This distinguished house has a long and complicated history, some of which is quite difficult to verify. There is no doubt that parts of the original building remain embedded within the nineteenth century house we see today. But later additions and alterations have helped to turn the property into an intriguing architectural puzzle which cannot be fully unravelled in one short article. However, unlike some of Bradford's other gentlemen's residences which retained their privacy behind their high walls, Leigh Park House has been open to townsfolk in different ways throughout the whole of the twentieth century. Newspaper cuttings, articles and above all personal accounts of Leigh Park as people have known it in its differing roles over the last 100 years provide some compensation for limitations of evidence of its proven architectural history.
Since there are many interesting features to the house, to the families which have occupied it and also in the ways in which this outlying area of Bradford has changed through the centuries, this is the first of two articles on Leigh Park House. This one attempts to describe some of the history of the house and its landscape setting up until the end of the nineteenth century. Leigh Park House has played a part in the lives of Bradford people through the twentieth century and this story will appear in a later edition of the Guardian Angel.
Christopher Scott-Moody, whose parents bought the house in 1979, produced a most useful booklet on the previous history of the property. I would also like to acknowledge the painstaking work by Roger Mawby in tracing the families who once lived at Leigh Park House. Pamela Slocombe's article "Leigh Park Hotel or Leigh House: History prior to 1800", written for the Wiltshire Buildings Record files is based on and expands Roger's researches and I appreciate her permission to draw upon it. Her article (WBR), which has more details of pre-eighteenth century information than I have room for here, is available in the Local Studies Library, Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office (WSRO) Trowbridge. Gareth Slater's detailed work on architectural features is also, as always, most informative and helpful
Bradford Leigh (or Lye) has been an administrative area within the Manor of Bradford since Saxon times and, as such, formed part of the property of the Abbey of Shaftesbury in 1001. Being some distance from mediaeval Bradford itself, it became a small hamlet set in arable and pasture land and no doubt provided a useful stopping place along the ancient route up Whitehill and towards Wraxall and Corsham. We know there was some habitation there by 1351 when the Abbey of Shaftesbury placed "Thos. Skathloke and Edith, daughter of Roger le Porter in possession of a messuage in Lygh and Wroxhole within the Manor of Bradford" (Jones p.242) but exactly what was involved would be difficult to say.
It is when we get to 1523 that we have a reference to the family which would become the dominating presence at Bradford Leigh for over 200 years - the Bayleys or Baileys. In that year, although the Abbey of Shaftesbury was still the overall owner of the Manor of Bradford, William Bayley of the Ley in the Parish of Bradford, was in a position to lease out land to William Gunwyn (Jones p.248).
In 1545 John Bayley was one of seven men in the tithing of Ley obliged to pay towards a national tax intended to help pay for wars with France and Scotland. John Bayley and three others were assessed at ten shillings each; the rest for lesser sums. Most unusually, this revenue had to be paid by the collector directly to the "knyght cofferer of the hinges moost honorable howshold". The tax was somewhat misleadingly called "the Benevolence" or "Loving Contribution". Spin was around even in Henry VIII's time.
The Bayleys remained at Bradford Leigh until the middle of the 18th century. Then followed a succession of different owners. For the purposes of this article the most significant were Daniel Clutterbuck, the Rev. Bradney, Miss Isabella Poynder, Lady Swinburne, and Lord Fitzmaurice. Details from the tenure of Daniel Clutterbuck and the Rev. Bradney (Jones, p.187) reference the same property back to the ownership of the Bailey family and allow us to say, with some confidence, that some of Leigh Park House dates back to their Tudor house. A few ghostly resonances of this early building can probably be found in the irregular stone paving of the cellar in the central part of the house, surrounded by thick stone walls with remains of an original window below the present ground level.part of the property of the Abbey of Shaftesbury in 1001. Being some distance from mediaeval Bradford itself, it became a small hamlet set in arable and pasture land and no doubt provided a useful stopping place along the ancient route up Whitehill and towards Wraxall and Corsham. We know there was some habitation there by 1351 when the Abbey of Shaftesbury placed "Thos. Skathloke and Edith, daughter of Roger le Porter in possession of a messuage in Lygh and Wroxhole within the Manor of Bradford" (Jones p.242) but exactly what was involved would be difficult to say.
