Sayes Court - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Located in Deptford

Deptford

Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...

, in the London Borough of Lewisham

London Borough of Lewisham

The London Borough of Lewisham is a London borough in south-east London, England and forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham...

and on the Thames Path

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about long....

, Sayes Court once attracted throngs to visit its celebrated garden created by the seventeenth century diarist John Evelyn

John Evelyn

John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...

. Now completely buried beneath Convoy's Wharf

Convoy's Wharf

Convoys Wharf, formerly called the King's Yard, is the site of Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards, built on a riverside site in Deptford, by the River Thames in London. It was first developed in 1513 by Henry VIII to build vessels for the Royal Navy. Convoys Wharf also covers most...

and the run down and vandalised Sayes Court Park, the area shows little sign of its former glory, despite having been a key factor in the creation of the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

The Earliest Information

The Manor of Deptford, also known as West Greenwich was bestowed upon Gilbert de Magminot

Gilbert de Magminot

William the Conqueror granted the Manor of Deptford or West Greenwich to Gilbert de Magminot or Maminot, bishop of Lisieux, one of the eight barons associated with John de Fiennes for the defence of Dover Castle. These eight barons had to provide between them 112 soldiers, 25 of whom were always to...

or Maminot by William the Conqueror and this is where he held the head of the barony

Barony (administrative division)

Tenure by barony was the higher feudal tenure of a lord who had subordinate knights. Originally, a barony was the land subject to a baron and could, in England after the Norman Conquest, consist of estates scattered throughout the country or in several regions (Not to be confused with...

of Maminot. In 1814 John Lyon wrote that Maminot built a castle, or castellated mansion, for himself at Deptford. Lyon noted that all traces had by then long since been buried in their ruins, but from the remains of some ancient foundations which had been discovered, the site was probably on the brow of Broomfield, near the Mast Dock and adjacent to Sayes Court.

Gilbert de Magminot's great-grandson, Walkelin Maminot, dying without issue in 1191, the manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

fell to the share of his sister and co-heir Alice, the wife of Geoffrey de Say. The ownership of the manor can then be traced until after the death of Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, when it was seized by the Parliament

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

and a survey of the manor was taken. The Manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

, Sayes Court, along with about 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) of land, was assigned by Parliament to the Browne family, who had occupied it for several generations by then.

John Evelyn at Sayes Court

In 1647 Mary Browne, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Browne, married John Evelyn, who hailed from Wotton

Wotton, Surrey

Wotton is a small village located on the A25 between Guildford in the west and Dorking in the east. Neighbouring villages include: the Abingers of Abinger Common, Sutton Abinger, and Abinger Hammer; Friday Street and Westcott...

in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. With the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

of the monarchy, Sayes Court reverted once more to the Crown, but, having taken up residence in his wife's family home in 1651, Evelyn managed with difficulty to obtain a 99 year lease of the property from Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

in 1663.

He re-built and enlarged the house and, inspired by French and Italian ideas, turned the surrounding orchard and pasture into one of the most influential gardens of his day.

The garden

Though all visible above-ground traces of the garden have been lost, its proposed design is shown in painstaking detail on a map of 1653, ostensibly drawn up for the benefit of Evelyn's father-in-law, who was on diplomatic posting to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

and so absent while Evelyn was laying out the gardens. However, the high quality and detail of the plan probably meant that Evelyn intended it to be printed and published.

Adjacent to the house on the west was a walled garden "of choice flowers, and simples ", that is, medicinal herbs, laid out in formal beds surrounding a large fountain. There was also an arbour under two tall elms at the north-west corner, as well as transparent glass bee-hives. This space Evelyn regarded as his own, private garden. The rest of the gardens were on a much grander scale. The main features included: a long terrace walk overlooking an elaborate box parterre

Parterre

A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...

; a large rectangular area ( "the grove") planted with many different species of trees, inset with walks and recesses; large kitchen gardens; a great orchard

Orchard

An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

of three hundred fruit trees; avenues and hedges of ash, elm, and holly; and a long walk or promenade from a banquet house

Banqueting House

In Tudor and Early Stuart English architecture a banqueting house is a separate building reached through pleasure gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining. It may be raised for additional air or a vista, and it may be richly decorated, but it contains no bedrooms or...

set against the south wall of the garden down to an ornamental lake with an island, fruit bushes and summer house at the north end.

