TETWORTH
HALL
Bernard O'Connor
2000
Tetworth Hall was one of a
number of large properties built during the first half of the 18th
century on the top of the Greensand ridge — the others being Everton House,
Woodbury Hall and Hasells Hall in this area. Further west there were Ickwell
Bury, Wrest Park, Ampthill Park and Woburn Abbey. Further east there were
Gamlingay Park, Merton Grange and Hatley Park.
Tetworth Hall is a red brick,
two-storey Queen Anne mansion with a prospect over the lower Ivel valley to the
northwest. Local carstone has been used for dressing. This is a type of
sandstone from the quarries along the face of the Greensand Ridge near Sandy.
The house has basements, attics and an unusual tiled and hipped roof. Scratched
on two bricks immediately to the west of the back door are the initials and
date ‘J P Esqr 1710’ and ‘T R 1710’. The house was built that year for John
Pedley, the MP for Huntingdonshire between 1706 – 8. The Pedley family had been
landowners here since 1653. James Pedley Junior of Tetworth died in 1714 and
William Astell, one of the directors of the South Sea Company of London, bought
the southern part of the estate. The South Sea Bubble burst in 1720 following
financial scandals. He and his descendants made their fortune from importing
tea and other products from India and the Far East.
James Pedley’s heir died in
1722, also without a male heir. As a result the Pedley family line in Tetworth
died out in 1726. It then was owned by Edward Harley, the 2nd Earl of Oxford, a
collector and patron of letters and in 1740 it was owned by Philip Yorke, the
1st Earl of Hardwicke and Lord Chancellor. Stanhope Pedley, one of James’
relatives, acquired the estate in 1759 and kept it until he died in 1802. His
wife, Mary owned it until her death in 1823. The coat of arms over the front
door is of Pedley impaling Foley, alluding to the marriage into the Foley
family of Essex. The estate is thought to have then descended from the Pedleys
to the Foleys. Henry Foley was the landowner in 1829. Charles Duncombe, first
Lord Feversham, subsequently purchased it from the owner of nearby Waresley
Park. One of his descendants rented it to one of the members of the Orlebar
family, Bedfordshire merchants thought to be from Hinwick Hall.
Augustus Orlebar was born in
Willington Vicarage, Bedfordshire, on April 28th 1860. He studied at
Eton and Worcester College, Oxford where he got a 1st class degree
in Classics. He won the Varsity half-mile and rowed for the college. He became
a VI Form tutor at Radley and Wellington Colleges between 1884 and 1891,
travelled a lot but settled at Tetworth Hall after he married Hester Mary
Knowles in 1895. He farmed 35 acres and was very sporty, engaging in
motorcycling, shooting and amateur photography. He became the chairman of the
Education Committee, a member of Caxton Rural District Council and Board of
Guardians, a JP and was president of the Gamlingay Conservative Association. He
was churchwarden of St Mary’s Church, Gamlingay from 1912 until his death in
1918. He left a son and three daughters. Augustus Orlebar was leader of the RAF
team that won the Schneider air trophy for Britain in 1929. He became an
Air-Vice- Marshal. Dorothy, one of his three daughters, started the Guides in
Gamlingay in 1920 and worked with them and the Brownies. She was Brown Owl
during the Second World War and became Divisional Commissioner in the 1960s and
eventually Division President. She died in 1988 and a window in St Mary’s
church in Gamlingay is dedicated to her as well as a room at the Cambridgeshire
Pack Holiday House
In the late-1930s the Hall was
rented to Leonard Bower, but he had to move out when it was requisitioned
during the Second World War. What it
was used for is not known for certain. Certainly, troops were stationed in the
grounds who guarded Italian and German prisoners-of-war. Some outbuildings
still have their graffiti on the wall.
Whether there was a direct link with the secret operation going on down
the hill on Tempsford Airfield has not come to light. Local gossip had it that
there must have been spies living there as sometimes lights were seen in the
upstairs windows.
Peter Crossman of the Watney
Mann (?) brewing chain bought the whole estate in 1962. Lady Crossman still
lives there. The gardens are open to the public on two Sundays each summer as
part of the Open Gardens Scheme. Posters advertising it appear several weeks
beforehand. The wooded slope has been
landscaped with pools, ferns, and shady pathways amongst rhododendrons,
magnolias and a wide variety of trees. The microclimate in the shaded woodland
provides perfect habitat for some beautiful plants – well worth a visit.
THE OLD MOON
The
eccentric Sir George Downing Bart died at Gamlingay Park on June 9th 1749.
There is nothing remaining of his magnificent mansion which was pulled down in
1776 except some odd brickwork in his estate.
“the only indication of the site of the mansion are the cellars
underlying the mould, and the only brickwork that has resisted the ravages of
time is the curious “O” or moon, situated near the Cinques hamlet. This pile of
brickwork, which is very massive, has been the cause of much conjecture and
argument. Fifty years ago (1880) the circle was perfect, but now the top has
fallen in, and the only portions left are in the form of two upright piers of
brickwork. It is believed that more than one piece of brickwork was erected
upon the estate by the eccentric Downing. The fact that the circle alone can
now be seen need not to infer that it was the only erection. Circular work has a
curious property - that of binding itself together with age. The theory is that
the last wall of the estate, of which this is a portion, contained the word
Downing. The local tradition, handed down through the years, is that Sir George
Downing built a high wall on the eastern boundary. The letters of his name,
“Downing,” were inserted into this wall, and the intervening spaces filled with
glass. Also that Dick Turpin, on his memorable ride from London to York, being
closely pursued by the myrmidons of the law, jumped through the “O” upon Bonnie
Black Bess in reckless bravado, scattering the glass in every direction.”
(Fowler, E.J.
“History of Gamlingay and Neighbourhood, Fowler Bros.Gamlingay,1935,p.8)
The Turpin connection is considered to be a
fable but Fowler suggested another theory. This was that the owner of Woodbury
Hall in the reign of Charles I, Sir John Jacob Knight, had the wall built to
commemorate his centenary and that it contained the number “100.” It was a
local landmark until early in the 20th century when it eventually collapsed. It
was a brick letter O about 24 feet high! (Ibid.)
The plan of the park and gardens showed carefully laid out paths and avenues between carefully planted blocks of trees or shrubs. At the top of the map was marked the “Full Moon” and a little further east was the “Half Moon”. Recognising that the “Moon Gate” was almost due North of the mansion I wondered whether there might be any days of the year when, after a good meal and lots of wine, Downing and his guests might have taken a stroll to the northern side of the trapezium lake and, on entering the avenue of trees, have been able to see the full moon.
I contacted Mike Collins, the Everton astronomer, who, after being provided with the details, went on a field visit. He reported that the “Moon Gate” was 13o west of North and that the moon would never be seen through the aperture. The furthest north the moon could be seen on the western horizon was 39o. He suggested that the architect of the gardens created a huge folly at the northern end of an avenue of trees through whose aperture one could see a huge circle of moonlit sky. If one imagines a dark tree-lined tunnel with an eight-foot diameter disk of light at the end, it would appear that man had recreated the heavens on earth, fitting the Masonic idea of “As above - So below”.