- Colworth House
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Colworth House 
General information Type Manor house/Science park Location Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire Country England Coordinates 52°13′50″N 0°33′54″E / 52.23053°N 0.56505°E Design and construction Owner Unilever Colworth House is an 18th century mansion set in an area of parkland on the edge of the village of Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. The current house was first built on a site occupied since prehistoric times and starting in 1715 by Mark Antonie, a self made man who aspired to become part of the landed gentry.
History
The house and extensive grounds, once the home of Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett, were acquired by Unilever in November 1947 and restored and developed into a research laboratory in 1948, with the first staff moving in in 1950. Unilever employed up to 1,750 people during the 1970s and constructed several adjacent laboratory buildings.
In 2004 Unilever entered into a joint venture with property investment company Arlington Securities to manage Colworth Science Park, with the aim of turning it into a science cluster by attracting science businesses, academic outposts, and science-based entrepreneurs. Arlington was subsequently acquired by Goodman, a property group involved in long-term ownership, development, and management of commercial and industrial property. Colworth Science Park remains one of Unilever's six research centres and currently employs around 750 people, with an additional 200 personnel employed by several of small companies located on the site.
The Colworth House grounds was the location of a Channel 4 Time Team programme, first broadcast on February 2, 2008. Numerous finds by amateur archaeologists led to the discovery of a Roman villa and farm in a field adjacent to the property.
Colworth House has also given its name to the Colworth Medal, established by the late Professor Tony James of Unilever Research and Professor Henry Arnstein of the Biochemical Society in 1963. The award recognises outstanding research by a young biochemist of any nationality who has carried out the majority of their work in the UK.
Bibliography
Michael Jones, Colworth in Context, Bedford, 1997
External links
Categories:- Country houses in Bedfordshire
- Unilever
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