It is when we get to 1523 that we have a reference to the family which would become the dominating presence at Bradford Leigh for over 200 years - the Bayleys or Baileys. In that year, although the Abbey of Shaftesbury was still the overall owner of the Manor of Bradford, William Bayley of the Ley in the Parish of Bradford, was in a position to lease out land to William Gunwyn (Jones p.248).
In 1545 John Bayley was one of seven men in the tithing of Ley obliged to pay towards a national tax intended to help pay for wars with France and Scotland. John Bayley and three others were assessed at ten shillings each; the rest for lesser sums. Most unusually, this revenue had to be paid by the collector directly to the "knyght cofferer of the hinges moost honorable howshold". The tax was somewhat misleadingly called "the Benevolence" or "Loving Contribution". Spin was around even in Henry VIII's time.
The Bayleys remained at Bradford Leigh until the middle of the 18th century. Then followed a succession of different owners. For the purposes of this article the most significant were Daniel Clutterbuck, the Rev. Bradney, Miss Isabella Poynder, Lady Swinburne, and Lord Fitzmaurice. Details from the tenure of Daniel Clutterbuck and the Rev. Bradney (Jones, p.187) reference the same property back to the ownership of the Bailey family and allow us to say, with some confidence, that some of Leigh Park House dates back to their Tudor house. A few ghostly resonances of this early building can probably be found in the irregular stone paving of the cellar in the central part of the house, surrounded by thick stone walls with remains of an original window below the present ground level.
until after 1752. Kingsfield was between Bradford and Woolley.
As already mentioned, the spelling of the Bailey family name can differ in the various legal documents which record their long occupation of the Bradford Leigh area. They also often appear as "Taunton alias Bailey". This specific name also appears on legal documents pertaining to the Bailey family which was prominent in Holt in the 16th and 17th century. From this connection we can trace our Baileys of Leigh to other Bailey families throughout the county, many of whom, as clothiers, became significant landowners in the West Wiltshire area. Perhaps our most tangible link today with this extended family is the large panelled monument to William Bailey (1644-1712) which can be found at the west end of the north aisle of Holy Trinity Church. William's relationship to the Leigh Baileys is uncertain but it is interesting to learn that, as a merchant dealing in fine textile fabrics, he was sufficiently important to produce his own Bradford token. (Carr,p.24).
That the (Tawnton als) Baileys of Leigh were also important Bradford townspeople in their own right is clear from Roger Mawby's research at the WSRO where 17th and 18th century documents, such as taxation records, leases, administration bonds and, eventually, the Poor Rate Book provide plenty of evidence of their activities especially in the Bradford Leigh vicinity. Bayleys appear in a list of Wiltshire freeholders made by the county sheriff in 1607-8 (Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine (WAM) vol.19) and in about 1613-16 the Earl of Clanricarde sold off a portion of the Bradford estate to "John Bayley alias Staunton" (Jones p.46). Their births, marriages and deaths are frequently recorded at Holy Trinity It seems Alice Taunton als Bailey (bapt. 1615) was the wife of Thomas Lewis, the vicar of Holy Trinity from 1660 - 1710. There are family wills from 1598,1646,1663,1663 and 1684, some of which contain details of their property, goods and chattels (WBR). Their long ownership ended in the 1740s when the property was passed on to John Smith, clothier of Bradford. His father, Nathan Smith, who died circa 1743, had loaned £400 to Robert Bailey and his son, John: money which for reasons unknown was not repaid.
The next significant owner for our purposes was Daniel Clutterbuck who was paying the Land Tax assessment on the property by 1788. The Clutterbucks, who have three memorials in Fig. 2: South Entrance Door.
the chancel of Holy Trinity church (Carr pp.40-43). were another major Bradford family, related into the Tugwells and other local clothier families. A1789 deed (quoted by Scott-Moody) states "Mr Clutterbuck hath bought a house, garden, and lands at Ley. The house is bounded on the east by an orchard, on the west by the wall of the orchard. On the north is the paddock called Lower Close and the common of Bradford Leigh. A large close of the paddock called Home field bounds the house on the south ". Clearly a wealthy man, Daniel was able to enlarge his grounds in a substantial way in 1797 through the purchase of the 69 acres 2 roods 9 perches of the adjacent Slade (Sladesbrook) Farm. The now extensive Clutterbuck estate was surveyed by Knapp the following year and provides us with much detailed information on the house in its setting (WSRO/G13/402/12). (fig 1).
