Tuesday 16 June 2015

Trent Park, Enfield: Part One

Trent Park
When recently visiting the beautiful Trent Park in Enfield, I was delighted to uncover so many layers of the site's fascinating history. Because there is so much to tell you, I have decided to split this blog into two parts. This entry will address the Georgian and twentieth century history of Trent Park. The second part will focus on the remains of a moat and medieval settlement in the woods of the grounds.

The parks that pepper the English landscape are so often the sites of lost country estates and as suspected upon arrival, Trent Park is indeed one of these sites. My familiarity with the style of architecture and ornaments immediately led me to assume that these were eighteenth century remains but the history of the site is not as straightforward as it seems.

The entrance to Trent Park on Cockfosters Road
Prior to becoming 'Trent Park', the site was better known as Enfield Chase and used as Royal hunting grounds by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, James I and Charles II. Much of the land was sold off during the civil war to clear arrears in army pay. Although parts of the site were restored following the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the land was never secure from poachers and unauthorised colonists. In 1777, King George III assigned areas of the Chase into lots and distributed these amongst surrounding parishes and farms. Three of these lots were given to the royal physician Sir Richard Jebb. A year earlier, Jebb had travelled to Trento in northern Italy to attend to the King's brother, Duke of Gloucester, who was critically ill. Jebb restored Gloucester back to full health and so was given the land as a reward. As a sign of his gratitude, he named the site, Trent Park. 

The house Jebb had built, stood on the site of the manor which currently stands and was designed by royal architect, William Chambers. The design was typical of the Palladian villa style that was made popular by Burlington's Chiswick House, and Colen Campbell's Mereworth and Marble Hill. Jebb's villa however, was considerably smaller in scale. In 1787 The Gentleman's Magazine described the house as a 'loggia', 'for such it should be called rather than a house, being hardly calculated for a single man and his servants.' Although the house was significantly remodelled in the early twentieth century, evidence of Humphry Repton's (one of the leading landscape designers of the Georgian period) landscape designs can still be traced today.

Philip Sassoon's house as it stands today 
The house underwent a series of building projects by various ownerships during the nineteenth century, however the centre of the house is said to retain its original eighteenth century core. The last owner to carry out architectural work on the house during this period was Francis Bevan who inherited the estate from his father in 1890. In 1908, Bevan sold the house to Sir Edward Sassoon, MP for Hythe and a close friend of Edward VII. The Sassoon family were associated with members of high society such as the Rothschild family and Trent Park was an ideal setting for entertaining. Edward's ownership however, was shortly lived and in 1912 he died from an automobile accident. His son, Philip inherited the estate and was a well known millionaire, socialite and bachelor. Much like his father, Philip carried out lavish entertainments for London's high society on a regular basis. This included the likes of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Bernard Shaw and Rex Whistler.

An eighteenth-century plinth introduced by Sassoon during the twentieth century
Bevan's earlier architectural scheme however, was not to Sassoon's liking. As a result, Sasoon incorporated fragments of eighteenth century architectural fabric from Devonshire House in London which was demolished in 1924. Devonshire House was designed by leading designer of the Georgian period, William Kent and therefore was ideal for Sassoon's redesigning of Trent Park. This included fronting the facade of the house with the rose coloured eighteenth-century brick and stonework. Numerous monuments and sculptures are also visible throughout Trent Park. However these were unlikely to come from the gardens of a London town house and since country house demolitions were all too frequent during the first half of the twentieth century, I suspect they came from a country house where there would have been space for the display of such items.

The 'Dukes Pyramid' from Wrest Park,  located near the Cockfosters road entrance. Purchased in 1934 by Sassoon.
But perhaps the most surprising element of Trent Park's history is its use during the Second World War. Following Philip Sassoon's death in 1939, Trent Park was acquired by the War Office as a camp for prisoners of war and soon became the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre. German prisoners who were suspected of having important knowledge were sent to Trent Park for interrogation. A common technique was carried out by using cooperative prisoners as a way to stimulate conversation, unaware of the hidden microphones within the house. It is thought that the relaxed and peaceful setting of Trent Park further helped to put prisoners at ease and reveal highly classified information.  Discoveries made there included details about German technologies used to assist the accurate bombing raids, German U-boat tactics, war crimes such as the mass killing of jews in concentration camps and the development of the V-2 Rocket.

South side of Trent Park looking out towards the lake and eighteenth-century landscape.



After World War Two, Trent Park was acquired by the Ministry of Education and became Trent Park College. In 1974 it was incorporated into what was then Middlesex Polytechnic. By 1992, this had become Middlesex University. Evidence of the red brick buildings built during this period are within close proximity and sometimes even connected to the house. The university relocated in 2012 but the buildings remain. Access to the house is off limits but you can still peer inside the windows of these buildings to observe the eery remains of empty libraries, lecture rooms, a dance hall and walls displaying various flyers and posters left behind by students.
Middlesex University attached to the wings of Trent Park house.
Gods in the garden and Middlesex University in the nearby distance.
When visiting the site and trying to get a closer look at the house, I was informed by a member of security staff that the house has now been purchased as private property. Whether or not the buildings of Middlesex will survive seems unlikely. I urge you all to go and explore the site this summer before any of the site's histories vanish. My only hope is that Trent Park's new owners will preserve the layers of its history and continue to allow access for us all to enjoy all the elements of this fascinating and beautiful site. 

One of the many abandoned buildings of Middlesex University
Further reading:

Much of this blog was written with the aid of The Friends of Trent Park website from which you can download the full history of the site. For more information and to find out how you can get involved visit: www.friendsoftrentcountrypark.org.uk 

Patrick Campbell, Trent Park: a history, (London: Middlesex University Press, 1997).

Stanley Jackson, The Sassoons, (London: William Heineman Ltd, 1989).

Helen Fry, The M Room: Secret Listeners who Bugged the Nazis, (Create Space Independent Publishing, 2012).

John Harris, Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages, (London & New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007).