Canons Park, Harrow, Edgware, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The land which became Canons Park belonged, until the Dissolution, to the Priory of St Batholomew the Great, West Smithfield, the name referring to the gift of land made to the Priory in 1330. In 1543 there was a manor house leased by Hugh Losse, who accumulated much monastic property, and who in 1604 sold the manor of Stanmore the Less to Sir Thomas Lake, Secretary of State to James I.

In 1709 the land was purchased by James Brydges, first Duke of Chandos. His palace was built between 1713 and about 1720 by James Gibbs (1682-1754) and was completed under John Price (d 1736). Vanbrugh and Robert Benson were also consulted. The estate church, the church of Saint Lawrence, was rebuilt for the Duke of Chandos in 1715 by John James (about 1672-1746). During the same period the grounds were laid out by Alexander Blackwell. In 1747, after the death of the Duke of Chandos, the estate was sold. The house was demolished by 1753 and the materials were auctioned.

The new owner of the estate, William Hallett, built a villa known as Canons House, using some of the materials from the Duke of Chandos' house. The estate remained in Hallett's family until 1786-1787. Hallett's villa was subsequently bought by Major Dennis O'Kelly, whose nephew sold it to Sir Thomas Plumer, then Solicitor-General and afterwards Master of the Rolls. Plumer had some alterations carried out to the park by Humphry Repton (1752-1818), although the exact nature of Repton's contribution to the design of the park is unknown. There exists a view of Canons Park by Repton, dated 1805 (Country Life 1916).

In the 19th century the estate passed through various different ownerships. In about 1905 Canons House was acquired by Sir Arthur Phillip Du Cros, the founder and president of the Dunlop Rubber Company, who commissioned the architect Charles E Mallows to carry out extensive alterations to the house and to design formal gardens around it. By 1905 Du Cros had sold off land to the north and south of the estate, mainly for residential development. In 1926, further land to the east of the park was sold for residential development, followed by the land to the west in 1928. In the early 20th century the railway line to Stanmore was built, running along the present western boundary of the park.

Since 1929 the house with its formal gardens has been owned by what is now the North London Collegiate School. The parkland to the south is owned by Harrow Borough Council, who after the Second World War developed it as a public park with recreation grounds and allotment gardens. The church of Saint Lawrence and the churchyard are owned by the Church of England.