Much of the house we see today must be due to Daniel Clutterbuck: the three bow windows of the south front, the south entrance door with its elaborate fanlight (fig. 2), leading through to the beautiful oval staircase with inlaid mahogany handrail and decorative plasterwork around the base of its glass lantern; patterned plaster cornices in other rooms; the delicate mouldings of the internal window shutters and the overall treatment of the main block. All this is eloquent of the high standard of design and craftsmanship that money could buy around 1800.
This 1798 map makes clear something which would not be immediately obvious to a visitor to the house today — namely that in the 18th century the entrance to the house was from Bradford and the south. Thus the approach to the house through the long carriage drive (which entered the estate approximately where the Sladesbrook/Leigh Park Road mini roundabout is today) drew the visitor through the private grounds and made the most of the impressive three-bay fronted south facade (fig 3). Looking across his own extensive fields with fine views over Bradford to the Bratton hills to the south and the Malborough Downs to the east, Daniel Clutterbuck must have been a very satisfied man. Nothing of this Sladesbrook entrance to the estate now remains and no record of any gateway has come to light. But a gateway was still there when Jack Stafford was using a remaining outbuilding of Sladesbrook Farm close by. Being a builder himself, he took careful note of it and has drawn it for us, reproduced here by Gareth Slater (fig 4).
Jack says
"It was built of Bath stone and was in very good condition up to the time it was removed in the 1960s. The pillars consisted of two large blocks with solid caps on top. The curved walls were made with 6inch high blocks, each one curved to the main curve of each of the side walls. The flat top stones on each wall were 3 inches thick. The 4ft 6 inch wall (marked with a cross on my plan) was built with the same stone and topping stones as was the high wall which at that time stretched from the 1845 chapel in Sladesbrook right up to Leigh crossroad. The topping stones are called cocks and hens ".
Events significant for the whole of Bradford occurred in 1818 when various parcels of land in the different tithings were taken into private ownership through the Bradford Enclosure Award (WSRO/G13/990/1PC). Several Bradford Leigh landowners benefited accordingly.
You may have noticed the earlier reference in the Clutterbuck document quoted above to Bradford Leigh common to the north of the house. Several early maps (Andrews & Drury 1773) and the first OS map of 1817 (fig 5) show a small linear common which stretched along the South Wraxall road from about the Leigh crossroads to just beyond the Plough Inn. In 1818 a (private) "Act for inclosing lands in the parish of Bradford in Wiltshire" was published (WSRO/G13/415/140). Due notice of this impending Act had to be given on the church door of Holy Trinity and on the doors of the chapels at Atworth, Holt and Winsley. It was also published in the Salisbury & Winchester Journal and the Bath & Cheltenham Gazette. The Initiators were those "entitled to the Soil of the Commons and Waste Lands within the said Manor" and included Daniel Clutterbuck. No doubt a major concern for local people crowding round the church door was — if the common gets enclosed, what will happen to our Bradford Leigh Fair, always held at the end of August? The Act took care to reassure inhabitants that the fair would continue. I cannot resist quoting from this document which is not only of local interest but also illustrates the spectacular number of verbs the legal mind felt justified in using to make the point that the enclosure would only take place.......
".... Provided always nevertheless and be it further Enacted That nothing herein contained shall extend or be deemed, construed or taken to impede, alter, prevent, lessen or destroy any Right or Rights of any Person or Persons whomsoever, to hold, continue, keep and attend the Annual Fair or Mart usually held on the aforesaid Common called Bradford Leigh, or the Right of the said Paul Metheun, his Heirs or Assigns, to the Tolls arising or becoming payable in respect of the said Fair or Mart."
Gee Langdon quotes an announcement from the Bath Journal August 1756 (GL p.14) describing some of the animals and goods to be available at that year's fair and ending with the comment "Toll free as usual". Perhaps Paul Metheun in 1818 would waive his toll but wanted his right to it reaffirmed in law?
Anyway, the Act was passed and the resultant apportionment map (WSRO/G13/ 990/2PC) is dated 1821. Apart from 8 small parcels of land (7 of them in traditional strip form which were presumably apportioned to local commoners) all the owners of the adjacent fields obtained the common land which abutted onto their holdings. Daniel Clutterbuck purchased the common land immediately to the north of his house for £56 and now had direct access both to the new road to Bath and onto the Leigh crossroads. A natural result was to be a major rebuild to Leigh House which now could be dramatically turned around so that its main entrance could be from the north as we see it today.
