and in whose hands it remains (2000).