After the very severe winter of 1683-4, the layout of the south-west part of the garden was much simplified. The parterre was converted into a semicircle of lawn and its quadrants planted with fruit.

After Evelyn

In 1694 Evelyn moved back to Wotton

Wotton, Surrey

and in June 1696 Captain Benbow

John Benbow

John Benbow was an English officer in the Royal Navy. He joined the navy aged 25 years, seeing action against Algerian pirates before leaving and joining the merchant navy where he traded until the Glorious Revolution of 1688, whereupon he returned to the Royal Navy and was commissioned.Benbow...

signed a three-year lease on the house. Benbow proved to be a less than ideal tenant, as Evelyn was soon writing to a friend to complain that he had "the mortification of seeing everyday much of my former labours and expenses there impairing". However, much worse damage was done to the house and grounds when William III

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

lent Sayes Court to Tsar Peter of Russia

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

for three months in 1698. Benbow demanded compensation after the Tsar's departure, to cover his own losses and reimburse Evelyn's, and the Treasury

HM Treasury

HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...

eventually paid out the sum of £350 9s 6d

£sd

£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...

(£ as of ), in compensation. Czar Peter also resided in a mansion house, that was situated at Hughes field, Deptford.
After Evelyn's death in 1706 the Sayes Court estate was held in trust for his grandson, Sir John Evelyn, Baronet

Sir John Evelyn, 1st Baronet of Wotton

-Biography:He was born in Deptford, Kent, the son of John Evelyn the Younger, Barrister of the Middle Temple and Commissioner of the Revenue, and his wife, Martha, daughter of Richard Spencer. He was the grandson of the famous diarist John Evelyn...

, as all his own male children had predeceased him. As well as almost 62 acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s around Sayes Court itself, the estate comprised 159 tenements, the Red House on the site of the later navy victualling yard, a wet and dry dock afterwards called Deadman's Dock, and a water-mill.

18th Century

After Evelyn at the turn of the 18th century the estate was quickly broken up. According to Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons was a notable English antiquary and topographer of the late 18th and early 19th century, who published the four-volume The Environs of London ....

writing in 1796, the Sayes Court manor house was almost entirely demolished in 1728, and the remainder converted into a workhouse

Workhouse

In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...

. However Thomas Milton's 1753 plan of Deptford Dockyard shows the house, as the "Poore house", with still a similar footprint to that on John Evelyn's plan of 1653.

Victorian Era

It remained the St. Nicholas parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

workhouse from 1759 to 1848. In 1852 it was used as a penal transportation

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

depot, and in 1853 it was a factory for transportee clothing. In 1856 the whole site was sold to the Admiralty.
In 1869, on the closing of the dockyard, William John Evelyn

William John Evelyn

Commonly known as William John Evelyn , a descendant of the diarist and polymath John Evelyn, eldest son of George Evelyn and Mary Jane Massy Dawson...

, a descendant of John Evelyn, purchased back from the Government as much of the site of Sayes Court as was available. By 1876 he was turning some into a recreation ground for his Deptford tenants; all plants and turf being brought from Wotton. By 1877 a 14 acres (56,656 m²) portion of the old gardens had been secured, four of these remaining attached to the old house, which in 1881 he made into almshouse

Almshouse

Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...

s. The public garden and playground was about 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) in extent. It had been carefully laid out with grass, plants, and edged with flowers and shrubs. In part it was planted with trees, and intersected by broad and level walks. In the centre of the ground was a bandstand

Bandstand

A bandstand is a circular or semicircular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts...

; and in the north-west corner there was a large neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

building, formerly the Dockyard's Admiralty Model

Ship model

Ship models or model ships are scale representations of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people....

house, which was intended to serve as a museum and library, under the management of the Goldsmiths' Company.

The part played in the formation of the National Trust

In 1884 W. J. Evelyn approached Octavia Hill

Octavia Hill

Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing...

with the suggestion that the garden should become publicly owned and offering the hall which could be used as a museum, but there was as yet no organisation with the necessary legal powers for holding the property for permanent preservation. Robert Hunter advised that they should set up a land company with the aim of protecting "the public interests in the open spaces of the country". Octavia Hill proposed that this company be called "the Commons and Gardens Trust", but it was Hunter's suggestion, the "National Trust", that was adopted. Unfortunately, the Trust took ten years to reach the point where it could be properly constituted, by which time the opportunity to take ownership of Sayes Court had passed.