Daniel died in 1821 so such major alterations and additions must have taken place during the ownership of his son, Thomas, or that of Sir Thomas Fellows, the next owner of the house, or during the longer tenure of the Rev J.H.Bradney the first vicar of Christ Church, who bought the prope Fig. 6: North Fro
The main change was the north entrance, with its porch of Tuscan columns, and the extension of the north front to the west, attaching it to an existing building whose ground floor is now part of the hotel's kitchen. An elegant stone summer house near the northeast corner of the house could also belong to this period, as could the entrance lodge on Leigh Road West.
The Rev. Bradney was a wealthy man and was ready to put money into the locality. It was during his time that the top of the town began to take on the aspect familiar to us today. Christ Church was consecrated in 1841, and in 1847 the National School was built beside it. But the rest of Says Green (fig. 1) remained in the possession of Leigh House. On the Rev. Bradney's death, the house and estate came up for auction and so we have a detailed description of this freehold property on 16 July 1861.
"THE MANSION embraces every convenience for a Family and contains on the Ground floor, Dining-room, 21ft. x 16ft 8in.; Drawing-room, 22ft x 16ft. 8in.; Library, 17ft x 16ft 8in.; with Conservatory adjoining; Kitchen, Butler's Pantry; Servants' Hall, Housekeeper's Room, and necessary Offices. On the First floor, Boudoir, Eight Bedrooms, Two Dressing-rooms, Six Servants'Bedrooms, Store Room, China Closets, Two water-closets, etc. There are also good Wine and Beer-cellars, and Two Larders. OUTSIDE; THE STABLING COMPRISES Stalls and Loose Boxes for Six Horses; Coachhouse for Four Carnages; with Bedroom over" Miss Isabella Poynder bought the estate in 1863. Fifteen years later she had donated the little piece of land in Says Green upon which the Infants' school was erected. Evidently Miss Poynder took her role of National School patron seriously and some instances of her kindly concern have been described by Harold Fassnidge (Fassnidge pp. 74-75.).
By the mid nineteenth century several other fine gentlemen's residences had sprung up nearby "on the Bath side of town" — Berryfield House ((currently our Bradford Hospital) and North Leigh House (now demolished) being the closest. When Miss Poynder died in 1880 Michael Palmer of Berryfield House seized his chance to increase the acreage surrounding his own house in a substantial way by purchasing Leigh Park and its lands for £12,000. What he really wanted was the original Sladesbrook Farm land bought by Daniel Clutterbuck over eighty years before. Now these same fields became part of the Berryfield estate.
Having got what he wanted, Mr. Palmer immediately sold Leigh House, its pleasure grounds and kitchen gardens, now totalling only 19 acres, to Lady Jane Swinburne, mother of Algernon Swinburne. A letter which the poet wrote to his partner, Watts, shows that he was at Leigh House in July 1882, working on an article about Victor Hugo, and again in August 1887. The content of this second letter (Henderson p.262) suggests that Swinburne, who had repudiated Christianity and whose health had been undermined by heavy drinking and other unmentionable excesses, would not have mingled easily in polite Bradford society. Lady Swinburne put Leigh House on the market in 1888 and, after a brief interlude, it was bought by the Right. Hon Lord Fitzmaurice on 11 November 1890 for £6,525.
Lord Fitzmaurice made Leigh Park his home until his death in 1935. He became a generous benefactor to Bradford and was a much loved and respected figure in the town. As his tenure takes us well into the 20th century this will be the starting point for my next article. If anyone would like to contribute their own memories of the property, either as Lord Fitzmaurice's private home, or as the town hospital or as Leigh Park Hotel, I shall be very pleased to hear from them.
Margaret Dobson
Further references, mentioned in the text:
Carr, R., Storied Urns (1998)
Fassnidge, H., Bradford on Avon: Past <& Present
(revised ed. 1993) Henderson, P., Swinburne, (1974) Jones, W.H. & Jackson J.R., Bradford-Upon-Avon
(1907)
Langdon Gee, The Year of the Map (1976) Scott-Moody, C, Leigh Park Hotel; A History of
the House (1984)
Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office (WSRO): Documents ref G13/402,415, 990.
from the Guardian Angel issue no. 37, Spring 2002