Drawn by its magnetic allure visitors gather before Forty Hall Museum. This Grade I listed manor house of the 1620s stands proudly in Enfield. Today it serves as a museum by the London Borough of Enfield.
Let’s step back in time. Imagine yourself in the 17th century. Sir Nicholas Rainton a wealthy London haberdasher built this house between 1629 and 1632. He even served as Lord Mayor of London from 1632 to 1633. Or did he? Some say Sir Hugh Fortee built it. Records from 1635 describe the house as “some time Hugh Fortee’s and late Sir Thomas Gurney’s.”
The detailed history of Forty Hall Museum was poorly understood. It looks like an 18th-century house. However it was built in the 1620s. Enfield council conducted a detailed examination. They concluded a “clever artisan builder” likely designed it not a famous architect like Inigo Jones.
The original square house didn’t change much initially. A small extension to the northwest appeared in 1636. Rainton faced imprisonment in 1640. He refused to help Charles I raise a loan. He died in 1646 at age 77 and rests at St Andrew’s Church in Enfield. His great-nephew Nicholas inherited Forty Hall Museum. In 1656 he expanded the estate northward. He bought and demolished the neighboring Elsyng Palace.
John Wolstenholme acquired Forty Hall Museum in 1696. He refurbished it perhaps after a fire. This included a southwest extension. He also planted the avenue. Eliab Breton remodelled the ground floor in 1740. Later owners included Edmund Armstrong and James Meyer.
Henry Carrington Bowles of Myddelton House bought Forty Hall Museum in 1894 for his son Major Henry Ferryman Bowles. He was an MP for Enfield. Further changes occurred in 1897. The southwest wing got larger. In 1951 the Bowles family sold Forty Hall Museum. The Municipal Borough of Enfield purchased it. It became a museum.
Forty Hall Museum closed for redevelopment in 2010. The Heritage Lottery Fund and Enfield Council funded the project. They restored the original staircase position. The hall reopened on June 30 2012.
The permanent exhibition unveils the house’s story. It explores Sir Nicholas Rainton’s life. It shows 17th-century life through visual and audio displays. Guided tours led by a Jacobean character are also available. The exhibition program focuses on art ecology and heritage.
The estate spans about 260 acres. It forms part of London’s Metropolitan Green Belt. Formal gardens surround the house. You can find a small lake there. A magnificent Cedar of Lebanon stands tall. It’s one of London’s Great Trees. The remaining area includes a public park and a working farm. An avenue of trees descends the hill. It leads into the Turkey Brook valley. The New River’s former course marks the northern and southern boundaries.
Forty Hall Museum has appeared on BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow several times. These appearances occurred in January and March 2021 and again in July 2024.
Forty Hall Museum stands as a testament to time. Its walls hold secrets of wealthy merchants political turmoil and family legacies. As you leave Forty Hall Museum consider its layers of history. Each owner left their mark shaping the house and estate into what we see today.