Boston Manor House

Boston Manor House is a Grade I listed Jacobean manor house in Boston Manor, Brentford, in the London Borough of Hounslow, England.

The manor house was built in 1622-3 for the newly-widowed Lady Mary Reade. It is situated near a curve of the river Brent. The house was sold in 1670 to the James Clitherow, a City merchant, for £5,136 and remained in his family's possession for the next 250 years until it was purchased by the Brentford Urban District Council in 1924.

The manor house is built in red brick with stone architraves around the windows, and a stone cornice between the second and third storeys of the house. It has three gables on the longer sides and two on the shorter. It also has a stone porch.

The interior is noted for its three fine plasterwork ceilings, some with elements designed by the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Mare Gheercerts, and engraved by Galle. The drawing room ceiling contains the date of building and Mary Reade's initials, MR. It also contains an elaborate fireplace. After a fire, the house was extended and extensively repaired in 1670-1 by James Clitherow. The house also contained a collection of paintings, dispersed in 1922. [ Victoria County History: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7, T F T Baker, C R Elrington (Editors), Diane K Bolton, Patricia E C Croot, M A Hicks, 1982. Online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22577]

The house was badly damaged during World War II, and after extensive restoration work, was re-opened in 1963, at which time it was leased to the National Institute of Housework. The restoration work is not yet completed and appears to have come to a halt. [http://www.fobm.org.uk/House.htm]

In 2008, parts of the House will be open to the public until Sunday, 26th October. Opening hours are 2.30 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

The manor house is surrounded by Boston Manor Park, with ornamental lawns, a small pond, tennis courts, a basketball court and a large children's play area. Most of the park was farmland until the end of last century.

Bibliography

* Arthur Oswald, 1965, "Boston Manor House" "Country Life" March 18 1965, 63-7
* Janet McNamara, "Boston Manor Brentford - A History and Guide"

External links

* [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=202422&mode=quick Images of England on Boston Manor House: detailed architectural information]
* [http://www.fobm.org.uk/House.htm History of the house]
* [http://ealing-web.com/boston_manor_house.htm Page about the house]
* [http://www.hounslow.info/parks/boston/index.htm Boston Manor Park surrounding Boston Manor House]
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.32992 English Heritage Page on the house, showing scaffolding]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=074-acc1360&cid=0 London Metropolitan Archives holdings on Boston Manor House and the Clitherow family]

References