Rossway Park Estate is a country estate located about 0.5 kilometers south of

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the River Bulbourne, Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which ...

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 ...

, England. The house at the centre of the estate is a Grade II

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 ...

History

The Rossway Park estate, which dates from the 17th century and was then known as Rothway, was bought by Robert Sutton from

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

in 1802. Charles Stanton Hadden, a coffee planter operating in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, acquired the estate in 1863, demolished the original mansion and built a new house which was completed in 1867. In 1903 the property passed to Major-General

Charles Hadden Sir Charles Frederick Hadden (2 June 1854 – 13 September 1924) was a British Army officer who served as Master-General of the Ordnance. Early life and education Hadden was born in Nottingham, the son of Charles Stanton Hadden, a Ceylon coffee ...

, a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who became

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

. It then passed to the general's son, Major Adrian Hadden Paton, in 1949 and remained in the hands of the Hadden Paton family until 1998 when it was acquired by Khoo Kay Peng, chairman of MUI Group, which owned a majority stake in the retail chain

Laura Ashley Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...

House and estate buildings

At the centre of the estate is Rossway, a large, Grade II-listed

English 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 ...

. The present building dates from 1867 and was designed by the English architect

Robert Evans Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930 – October 26, 2019) was an American film producer who worked on ''Rosemary's Baby (film), Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story (1970 film), Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), ...

in the

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style. The frontage features a central stone

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

supported by columns with foliated

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. The interior is richly decorated with large marble columns in the entrance hall, several marble

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

s and foliated cornicing in the main rooms. A number of wooden fireplaces have been retained from the earlier 17th-century house. A number of ancillary buildings are also listed for their historic significance, such as the 16th-century

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...

and 18th-century stable block. Marlin Chapel Farm, also on the estate, has been listed as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

; beneath the farm buildings, a double-moated site has been identified, possibly 13th century in origin, indicating the former presence of a prestigious aristocratic

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 ...

. It is thought that the provision of a moat served as a status symbol rather than as a military defence. The farm is named after a 13th-century

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

building, Marlin Chapel, which once stood on the periphery of the moated site, ''Marlin'' being a corruption of

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, to whom the chapel is dedicated. The chapel ruins are now grade II listed.

References

{{Listed buildings in Hertfordshire Country houses in Hertfordshire Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire Country estates in England Buildings and structures in Dacorum