In 1886 some 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) still remained of the estate and of these W.J. Evelyn dedicated an acre and a half in perpetuity to the public. Up until then the only other piece of land that had ever been given to the London public was Leicester Square

Leicester Square

Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...

. In this acre and a half the Kyrle Society laid out a park, a playground and a bandstand

Bandstand

A bandstand is a circular or semicircular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts...

. A permanent provision was made for the Evelyn estate to cover the expense of maintenance and caretaking. It was opened on the 20 July 1886 by Baroness Burdett-Coutts

Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts

Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...

.

In his history The National Trust: The First Hundred Years, Merlin Waterson writes "It would be hard to conceive of a property which encompassed so many of the future purposes of the National Trust. The garden was of exceptional importance, the historical associations fascinating, and it was a valuable open space in the heart of London Docks."

World War I and between the wars

The War Department hired Sayes Court, from the City of London Corporation from the 19th September 1914 to use as a Horse Transport Reserve Depot at a rental of £90 per annum (£ as of ), to enlarge its Supply Reserve Depot at the adjacent former Foreign Cattle Market.

The fee simple

Fee simple

In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...

of the Foreign Cattle Market and of the Sayes Court property were purchased by the War Department, for £400,500 (£ as of ), under deed

Deed

A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...

s dated 25th March 1926, 18th March 1927 & 25th July 1927 including the railway

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

, tramway, wharfage

Wharf

A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...

and jetty

Jetty

A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...

rights and easements.

By 1938 the almshouses have become the Headquarter Offices, while the former model house now served as the Officers Mess. Tramways (18" gauge with track weighing 35 lbs. per yard) have been laid and some areas of the Victorian park remain intact within the depot.

World War II

During WW2

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, on the 16th August 1944, the Victorian Terrace

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

existing along the Grove Street side of Sayes Court was destroyed by a V-1 flying bomb

V-1 flying bomb

The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....

2nd half of the 20th Century

By the end of the war all that remained of the Sayes Court estate was a public garden of less than 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) and about an acre covering the sites of the bombed houses and a school. The London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

decided to re-design the whole of this area. The resulting park included a well-equipped children's playground, a paddling pool with a fountain over artificial rocks, a heated playroom some 30ft by 15 ft (4.6 m), with a room for an attendant at one side and on the other staff offices, lavatories and a shelter with tables and chairs facing onto a formal garden with flower beds and grass plots. At the far end of this formal garden were flower beds and a small pool fed by a spout in the form of a frog. The park opened 29 May 1951.

In 1993 the Greenwich and Lewisham (London Borough Boundaries) Order transferred the site from the London Borough of Greenwich

London Borough of Greenwich

The London Borough of Greenwich is an Inner London borough in south-east London, England. Taking its name from the historic town of Greenwich, the present borough was formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich with part of the Metropolitan...

to the London Borough of Lewisham

London Borough of Lewisham

The London Borough of Lewisham is a London borough in south-east London, England and forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham...

The Present

The current Sayes Court Park (as of 2010) only incorporates the western edge of John Evelyn's Garden, and most of it overlies the area originally shown on Evelyn's map of 1653 as the 'Broome Field'. The boundary wall of Evelyn's garden follows a line extended from the eastern edge of the modern Sayes Court Street.

The site of Sayes Court forms part of Convoys Wharf, which is currently (2010) owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited

Hutchison Whampoa

Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...

and subject to a planning application to convert it into approximately 3,500 residential units, and 73,000 sq metres of commercial space although part of this has safeguarded wharf

Safeguarded wharf

Safeguarded wharves are those wharves in London which have been given special status by the Mayor of London and the Port of London Authority which ensures they are retained as working wharves and are protected from redevelopment into non-port use....

status.

There is now a campaign to restore John Evelyn's Seventeenth Century garden at Sayes Court, which is gathering international support. The restored garden would form a part of the new development at Convoys Wharf: "This crucial piece of our national heritage is not only a once-beautiful historic garden, but also has a vital role to play in the success of the new development for the community at large. This is an opportunity for developers, the council, community groups and heritage bodies to work together."

Attribution

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

The Earliest Information

John Evelyn at Sayes Court

The garden

After Evelyn

18th Century

Victorian Era

The part played in the formation of the National Trust

World War I and between the wars

World War II

2nd half of the 20th Century

The Present

Further reading

Attribution