Cross Deep House was an 18th-century house, on the banks of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

in Cross Deep,

Strawberry Hill Strawberry Hill may refer to: United Kingdom *Strawberry Hill, London, England **Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole's Gothic revival villa **Strawberry Hill railway station United States *Strawberry Hill (San Francisco), California * Strawberr ...

, south of

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the borou ...

town centre. It was demolished in 1906 and the remains of its grounds form part of present-day

Radnor Gardens Radnor Gardens is a small public riverside garden and recreation ground in Strawberry Hill, south of Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It has a First World War memorial, a grass area, a bowling green and a children's play ...

Etymology

The name reflects the name of a small stream that flowed into the Thames nearby.

History

''Cross Deep House'' was built in 1724 by Twickenham carpenter, Robert Parsons. It was sited between

Radnor House Radnor House was an English 17th-century house on the banks of the River Thames in Cross Deep, Strawberry Hill, London, south of Twickenham town centre. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1940, and the remains of house and grounds form part of pres ...

to the north and what subsequently became

Strawberry Hill House Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is a Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the " Strawberry Hill Gothic" style of a ...

to the south. The house itself was located on the opposite side of the Cross Deep road from its riverside garden. It was bought by George Jones, solicitor, in 1745 and sold to

slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of ...

, Robert Cramond, in 1752. The following year it was inherited by Eleanor Land and James Newton, and acquired by Isaac Fernandez Nunez in 1756.

William Cole William or Bill Cole may refer to: Business * William Rossa Cole (1919–2000), American children's writer * William Washington Cole (1847–1915), part owner of the Barnum & Bailey Circus Fine arts and entertainment * William Cole (musician) ...

, on a visit to Walpole, noted:

From the garden you discover the elegant Chinese Temple, being the last building on the bank of the Thames, and close to my Lord Radnor’s house or garden wall – though the house belonging to it is on the other side of the road, and is the last house on that side next to Strawberry Hill, and is an handsome new square building – I say, from this garden of Mr Walpole you discover the Chinese summer house in which, about last August, Mr Isaac Fernandez Nunez, a Jew, shot himself through the head, on the loss of the Hermione, a rich French ship which he had insured, and by that means ruined his fortune and family. His house and furniture were sold by auction while I was at Strawberry Hill, and I was at the sale for a few minutes.

The ''Chinese Temple'' Cole refers to may have been a larger garden structure that existed at the time, rather than the

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

summerhouse that remains a feature within Radnor Gardens to this day. Although Cole refers to the lost ship as being French, it was the Spanish frigate '' Hermione'' captured in the action of 31 May 1762. In 1764 Stafford Briscoe (1713–1789), a goldsmith and jeweller based in

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

, acquired the property. In 1775 he sold some land to his neighbour,

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

, in the latter phases of Walpole's development of the Strawberry Hill estate. Cross Deep House passed to James & Thomas Land by inheritance and at some point thereafter to William Land. It was next acquired by John Briscoe in 1789 by inheritance from his uncle and, on his death in 1809, passed to his son,

John Ivatt Briscoe John Ivatt Briscoe (12 October 1791 – 16 August 1870) was an English Whig and later Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1857 to 1870. Early life and education Briscoe was the only son of John Briscoe of Cross Deep, Twi ...

. In 1831 Briscoe purchased the neighbouring Radnor House, selling it in 1840 to

Francis Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey Francis Jack Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey (12 December 1787 – 20 June 1880), known as Viscount Newry from 1822 to 1832, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Member of Parliament. Biography He was the son of General Francis Needham, 1st Earl of Kilmo ...

. He subsequently sold Cross Deep House to Lord Kilmorey in 1843 and Kilmorey made it his home for a while before moving downstream to Orleans House in 1846. In 1853 Frederick G Watkins bought Cross Deep House, followed by Edward Chapman in 1855. Sometime thereafter

Charles James Freake Sir Charles James Freake, 1st Baronet (7 April 1814 – 6 October 1884) was an untrained English architect and builder, responsible for many famous 19th-century façades in London, including Eaton Square, Exhibition Road and Onslow Square, ...

acquired the house, over a decade before his more substantial development of Fullwell Park nearby. The house changed hands again in 1858, sold to Frederick G Watkins and sold again in 1860 to Edward Jas Coleman Esq and Charles Clark & Son, surgeons. In 1871, William Vernon Harcourt MP owned the house for a year before sale to Richard Laming in 1872. It was then owned by three successive members of the Quick family until the house's eventual demolition in 1906 following acquisition of the gardens by Twickenham Urban District in 1903 and the creation of the riverside public open space of ''Radnor Gardens'', now owned by

Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London, the United Kingdom capital. Richmond upon Thames is ...

Garden

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

maps show that during the late 1800s, the riverside garden of ''Cross Deep House'' also shared access to a former island, ''Cross Deep Ait'', via a footbridge. Like its neighbour ''Radnor House'', the metal remnants of the bridge are visible lining the southern footpath near the present-day

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

in Radnor Gardens.

References

{{LB Richmond 1724 establishments in England 1906 disestablishments in England Buildings and structures demolished in 1906 Former houses in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Former structures on the River Thames History of Middlesex Houses completed in 1724 Twickenham