Gidea Hall was a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

Gidea Park Gidea Park () is a neighbourhood in the east of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, south-east England. Predominantly an affluent and residential area, it was historically located in the county of Essex. It saw significant expansion in t ...

, the historic parish and Royal liberty of

Havering-atte-Bower Havering-atte-Bower ( ) is a village in Greater London, England, in the far north of the London Borough of Havering. The village lies northeast of Charing Cross. It was one of three former parishes whose area comprised the historic Royal Libe ...

, whose former area today is part of the north-eastern extremity of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. The first record of Gidea Hall is in 1250, and by 1410 it was in the hands on one Robert Chichele. In 1452 Sir Thomas Cooke (c.1410-1478), a

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

, bought the estate and in 1466 was granted a

licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

, which is a licence for the manor house to be fortified. Gidea Hall was forfeit when Cooke was accused of treason, but he was acquitted and the property recovered after payment of a fine. While work on the manor had started in 1466 with the construction of a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

, they were continued by his son Sir Anthony Cooke, one of whose daughters married Sir Nicholas Bacon and came into possession of the Manor of Marks, another large house in the Liberty of Havering. After his return from exile Cooke entertained Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

at Gidea Hall during her ''Progress'' in 1568 when she also visited

Copt Hall Copped Hall, also known as Copt Hall or Copthall, is a mid-18th-century English country house close to Waltham Abbey, Essex, which has been undergoing restoration since 1999. Today, Copped Hall refers to the upstanding house, while Copt Ha ...

The final alterations to Gidea Hall were not finished until 1568 at which time the main house and two adjacent wings formed three sides of a courtyard with an open colonnade on the fourth side and various outbuildings.

Maria de Medici Marie de' Medici (; ; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as regent ...

, the mother-in-law of King Charles I stayed at Gidea Hall in 1638 on her way from

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

to London, although by then the hall was falling into decay. By the time of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

the buildings were ruinous, but were not finally demolished until 1720 when Sir John Eyles had a new mansion built on the site. In 1783 a book entitled ''An enquiry by experiment into the properties and effects of the medicinal waters in the County of Essex'' includes an entry for "Gidea Hall water", describing the source as rising on the "bank of the canal in the park of Richard Benyon, Esq". The canal referred to is now the lake in

Raphael Park Raphael Park (pronounced "Ray-full") is a public park in Gidea Park, Romford, in the London Borough of Havering, United Kingdom. It is one of a series of parks stretching northwards from the railway line between Romford and Gidea Park. The sout ...

, which was recorded on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map as Black's Canal after the Black family; a map prepared for Alexander Black in 1807 clearly shows the spring. An investigation into the spring in 1910 recorded that it had "been drained, filled up and turfed about 4 years ago". The later Gidea Hall was of brick. The Gidea Hall estate was purchased in 1897 by

Herbert Raphael Major Sir Herbert Henry Raphael, 1st Baronet (23 December 1859 – 24 September 1924) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician.Leigh Rayment (2006). The second son of Henry Louis Raphael, banker, of Raphaels Bank and his wife and cou ...

, and in 1902 he gave , including a lake, for use as a public park; a further was subsequently purchased and

opened in 1904. In 1910 Raphael and two fellow Liberal MPs formed Gidea Park Ltd with the aim of building a

garden suburb The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, an ...

, including what became Romford Garden Suburb, on the Gidea Hall and Balgores estates, and during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

they offered both properties to the

Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles, is a regiment of the British Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, ...

for use as an Officers' School. The house was demolished in 1930. The wall, railings and gate from the early 18th century remain and are listed Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

.Havering London Borough Council
- Walking in Gidea Park - North of Main Road.

References

External links

1786 map showing Gidea Hall1881 map of Essex showing Gidea Hall
{{coord, 51.58784, N, 0.19418, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Buildings and structures demolished in 1930 Former houses in the London Borough of Havering