THE HOUSE
Location
Danesbury House and the Danesbury Park estate is to the North of Welwyn Village in Hertfordshire, UK, about 40 kms North of London
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Background reading
A definitive account of the history of Danesbury has been researched by local historian Gordon Longmead in his book: The History of Danesbury, the House and its Lands¹ which should be required reading for any student of the history of Danesbury.
Gordon’s book provides a fascinating and detailed account of the peoples who lived in and around Danesbury in the pre-Roman period, long before the House was built in 1776, and chronicles its subsequent transitions of ownership and family residency, its use through two World Wars, its ultimate use as a long stay Hospital in the grounds of which Welwyn village used to hold annual Summer Fetes, to the present time when after a period of dereliction, it has been restored and converted to apartments, with Mews Houses at the rear where hospital wards used to be sited.
Danesbury House was originally named St Johns Lodge, and was built in 1776 for Mary St John the wife of Captain the Hon. Henry St John RN. He was later killed at sea in action against the French in 1780, and Mary died in 1784.
William Blake FRS and his wife Mary rented the house in 1819 for their out of town residence (when in London they lived in Portland Place) and finally they bought St John’s Lodge at Christmas 1824, and renamed it Danesbury House. William Blake was a banker and water colourist.
At that time the estate comprised some 500 acres of countryside.
The House itself suffered a catastrophic fire in 1916 requiring a major structural rebuild ² but it has remained largely unaltered since then.
In 1964 some of Danesbury Park land was sold to developers who built the Danesbury Housing Estate, which was further extended in 1985. At this later time, in 1985, the remaining land on Danesbury Park, (some 32 acres) was acquired by the (then) Welwyn Hatfield District Council for agricultural purposes.
In 1993, facing the costs of major buildings repair, Danesbury Hospital moved out to new premises on the land of the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in School Lane, Welwyn. Danesbury House then became derelict until 1998, when it was restored and developed into apartments, with mews houses at the rear where the Hospital wards had once been sited.
In 1998 the land which had been acquired by the (now) Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council was designated a Local Nature Reserve, comprising two main fields: the ‘Park Field’ in the West from the B656 Codicote Road, to the (North Ride) entrance to Danesbury House, and the ‘Fernery Field’, or simply ‘The Motorway Field’, to the East from Danesbury House and Danesbury Park Road to the A1(M) Motorway.
THE FAMILIES
The Blakes were the third owners of Danesbury, and it was William John Blake, son of William Blake, who in 1859 directed their Head Gardener, Anthony Parsons, to build a Fernery. It was completed in 1860 and later gained wide acclaim.
The Blakes moved out of Danesbury in 1902 and, after renting it out, eventually sold the house in 1919 to the Dewar family. The Dewars were destined to be the last family to live there.
The Dewars moved out in 1937 and in 1939 the House became a TB Hospital. Danesbury Park itself was requisitioned by the Army in 1943 and operated as a Command Bakery run by the Royal Army Service Corps.
In 1944 the Dewars sold the estate to the Barnet (Hospital) Management Group and the House became home for long stay hospital patients.
¹ Published in 1999 by New Concept Publishing, Welwyn
² The History of Danesbury, the House and its Lands, p. 17.
³ The Gardeners’ Chronicle 1881, January 1st, p.22