Oatlands, Weybridge, Surrey, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Oatlands Palace was one of the many residences around London used by Henry VIII, of which Nonsuch was another. The earlier dwelling had been occupied by a family of London goldsmiths, but in 1536 William Rede died and his widow was evicted. In 1537 the king instructed extensions and repairs to the house to begin, materials being brought by barge on the nearby Thames, in particular stone from Chertsey Abbey. The major part of the Palace was completed by Henry's death in 1547. It stood in a home park of 538 acres (about 218 hectares), well wooded and stocked with deer, under the control of a keeper. Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth all spent time at Oatlands but for James I it was more of a home and in 1611 he made over the Palace and park at Oatlands to his Queen, Anne of Denmark. Inigo Jones (1573-1652) worked intermittently at Oatlands for thirty years: buildings included a silkworm house (Oatlands was the home of James' silkworm industry) and a Great Gate which can be seen in the background of Paul van Somer's portrait of Queen Anne (reproduced in Lindus Forge 1982). Two other gateways were erected at this time, opening into the vineyard and the park. Anne died in 1619, and in 1630 John Tradescant the Elder was appointed 'Keeper of His Majesties Gardens, Vines and Silkworms' at Oatlands. On his death in 1638, Tradescant was succeeded by his son John.

In 1650, following the execution of Charles I, Oatlands was bought by Robert Turbridge, who demolished it for the value of its building materials. The park reverted to Henrietta Maria, Charles I's widow on the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. On her death in 1669, the estate was leased to trustees for the Earl of St Albans, who leased it to the Herbert family. On the death of Sir Edward Herbert in 1716, the estate passed to Henry Clinton, seventh Earl of Lincoln, who was probably responsible for building Oatlands House, about 500 metres east of the site of the Palace, and for laying out the grounds in about 1725.

In 1730 Henry Pelham Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, inherited the title and estate on the death of his brother George. Bartholomew Rocque, brother of John, published a plan of the garden in 1737, which shows a formal layout including a terrace and an angular slope down to a cruciform canal. From the 1740s onwards Lincoln redesigned the gardens in the new informal landscape style, assisted by such notables as Lord Burlington, William Kent, Joseph Spence, and Stephen Wright who was architect and estate manager at Oatlands for many years, from 1755 and possibly earlier. In 1768 Lincoln became Duke of Newcastle.

In 1788 the site was sold to Frederick, Duke of York, who commissioned Henry Holland
(1745-1806) to rebuild the house in 1794 following a fire. In 1824 Oatlands was acquired by Edward Hughes Ball Hughes, the famous wealthy Regency gambler and dandy, known as Golden Ball. Sale particulars suggest few, if any, alterations to the house between 1824 and 1829 but a tennis court was erected. Ball fled abroad because of his debts and in 1829 the property was auctioned in a number of lots. Lot 1, the house and 573 acres (about 232 hectares) of park and agricultural land was not sold, but was leased to Lord Francis Leverson Gower (later Lord Egerton). J C Loudon in 1837 bemoaned the reduction in gardeners for the upkeep of the estate (Gardener's Mag). The property was auctioned again in 1846, when it was divided into building plots because of the construction of the London and Southampton Railway through part of the site in 1838. Lot 1, the house and 97 acres (about 40 hectares), was acquired privately by a Mr Peppercorn who sold it on to the South Western Hotel Company. The house was converted to a hotel in 1856 and has remained in this use ever since, except in 1916 when it was requisitioned as a hospital for New Zealand forces serving in Europe. The grounds have been steadily reduced in size in the 20th century as areas have been redeveloped for housing.