CANONS PARK ESTATE COMPANY LIMITED

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/0784
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: CANONS PARK ESTATE COMPANY LIMITED
Date(s)	: 1640-1929
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.01 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Various

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The manor of Little Stanmore was also referred to as the Manor of Canons. In 1709 the manor was purchased by James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, who built a luxurious house filled with exotic collectibles. The Duke's son inherited the estate but had to sell it and much of the collection and even architectural elements of the house. The land passed through various owners until 1860, when it was bought by Dr David Begg. On his death the estate stretched from Whitchurch Lane north beyond London Road, and from Edgware Road westward to Marsh Lane. Apart from the mansion it contained the farm-house which had belonged to Marsh farm, North and South lodges, at the Edgware gates, and Stone Grove House, Lodge, and Cottage, along Edgware Road; there were also four 'superior' houses at the corner of Dennis Lane and London Road and fields at the corner of Marsh Lane and London Road.

After Dr Begg's death a Morris Jenks bought the entire estate, amounting to some 479 acres, and sold it in 1896 to the Canons Park Estate Company, which in 1898 issued a prospectus of its plans for development. Arthur du Cros, founder of the Dunlop Rubber Co. and later a baronet, bought the mansion but in 1905 sold part of the estate. In 1919 he formed a trust, the Pards Estate, and in 1920 Canons itself was offered for sale, with lands that had been greatly reduced in the north, west, and south-east. Canons Park, formerly Marsh, farm-house and the other houses had been sold and 150 acres remained, almost corresponding to the present open space but still stretching eastward, along the north of the avenue, to reach as far as Edgware Road. In 1926 George Cross bought 85 acres and in 1928 the remainder was bought by Canons Limited and, on the west, by Harrow Urban District Council as a park. The mansion and 10 acres were sold in 1929 to the North London Collegiate school. More land was acquired by the school in 1936 and by the county council for playing fields, which were lent to the school.

Canons Park Estate is a housing estate built in the 1920s and 1930s. The housing estate incorporates 340 houses, gardens, open spaces and ponds.

From: 'Little Stanmore: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 113-117.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Canons Park Estate Company Limited, 1640-1929, including printed copy of the abstract of title of the Canons Park Estate Co to "all that capital messuage or mansion house called "Canons" with the park gardens, pleasure grounds, lodges, stables and outhouses, buildings, lands and hereditaments thereto belonging situate in the parishes of Little Stanmore and Great Stanmore", 1860-1898; lease of Canons Manor by Sir Robert Stone, 1640; various assignments of term and conveyances; letter from James Drake of Canons Park to the Parish Overseers suggesting that 100 poor children of the parish of Little Stanmore should be employed in the lace making industry, 1813; report on local charities by Committee appointed by Great Stanmore Parish Council to Sir John Fitzgerald, Chairman of Great Stanmore Parish Council, 1929; legal documents and accounts relating to land in Wirksworth, Stafford, Derbyshire and Lincoln.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

ACC/0784/1-11: Manors of Great and Little Stanmore; ACC/0784/12: Great Stanmore Charities (Booklet); ACC/0784/13-17: Other Counties.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Former reference: E.M.C. 50/11/1 - 17

Immediate source of acquisition:

Documents on loan from Harrow Archives Committee (ACC/0784).

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
July to October 2009