Monkenhurst is a house in the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style at 15 The Crescent on the north edge of

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of Oakle ...

in London, England. It overlooks

Monken Hadley Common Monken Hadley Common lies within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, and is listed as a “ Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I,” by the London Borough of Barnet. It is registered common land, and it is owned by the ...

. The house was built in 1880 to a design by

Peter Dollar Peter Dollar ARIBA (1847 - 28 October 1943) was an English architect and surveyor noted for his cinema designs. Early life Peter Dollar was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in 1847. Family Dollar married Emily Ada (died 1937) and they had ...

and was once the home of the comedian

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Colonial India, where he spent his ...

History

Monkenhurst was built in 1880 to a Victorian Gothic design by

Monken Hadley: Introduction.
British History Online. Retrieved 27 May 2017. and enlarged in 1915. It is of red brick with three storeys and a pyramid-capped tower. Stained glass windows, acquired from

Northumberland House Northumberland House (also known as Suffolk House when owned by the Earls of Suffolk) was a large Jacobean townhouse in London, so-called because it was, for most of its history, the London residence of the Percy family, who were the Ear ...

(demolished 1874), show the crests of participants in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...

Taylor, Pamela, & Joanna Corden (1994) ''Barnet, Edgware, Hadley and Totteridge: A Pictorial History''. Chichester: Phillimore. Photograph No. 86. in reference to the

Battle of Barnet The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On Sunday 14 April ...

, a key battle in the conflict that took place nearby."Barnet: My part in its rise and downfall", Anne Spackman, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', 4 October 2002, p. 8. In the 1920s the house was the home of the mining engineer and metallurgist Savannah Johnson Speak (1868–1929) and in the 1950s it was the residence of the radiologist

Steven Carstairs Lindsay Steven Carstairs Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists, FRCR (1919–1998) was a Scottish radiologist. Born in Glasgow, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War and was present at the D-Day landings. He ...

(1919–1998). In 1973, the house along with other property totalling about two acres, was acquired by Highshore Properties, who, it was reported in ''

Estates Gazette ''EG (formerly Estates Gazette)'' is an established provider of data, news and analytics for the UK commercial property market. It was first published in 1858 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008. In March 2008, ''Estates Gazette'' wa ...

'', intended to sell Monkenhurst and build houses and bungalows on the rest of the site. In 1974 Monkenhurst was acquired by the comedian

who spent £10,000 restoring it. He also paid to have the pound (an historic livestock enclosure) on Monken Hadley Common repaired. Visitors to the house during Milligan's ownership included

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, and fellow

Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1 ...

cast-member

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

, who arrived naked as a practical joke, and was sent away again still naked. The house was later purchased by the property developer

Stephen Friel Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

who spent £250,000 refurbishing it after acquiring it in a poor condition. It was offered for sale in 2002 for £1.75 millionSpike's home for sale.
''Chortle'', 9 October 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2017. Monkenhurst is

locally listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

by the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest London boroug ...

.''Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement''

, Barnet, 2007, p. 38.

Gallery

File:Monkenhurst 21 July 2015 01.JPG, Window detail File:Monkenhurst 21 July 2015 06.JPG, North side, view from The Crescent File:Monkenhurst 25 July 2015.JPG, View from the west

References

External links

{{Coord, 51, 39, 28.07, N, 0, 11, 6.38, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title Houses in the London Borough of Barnet Houses completed in 1880 New Barnet Gothic Revival architecture in London Chipping Barnet Monken Hadley