Belhus is a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

, country park, former stately home and manor in the parish of

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom c ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The historic manor was known in ancient times variously as "Bellhouse, Belhouse (as commemorated by today's "Belhouse Avenue" in the village of Aveley), Bell House", etc. It is now an integral part of the

Thames Chase Thames Chase is a Community Forests in England, community forest of 9842 hectares (24,320 acres/38 square miles) located in 47 sites in London and Essex, England. Its stated aim is "to renew and regenerate the landscape at the edge of East London ...

woodland planned for the area.

Origin and history

left, A fallen tree in Belhus Wood The name Belhus derived from the 14th century tenants of the manor who, according to Morant (1768), came from Ramsden Bellhouse. The name is associated with Nicholas de Belhus, who may have taken his surname name from the manor. It was later the home of the Barrett family, later the Barrett-Lennard family. The house was visited by

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

in 1578. Belhus was among the properties owned by Dorothy, Lady Dacre, after the death of her husband. After her own death, an inventory was taken of her possessions at Belhus. A 17th-century curtain from Belhus was donated to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

by Mrs John Pollock, daughter of Sir Richard Barrett-Lennard, 5th Baronet. In the middle of the 18th century, the mansion was substantially altered to conform to the fashionable "gothic" style. Thurrock Museum has a 19th-century copy of an earlier original painting showing how the mansion looked around 1710. LadyDacre

Among the family portraits at Belhus was a work by Hans Eyworth - Mary Neville, Baroness Dacre - now in the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

. This was seen at Belhus in 1761 by the art historian, Horace Walpole. The Barrett-Lennard family auctioned the contents of Belhus in 1923 and the house was demolished after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, due to suffering bomb damage as well as vandalism from the military personnel who were stationed there.

Belhus today

The grounds around the mansion were landscaped by Capability Brown in the 1740s and 1750s. Some of the features including earthen mounds can be seen in the original parkland which is currently used for part of the golf course operated by Impulse Leisure. The remains of the mansion can still be seen on the 10th hole of the golf course. The 'long pond' is another feature designed by Capability Brown although it was actually built by Richard Woods. It can still be seen, although the construction of the M25 motorway has robbed it of its original rural setting. A wooded country park has been developed using other parts of the grounds of the house. Some parts of the original interior are in the Thurrock Museum, including a magnificent fireplace. Other parts of the interior were rescued when the house was demolished and are displayed at

Valence House Museum Valence House Museum is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. The timber-framed museum building, partially surrounded by a moat, is situated in Valence Park off Becontree Avenue, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, L ...

, Dagenham. The grounds of the estate were placed on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2018. In 2021

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

carried out onsite research into the grounds, and the remains of Tudor gardens were discovered.

Notes

External links

A short history of Belhus mansionThe Belhus Mansion PaintingBelhus House and Park c. 1710Essex County Council website
{{Thurrock parishes Buildings and structures in Thurrock Golf clubs and courses in Essex Country parks in Essex Former country houses in England British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Gardens by Capability Brown