Foots Cray Place was one of the four

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

s built in England in the 18th century to a design inspired by

Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one ...

Villa Capra Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in Northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1590s. The villa's official name is Villa Almerico Capra V ...

near

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

. Built in 1754 near

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Foots Cray Place was demolished in 1950 after a fire in 1949. Of the three other houses in England, Nuthall Temple in Nottinghamshire was built 1757 and demolished in 1929; the other two survive:

Mereworth Castle Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England. This source attributes the plasterwork to Francesco Bagutti, but Giovanni Bagutti would appear to be more likely. History Originally the site of a fort ...

(completed 1725, also in Kent) and

Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...

(completed 1729, in London), both now Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. A modern fifth example, Henbury Hall, was built near

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

in the 1980s. Another example of a similar structure in England is the Temple of the Four Winds at

Castle Howard Castle Howard is an English country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, north of York. A private residence, it has been the home of the Earl of Carlisle, Carlisle branch of the House of Howard, Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle ...

, which is a garden building not a house.

Earlier houses

The Kentish manor of

Foots Cray Foots Cray is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Sidcup, north of Orpington and north west of Swanley. History It to ...

is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. Later, it was acquired by the

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Expl ...

family and held for six generations until it was sold around 1676. An

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

E-shaped house – also known as Pike Place – was still on the site in the 1680s. The estate passed through several hands before it was purchased by Bourchier Cleeve in 1752 for £5,450. Cleeve had the old house pulled down and a new one constructed slightly further north in about 1754.

Palladian mansion

The design of the

Neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Republic of Venice, Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetr ...

mansion has been attributed to the architect

Isaac Ware Isaac Ware (1704–1766) was an English architect and translator of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Early life Ware was born to a life of poverty, living as a street urchin and working as a chimney sweep, until he was adopted by ...

in ''

Vitruvius Britannicus Colen Campbell (15 June 1676 – 13 September 1729) was a pioneering Scottish architect and architectural writer who played an important part in the development of the Georgian style. For most of his career, he resided in Italy and England. As ...

'' iv (1777, pls. 8-10), but it has also been suggested that

Matthew Brettingham the Younger Matthew Brettingham the Younger (bapt. 28 December 1724 – 18 March 1803) was a British architect. He was the eldest son of Matthew Brettingham the Elder and worked also in Palladian style. He travelled to Italy in 1747, where he purchased sc ...

Daniel Garrett Daniel Garrett (died 1753) was a British architect who worked on the Burlington Estate, Culloden Tower, Raby Castle, and Banqueting House. History Garrett started as a clerk of works, then in 1735 set up his own practice in the North of Engl ...

could have been the designer. Following the model of the Villa Capra, it had a large square central block surmounted by a wide dome, with a portico on each face, all constructed in stone. Three of the porticos at Foots Cray Place were filled in to create additional internal space. The central hall was octagonal, with a gallery leading to the upper rooms, lit from above. The service buildings were built in brick a short distance from the main house. Cleeve accumulated a large collection of paintings, including examples by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, Reubens, Van Dyke,

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

and

Holbein Holbein may refer to: *Holbein (surname) *Holbein, Saskatchewan, a small village in Canada *Holbein carpet, a type of Ottoman carpet *Holbein stitch, a type of embroidery stitch * Holbein (crater), a crater on Mercury {{Disambig ...

, which he displayed at Foots Cray Place. The estate was inherited by Cleeve's daughter on his death in 1760; she married Sir

George Yonge Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet, KCB, PC, FRS (; 17 July 1731 – 25 September 1812), of Escot House in the parish of Talaton in Devon, England, was a British Secretary at War (1782–1783 and 1783–1794). He succeeded to his father's b ...

in 1767, and the house was sold to Benjamin Harenc in 1772 for £14,500. He had it remodelled in 1792 by the minor London architect

Henry Hakewill Henry Hakewill (4 October 1771 – 13 March 1830) was an English architect. Early life Henry Hakewill was born on 4 October 1771 to English painter and decorator John Hakewill and Anna Maria Cook. Hakewill was a pupil of John Yenn , and ...

. Harenc's son sold the house in 1821 to

Nicholas Vansittart Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, (29 April 1766 – 8 February 1851) was an English politician, and one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history. Background and education The fifth son of Henry Vansittart ...

, then

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

and soon to become ennobled as Baron Bexley. Hakewill further remodelled the house in 1823, and more works were carried out for Lord Bexley by another London architect of equally modest reputation, John William Hiort, who also built Bexley's London house in

Great George Street Great George Street is a street in Westminster, London, leading from Parliament Square to Birdcage Walk. The area of the current street was occupied by a number of small roads and yards housing inns and tenements. In the 1750s these were demol ...

, Westminster. The Vansittart family retained the house and estate until it was sold to

Samuel Waring Samuel James Waring, 1st Baron Waring (19 April 1860 – 9 January 1940), known as Sir Samuel Waring, Bt, between 1919 and 1922, was a British industrialist, public servant and benefactor. Biography Waring was the second son of Samuel James Wari ...

(later Baron Waring) in the late 19th century. In 1939, at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the house was requisitioned for use by the Thames Nautical Training College, HMS "Worcester" whose ship of that name had been requisitioned by the Admiralty. Lord Waring died in 1940, and after the College vacated the property, dilapidated after its wartime use, in 1946, Waring's widow sold the house and grounds to

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

for use as a museum. A fire in October 1949 caused extensive damage, and the house was demolished in 1950.

Foots Cray Meadows

The stable block and walled gardens with pavilion remains standing, but the grounds, known as

Foots Cray Meadows Foots Cray Meadows is an area of parkland and woodland 97 hectares (240 acres) in size, within the London Borough of Bexley, England. It borders the suburbs of Albany Park, Bexley, Albany Park, Sidcup, Foots Cray, North Cray and Ruxley. The River ...

, provide a valuable public green space in this south-eastern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of London. This 220-acre (89-hectare) park was formed in the early 19th century from two mid-18th-century landscaped parks and is listed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a Grade II historic park,An impression of the surviving landscape can be obtained from the
Hidden London website
/ref> and it is a Local Nature Reserve. The

London Outer Orbital Path The London Outer Orbital Path—more usually the "London LOOP"—is a 150-mile (242 km) signed walk along Rights of way in England and Wales, public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, Englan ...

passes through Foots Cray Meadows on its way from Old Bexley to Sidcup Place and

Petts Wood Petts Wood is a town in south-east London, England, previously located in the historic county of Kent. It lies south of Chislehurst, west of St Paul's Cray and Poverest, north of Orpington and Crofton, and east of Southborough and Bromley ...

. There is some industry in an area next to the meadows and bordering the river.

References

External links

Lost Heritage - Foot's Cray Place
{{coord, 51.427, 0.120, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Houses completed in 1754 Buildings and structures demolished in 1950 Former country houses in England Country houses in Kent 1940s fires in the United Kingdom 1949 disasters in the United Kingdom 1949 fires Rotundas in the United Kingdom Palladian architecture in England British country houses destroyed in the 20th century 1754 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Sidcup Former buildings and structures in Kent