Hexton Manor is a country house in

Hexton, Hertfordshire Hexton is a small village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, about west of Hitchin. This parish is a Salient (geography), salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of ...

that has been home to the Lautour family, descendants of the

Dukes of Bouillon The Duchy of Bouillon () was a duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in present-day Belgium. The state originated in the 10th century as property of the Lords of Bouillon, owners of Bouillon Castle. Crusader Godfrey of Bou ...

and

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper.

History

Hexton, the land where the manor stands, has been settled and its land has been cultivated for over 5000 years. The Hexton Manor is neighbours with th
Ravensburgh Castle
(a pre-Roman fortified settlement) to its west. The Manor of Hexton started as part of the estate of

St Albans Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, also known as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be an abbey follo ...

until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1541 at which point it was given away from the church. The estate was owned by seventeen different families although it ended up with the Poyntz family under Newdigate Poyntz. Hexton Manor started as a farmhouse in the 17th century, although was enlarged into a manor house in the 18th century. In 1820 the then owner, Joseph Andrew de Lautour and his wife Caroline Young de Lautour enlarged the house further. De Lautour inherited the property through his wife Caroline Young who was the daughter of William Young, the illegitimate child of

Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank (1703 – 3 August 1778) was a British Army officer, lawyer and economist. Life He was the son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank (1677–1736), and his wife Elizabeth (née Stirling; die ...

who had priorly owned the Hexton Estate. The manor remained in the de Lautour family until it was purchased by George Hodgson, a rich textile merchant, in 1901 who enlarged and rebuilt it into its current form. Hodgson later sold the house to the businessman and politician Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper in 1918. Whilst owning the estate, Patrick Ashley Cooper served as

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provi ...

and Deputy Lieutenant of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. The Hexton Manor was initially put up for sale in 2018 via the estate agents,

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London ...

for a guide price of £18.5 Million. It was again put on the market in 2022 again via Savills, this time for £15 Million and was later in the year listed on

Knight Frank Knight Frank LLP is a global real estate consultancy and estate agency headquartered in London, England. Knight Frank's global network has more than 488 offices across 57 territories and more than 20,000 people managing commercial, agricultur ...

estate agents as well.
North Herts Council
has granted conditional listed building consent in 2025 for internal alternation to the Hexton Manor. the council has agreed upon the following alterations: Creating a wine room, installing plumbing, renovating the timber panelling in the dining room and the hall, installing trench heaters in the ground floor, adding underfloor heating system, and electrical works on the first and second floor.

References

{{reflist

External links

Hexton Manor Estate page

Historic England page
Country houses in Hertfordshire Grade II listed houses Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire