by Janet Kennish

Outline History

This grand Georgian house may have been built in the mid-1740s by the Needham family, Earls of Kilmorey in Ireland. Just north east of the church, it occupies an important site in the village which can be traced back to the 1500s. Its long garden wall fronting London Road is a significant visual feature of the village and is dated to 1748. The cottage at the far end of the wall, by the Cricket Club's entrance, also has a history as the gardener's cottage for the main house. 

The name 'Datchet House' was in use by the mid-1800s and may be older than that. It implies that its owners considered their house to be the most significant in the village, but it has never had any connection with the Lord of the Manor.

Datchet House was originally of three stories, as a Georgian house on this scale should be, but the top floor was removed and the roof lowered by the film star Laura la Plante who lived there between 1932-1935. Nobody knows why this was done but it is well remembered by those who were here at the time. The house had already been considerably rebuilt and extended in the 1880s, when extensive carved panelling was inserted into the hall and main rooms. Its imposing 18th century doorway  has an extremely fine traceried fanlight, but it may be of a later date and not original to this house.

The Needhams continued to own the house through the 1800s, when it was occupied by the family's aged spinsters and widows, including Lady Georgiana who gave the drinking fountain to the village. In the early 20th century it was the home of Sir Lionel Cust, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and designer of the village's war memorial in 1920. During WWII Datchet House served as a base for the Home Guard. 

Gardeners' Cottage, London Road	Datchet House gates & walls, London Road

Documentary History of Datchet House and its Occupants

Sir Lionel Cust (died 1929)
An art historian of considerable repute and importance, Sir Lionel was also said to have had a 'gift for simple pleasures', and he certainly entered into the life of the village in many ways. There is a Cust family connection through a cousin to the Needhams, so it is possible that he knew the house before buying it in 1911 (for £4300). He had become a personal friend of King Edward VII through his responsibility for collections in all the royal palaces, which may have led to his residence here so conveniently close to Windsor Castle. He remained here with his wife until his death and Lady Cust sold the house and its contents in 1932.

The design for the village's war memorial is either by Sir Lionel himself, or commissioned by him from an unknown artist. He is known to have been one of the instigators of this unusually fine monument with its high quality scenes depicting war on land, sea and in the air. He also took a great interest in the lives of ordinary people, acting as chairman of the Datchet Co-Partnership Housing & Allotment Society which provided some of the first 'social' housing in the country at the top of Ditton Road. It was due to his influence that King George V and Queen Mary went to visit the first residents at the cottages in 1919.

The War Memorial in 2000	Unveiling the War Memorial, 1920	Queen Mary at the cottages

The Ladies Needham  
The daughters of the Earl of Kilmorey were also at the very pinnacle of Datchet society and similarly concerned to exercise their influence for the good of the village. As spinsters or widows they took up residence in Datchet House with a full battery of servants. Twelve of the family are buried in the churchyard, east of the church and within view of the House, although earlier generations are commemorated in the chancel of the church. The last representative, Lady Jane Selina Hinde died in 1910 aged 93, not an unusual age for this family; the youngest of the Earl's daughters, Lady Mabella Josephine Knox lived from 1801 to 1899. It was Lady Georgiana who is best remembered in the village for her gift of the drinking fountain and for an extension to the Working Mens' Club as a village hall. She died in 1888 at 93. 

Drinking Fountain, 1886, North Green Originally in the centre of the village, with  drinking bowls for horses and dogs as well  as people. An inscription round the bowl  records it as the gift of Lady Georgiana of  Datchet House. It has biblical texts referring to water and the water of life on all its faces.  A lamp was originally fixed to its top but it has been lost. The fountain was restored  by the Barker Bridge Trust in 1996. ???

The arrival of the Needham family
Although their chief property was in Ireland, the Needhams owned an estate in Shropshire as their main base in England and occupied a house in Iver before arriving in Datchet. Lady Kilmorey, the widow of the seventh viscount, lived with her children there from at least 1725 until 1740 and appears to have moved to Datchet in 1741, although her younger son John later returned to live at Iver. 

Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence as to whether the original house on the site had already been fashionably rebuilt or whether the work was carried out for Lady Needham. A tantalising note was left by a previous historian of the village, saying that Datchet House was conveyed to the Needham family in 1747. Since he gave the precise date of the deed he must have seen it, but recorded no further information. He also quoted from a document of 1722 which agreed the sale of the house between Henry Tuthill and Joseph Hackshaw, which is useful for following ownership further back, but neither sale suggests whether the house was rebuilt at the time or not. 

However, the long wall is dated to 1748 because Lady Kilmorey acquired a strip of land 'on which to erect a wall' from the waste belonging to the Lord of the Manor in that year. This may suggest that she did rebuild the house as well as erecting the wall after purchasing the estate in 1747. A similar wall on the opposite side of the road enclosing an orchard (see photo top) was also built, protecting the Needham property from the road which was beginning to become a major route. Previously, only a narrow way, 'Churchfield Lane' ran past Datchet House which had its land lying on both sides of the lane. Behind the wall (where there is now a row of bungalows) was the main garden, and beyond that to the north (now the cricket ground) a large meadow also belonging to the Needhams. At present, nothing is known about the little house shown in the garden, but the gardener's cottage is still there - though without its attached land. The road running to the north just past the cottage is Riding Court Road, now re-routed to cross the motorway.

Detail from the 1839 parish rate map
	This map numbered all the dwelling houses and plots of land for local rate valuation. An accompanying schedule lists the occupiers  or owners by name or describes the property. Houses are shown hatched, outbuildings as solid black. 69 - gardeners cottage, Lady Needham 71 - house & garden, Lady Needham 72 - house & garden, Gossett (vicarage) 131 - walled garden, Lady Needham (on the opposite side of London Road)

Census records 1891-1841

The Earlier History of Datchet House

The house can be followed back before the Needhams' time, but only through rather difficult purchase or mortgage deeds and parish or manor surveys. Very little is known about any of these occupiers or the building itself, but the ownership history has been established in an almost unbroken sequence back to 1524. In the 1622 survey of the Manor of Datchet the house was described as a mansion with barn, stables, orchard and garden, and an acre of land attached, but it is presumed that nothing survives from this time.

The first actual reference to a house on this site is in 1607 when it is described as being on the east of the vicarage and belonging to William Phillips. He married Margaret Pitt in 1586 and the baptisms of their eight children took place between 1587 and 1598, followed by their marriages. William died in 1618 and his son must have inherited the house as another William Phillips is recorded there in 1622. He died in 1653, a date which fits with George Vaux' ownership by 1662, though there is no record of a sale to him. George Vaux died in 1662 and the house was inherited by his eldest son John. Through sale deeds and mortgages its ownership, but no other details, can be traced through to the 1720s just before it was acquired by the Needhams.

    Listed Building information from local authority

House: Windsor & Maidenhead, 40678 Datchet House,  London Road, Datchet, Grade II, 5130, SO 9877 5/4  GV

Early C18 extensively rebuilt & extended late C19. Colourwashed brick, two storeys, string course at first floor, modillion eaves cornice, slate hipped roof. Five double hung sashes with glazing bars in reveals, two on right hand taller, on either side of chimney which is flush with wall face. Ground floor has two double hung sashes with glazing bars to left of doorway, two to right hand blocked. Garden (east) elevation has five double hung sashes with glazing bars in reveals to first floor with plat band below. Ground floor similar but second and fourth are French casements. Imposing late C18 doorcase of stripped deal with engaged columns 'Tower of the Winds' capitals, dentil & modillion entablature & pediment. Six-panel door, exceptionally fine traceried rectangular fanlight.

Interior: has good C18 staircase in central hall with twisted balusters & carved spandrels. Extensive carved panelling & doorcases to hall staiway & principal ground floor & first floor rooms inserted 1880.

Garden Wall: 40679 Garden wall to south & east of Datchet House, Grade II, 5130, SU 9877 5/5 & SU 9977 5/5, GV

C18, long red brick wall 3m high, 13 1/2 ins at base reducing to 9 ins at top with simple soldier course; included for group value.

Sources and References

The Cust / Needham connection (Dictionary National Biography): Robert Needham Cust 1821-1909, 2nd son of Henry Cockayne Cust (1780-1861), canon of Windsor, by his wife Lady Anna M.E., eldest daughter of Francis Needham, 1st Earl of Kilmorey; Sir Lionel Henry Cust only son of Sir Reginald John Cust, 1st cousin to Henry J. Cockayne Cust  

Census returns & Kelly's Directories; Slough Reference Library or online

Deeds & surveys, earlier history of Datchet House:
1839 parish rate map; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury Ma/60/1
1724 parish terrier (description of church property); Lincoln Record Office D/A/G1 3/17
1707 assignment of mortgage; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury; BAS/336/22/13
1698 Cole to Sawyer; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury; BAS/336/22/8
1667 John Vaux & others; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury; BAS/336/22/1
1662 Hearth Tax; Public Record Office, Kew, E179/80/347
1622 survey of the Manor of Datchet; (Cambridge, awaiting ref.)
1607 parish terrier; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury  D/A/6t3/17/1
1604 survey of the Manor of Datchet; Northampton Record Office ref: Buccleuch documents 2.6/X333
1552 Muster List (liability to military service) published volume for Buckinghamshire
1524 Lay Subsidy (taxation) published volume for Buckinghamshire

Researcher: janetkennish@tesco.net