Ah, Thorndon Hall. Tales and secrets are hidden within its very walls. This grand estate has seen centuries of change in name and ownership.
Thorndon Hall’s history stretches back to Anglo-Saxon kings. Official records date to just before William the Conqueror’s Domesday Survey in 1086. But settlements existed here long before that.
The estate was once held by freemen during Edward the Confessor’s reign. Later, Robert FitzWimarc and his son Sweyn of Essex held the manor of West Horndon. This powerful lord also built Rayleigh Castle.
East, West, and “on the Hill” Horndon were once known as Horninduna. Thorndon Park’s name seems to come from these merged names. William the Conqueror ordered the Domesday Survey in 1086. It was a complete tax and asset survey.
Later, Thorndon passed through several families to John Fitz-Lewis. King Henry V granted him a license. He could enclose 300 acres in a park. He could also fortify his lodge with walls.
This lodge stood west of Old Hall Pond in today’s ruin wood. Surveys show a moated house with bastion fortifications. It was expanded in the 15th century.
The Fitz-Lewis family owned West Horndon until 1526. The heiress married John Mordaunt. Some say the hall caught fire on their wedding night and they died. But we’re still researching that.
The house did have fires. It became a ruin. The 3rd Lord Mordaunt sold the estate to the Petre family in 1573.
Sir John Petre became the 1st Lord Petre. His father had been a secretary of state. He rebuilt the estate into an Elizabethan mansion. It became the family’s main seat. Much of the old fortified house was demolished.
Duke Cosmo of Tuscany toured England in 1669. He visited Thorndon Hall. His records include illustrations of the old hall.
West Horndon/Thorndon Hall was the Petre family’s main home. The 6th Baron moved back to Ingatestone. His grandson, the 8th Baron Robert, returned to West Horndon in the 1730s. He wanted to create a botanical estate.
Robert Petre was a keen botanist and landscape designer. He planned to improve West Horndon. He hired Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni. Sieur Bourginion landscaped the estate in 1733. He designed a water garden around Old Hall lake.
The plans remodeled the hall’s exterior. It became a Palladian style building. A grand portico with six columns arrived from Italy in 1742. Drawings showed how to remodel the house to fit the new style.
The 8th Baron Petre imported plants from the Americas. John Bartram and JF Gronovius sourced unusual trees. He grew the first camellia in Britain. He built colossal hot houses. He grew pineapples, bananas, guavas, papayas and limes.
Between 1740 and 1742, 60,000 trees were planted. Some still survive.
The 8th Baron died of smallpox at 29. His son became the 9th Baron. The estate plan was put on hold. A fire damaged the house.
The 9th Baron decided to relocate the house. He built a new Palladian mansion to the north of the old hall.
James Paine designed the new house starting in 1763. Samuel Wyatt designed the interiors. The new house cost over £250,000. It used the Italian portico from the old hall on its south facade.
Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown redesigned the grounds. He created a natural landscape. Some of his work remains.
The estate had over 1000 acres of parkland and two lakes. But the expenses strained the family’s finances.
King George III and Queen Isabella visited Warley Barracks.
Lord William Petre captured Napoleon’s horse Marengo at Waterloo in 1815. He brought it back to Thorndon Hall.
In 1920, Thorndon Park Golf Club was founded.
Today, Thorndon Hall retains its tranquil 18th-century setting. Luxury apartments and cottages now occupy the grand old house.