Object Details
From:NHerts
Name/TitlePlan of the Stagenhoe Estate
About this objectLarge framed plan of the Stagenhoe Estate as it was in 1844. The plan shows Stagenhoe House to the right of centre and names the various fields and orchards belonging to the estate. Each field and orchard is given a r p measurements, meaning acres, rods and perches. An acre was 4,840 square yards; there were 4 rods (also known as roods) to an acre and 40 perches to a rod).
Around the boundaries of the Stagenhoe Estate the neighbouring land owners are indicated. Such as: Mr John Hill, Mr Pickering, William Hale Esq, Mr John Gootheridge, Joseph Darton Esquire, Mr John Camp. The final neighbouring land owner is referred to as The Honourable Thomas Bowes. The Bowes-Lyon family as they are now known, maintained a residence at St Pauls Walden Bury. The date 1844 on this plan suggests that this landowner of the time was Thomas Lyon-Bowes the 11th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne the great great grandfather of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Whom many suggest was born at their Hertfordshire home.
The website PrestonHerts.co.uk records that Henry Rogers purchased the Stagenhoe Estate for £29,500 from the previous owner Lord Feversham, in 1841. The Rogers family were in residence at Stagenhoe when this plan was created, and it was perhaps comissioned by Henry Rogers. Rogers added a entry into the Stagenhoe Estate near Hitch Wood called Thornhill's Lodge, presumably where Richard Thornhill the Groom and Coachman of Stagenhoe as seen in photo 2024.62.2 lived.
The Preston Herts website talks of the changes Rogers made to the estate to be enjoyed by himself and his four sons 'an artificial warth for foxes, built; a lake was dug in the park that contained pike and a light railway was engineered. The brick and lime kilns were put into working order, chalk pits were utilised to lime the land, sand was discovered and dug at Stagenhoe Bottom and an archery ground was laid out beyond the Wilderness. The Rogers’ brothers also played cricket on the home pitch sited on Dovehouse Close (known affectionately as Duffers’ Close)
The Rogers attended St Pauls Walden Church and had two Stagenhoe faculty pews that stood together on the right-hand-side of the nave and ran through to the south aisle. They were ‘high box’ pews and were supplied with a charcoal stove which Henry poked vigorously if the sermon was too long. The pew also had green baize curtains to allow slumber unobserved.'
The donor of this map was one of the final people to live in Stagenhoe whilst it was a private house. She recalled living in this house with her grandfather during the Second World War and riding through Bowes-Lyon land with her grandfather to the butchers in Whitwell.
In 1969 Stagenhoe became part of the Sue Ryder Foundation as one of several neurological care centres set up across the country by Sue Ryder. Prior to her charity work Sue Ryder was noted for service in the Second World War. Lying about her age to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE) at the age of 15, she was posted to Poland and assisted in driving SOE agents to airfields. With a fond attachment to Poland which continued beyond war service, she was made a life peer and created both Baroness Ryder of Warsaw in Poland and of Cavendish in the County of Suffolk in 1979.
Date Made1844-01-17
Period19th Century (1801-1900)
Medium and MaterialsWatercolour(?) on paper
Measurements710 x 560 mm in frame
Named CollectionNorth Hertfordshire Museum
Object Typeplan
Object number2024.63
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved