Westcombe Park Greenwich

 

Westcombe Park, Greenwich, Kent

Entrance Front from an engraving 1779

A View of the rear Elevation 1777

The earliest Westcombe Manor House is thought to have stood near the junction of Foyle Road and Westcombe Park Road. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be known of its size or appearance. In the 16th century, it was the home of William Lambarde, a lawyer who was the first historian of Kent, but although he mentions Westcombe he does not give any description of it. The Lambardes held it until 1649, when their estate, having been sequestered by Parliament, they were obliged to sell off this part of it to pay the fine on the rest. It was sold to Hugh Forth, a London mercer, who in 1652 sold it to Sir Theophilus Biddulph, 1st baronet.

 

Rear Elevation with teh original block on the left and the link & addition on the right.

The Drawing is by John Charnock died 1807

Westcombe House, Greenwich, circa 1752 by George Lambert

In 1724, the 3rd Biddulph baronet sold the Westcombe estate to Sir Gregory Page of nearby Wricklemarsh Park, who leased it in sections. The Westcombe manor house was let on a long lease (probably 125 years) with about 40 acres in 1725 to Captain Galfridus Walpole (1683-1726), the brother of Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister. On his death the following year, Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke bought the lease and built a new house on a different site in 1727-30. This house, which was known as Westcombe House, was described by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough in terms which make it clear that Lord Pembroke was his own architect, almost certainly in conjunction with Roger Morris, as elsewhere; the house was actually built by William Townsend of Oxford. It stood on a site between today’s Humber Road and Coleraine Road. 

The house is recorded in a number of views and maps in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These make it clear that the house was built on the crest of a low rise in the park, and had a south-west facing entrance front of three bays, with a basement, piano nobile, and attic. Slightly recessed one-bay wings consisting of a single storey over the basement stood to either side, and a porch with a small room built above it projected from the central bay. The hipped roofs of the wings gave a pedimental feel to the composition, but actually the house was not pedimented on any side. 

From the rear, the house appeared larger, for a three-storey link with a curiously blank rear wall connected the main block to a three-by-three bay block of three storeys that stood forward of the rear of the house and presumably contained service and guest accommodation. It looks from the disparity of style between the Palladian main block and the rest as though the original modest villa, strongly reminiscent of the house Roger Morris designed at Whitton Place for the Earl of Islay a few years later, was extended by a less skilful designer to make it functional as a house for full-time residence. If so the change was made very early, for the additions seem to be present in a painting by George Lambert in the collection of the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House (Wilts), which is datable to 1752. The addition was perhaps made when the Duke of Bolton took on the house as a home for his mistress Lavinia (who became his second wife in 1751). The long lease was sold on frequently in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with few of the occupants staying for more than a few years, and there may have been many changes to the building which have gone unrecorded.

The parish map of 1834 shows the ground plan of the house clearly, and suggests that by that date an additional block had been built at right-angles to the first addition. I have not yet found any illustration which shows this, and would be interested if anyone knows of any 19th century views of the site. The growth of Greenwich suburbs to the north of Westcombe Park and the gradual extension of gravel extraction in the park to the west of the house gradually made the area a less desirable place of residence in the early 19th century, and by 1843 there was only ten years left of the long lease. It stood empty from then until it was demolished - apparently by the Page-Turner family - in 1854. The site was later included in the lands sold for suburban development by the Page-Turner family in 1876.

Map showing Westcombe House in 1834, showing the footprint of the House

Westcombe House; Plan of Greenwich from Hasted's History of Kent 1778

Westcombe House , Greenwhich; plan of the park from John Rocque's plan of the land

10 miles around London 1746

Descent: John Lambarde (d. c.1550); to son, William Lambarde (1536-1601), historian; to son, Sir Multon Lambarde (1584-1634), kt.; to son, Thomas Lambarde (1615-75), who sold 1649 to Hugh Forth; sold 1652 to Sir Theophilus Biddulph (d. 1683), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Michael Biddulph (d. 1718), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Theophilus Biddulph (d. 1743), 3rd bt.; sold 1724 to Sir Gregory Page (c.1695-1775), 2nd bt.; to great-nephew, Sir Gregory Turner (later Page-Turner) (1748-1805), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir Gregory Osborne Page-Turner (1785-1843), 4th bt; to brother, Sir Edward George Thomas Page‑Turner (1789-1846), 5th bt.; to son, Sir Edward Henry Page-Turner (1823-74), 6th bt.; sold after his death 1876 to Midland Land & Investment Corporation Ltd.; sold c.1878 to Westcombe Park Estate Co., which began the process of residential development and sold off the estate in small lots.

 

The estate was let on a long lease to Capt. Galfridus Walpole (1683-1726), Henry Herbert (1693-1751), 9th Earl of Pembroke; Charles Powlett (1685-1754), 3rd Duke of Bolton; his widow, Lavinia (1708-60), Duchess of Bolton; her son, Rev. Charles Powlett (1728-1809); Robert Clive (1725-74), 1st Baron Clive; Gen. William Henry Kerr (1710-75), 4th Marquess of Lothian; his widow, Caroline Louisa (d. 1778), Marchioness of Lothian; Charlotte Murray (1731-1805), Duchess of Atholl and 8th Baroness Strange; John Halliday (d. 1805), banker; William Petrie (1747-1816); William Holmes MP (c.1777-1851); and Thomas Brocklebank (d. 1843). The house was unoccupied from his death until its demolition.