The Lawns Estate, Horton Road

by Janet Kennish

Introduction

Only one major house remains here from what was a complex sequence of dwellings which had accumulated over several centuries in a completely disorganised way, seen in the 1839 map below. (For information about the alignment of these properties on Horton Road and Datchet Common, see the Leigh Estate webpage.) The whole Lawns strip was radically altered by John and Mary Crake in about 1850, with the demolition of the older and lesser houses to allow modernisation and enlargement of the present house and development of garden grounds around it. The early history of the various properties and owners along this strip is very unclear indeed and closely, but confusingly, linked to the adjacent Cedar and Leigh House estate.

The most significant occupants of one of the old dwellings (almost certainly demolished) were William Herschel and his sister Caroline in the 1780s. More about them can be found in other web pages on this site.

Of particular interest is the icehouse to the rear of the complex (now in the garden of modern flats in Lawn Close) which is probably late 18th century and survives in good condition, although there is no public access. (Details at the end of these pages.)

The name 'The Lawn', 'Lawns' or 'Datchet Lawn' has been applied to various houses along here in the nineteenth century (including the present Cedar House) and may originally have referred to the grassy paddocks in front of each property along the Horton Road frontage.

In 1935 most of the land behind the house was sold to the local housing developer George Scott who created Lawn Close as a new residential road. More recently a connection from Lawn Close through to Horton Road was made via Link Road, following an old lane. (For Mrs Crake's Cottages or Lawn Cottages in Link Road go to the end of these pages.)

Parish rate map 1839, Lawns estate; surviving house is 'House, le Grange 154'; 152 is now Orchard Court		OS map 1899, The Lawn after remodelling 1850

The Mid-Twentieth Century

After WWII another developer, Frederick Sabatini, bought the Lawns house and converted it into flats for the first (but not the last) time, building for his own eventual use the bungalow at 20 Lawn Close, itself now demolished and a block of flats built on the site. The Sabatinis lived for some time in the flat which contains the grand rooms and staircase at the east end of the house. The strip of land opposite, on the other side of Horton Road, bears their name because it belonged to the Lawn estate and Sabatini was the last private owner before it became part of the recreation ground in the 1960s. Sabatini also converted a granary and coach house to the present Orchard Court to the east of the house.

During the 1920s and 30s the Temple family lived here in some style (previously at Ormonde in Priory Way). The writer Michael Holroyd is related to the Temples and there are many references to life here in his family story, 'Basil Street Blues'. Until the early 1920s the house belonged to the Morice family, heirs of John and Mary Crake.

The Early Twentieth & Late Nineteenth Century

John Crake was a London architect, though he seems to have given up his practice on settling in Datchet after his marriage in 1847 to Mary Ann Todd, who had inherited the rambling old properties comprising the lawn estate from her father George. A considerable part of this was not freehold but held as copyhold from the Lord of Datchet Manor, then the Duke of Buccleuch, and was very run down. A licence (permission) from him was bought, whereby John Crake would carry out renovations to the existing buildings and provide an entrance lodge, gates, stables and coach houses, to the value of not less than £500. The two maps above (1839 and 1899) show how many of the original buildings were demolished by Crake to leave an extended and improved main house surrounded by extensive garden grounds, creating a fashionable residence. It seems that much of the 18th century building was retained, with the addition of a block to the north of the original grand rooms which had previously been a one-room deep house. Within the grand drawing room (sometimes called the ballroom in recent times) new decorative plasterwork schemes were created in an 18th century style, and the embroidered initials MAC (for Mary Ann Crake) still survive in the window pelmet. The remains of a formal sunken garden exist to the east of the house, beneath the drawing room windows. The entrance drive and lodge remain much as they were, as do 'Mrs Crake's Cottages', now accessed from Link Road (see below).

John Crake died very young, in 1859, but Mary Ann lived on at the Lawn until 1900. John was one of the instigators of the rebuilding of St Mary's Church and both contributed a great deal of money to this cause between 1857 and 1864. One of the splendid stained glass windows is John's memorial, commissioned by Mary Ann. Later she became a pillar of Datchet society as one of the philanthropic grand ladies who ran village events, especially those for the benefit of the lower classes. She was on visiting terms with the Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch at Ditton Park and probably also knew Queen Victoria and her daughters who frequently drove out to Datchet from Windsor Castle. At Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 Mary Ann Crake personally designed and paid for the village's Jubilee Cross, on the Green near to the 1887 Jubilee Oak Tree. After Mary Ann's death her elder daughter Annie Morice remained at The Lawn until her death in 1911 and then her grandson Bernard Morice until about 1920.

There were several marriages between the Crake family and other Datchet families of similar social status who also built grand houses in the village. John and Mary's daughter Annie Alice married George Knox Morice and their daughter Grace married Arthur Good, son of William Good who had built Churchmead House in the 1860s. Also, George Knox Morice's sister married James Prior de Paravicini  who rebuilt Riverside during the same period.

The Early Nineteenth & Late Eighteenth Century

In 1839 Mary Ann Todd's grandfather Robert Todd inherited the Lawns estate as fifteen separately identified plots of land and houses within the estate (ie roughly from the present Linchfield Road to Link Road and Lawn Close, and from London Road on the north to the ditch on the present recreation ground to the south).  Among the dwellings listed (in the manorial court proceedings of his inheritance) were:

• The Square, a group of artisan cottages on the west edge of the estate (162 on 1839 map)
• two houses once belonging to Thomas Parr but recently occupied by Mrs Drew
• plus the site of another in the same ownership which had already been pulled down, probably the one occupied by the Herschels in the early 1780s

All this property had come to Robert Todd from his mother-in-law Elizabeth Charman who died in 1835 and it was passed by him to his son George Todd, father of Mary Ann.

Elizabeth Charman was the daughter of Henry Reddington and sister to William Reddington, a wine merchant of Windsor. She was joint heir (with her sister) to what became the Lawns estate, willed to her by her father around 1815.

Henry Reddington seems to have bought various elements of the property from the Mason and Early familiesbetween about 1780 and 1812 (see Earlys at the Leigh estate and Canister House)

So from the Reddingtons in the 1780s to Bernard Morice's death in 1911 the Lawns estate was inherited through the same family.

Earlier History

The Early family had bought from  Edmund Mason who died in 1774, his will directing that all his houses and lands should be sold to provide legacies in money. He had bought from the Parr family, Thomas Parr inheriting from his grandmother Elizabeth Grace in 1748. Before that it had belonged to the Grace family from about 1660 and to the Baddams by about 1620. At these dates most of the individual houses, cottages and plots of meadow were owned separately and it becomes impossible to even guess which was which apart from the fact that nothing survives from before the late 18th century; however, it is clear that there were houses in this area at least by the mid-1500s.

The Icehouse

Base of mound and entrance	Interior of passage looking back up entrance steps	Interior to blocked end

Icehouses were common in substantial households by the late eighteenth century. The typical example shown on right is on a much grander scale than that at the Lawns, but does indicate that most of the beehive shaped brick chamber which actually held the ice would be underground, with an insulating earth mound built over its top and an access passage.   All that can now be seen at the Lawns is the short entrance passage just below ground level (as on left in the drawing) for access. It is not known when the main underground structure was last accessed or in what condition it survives, although  conservation work has recently been carried out to the entrance steps, passage, and retaining wall of the mound. Everything above ground is in much better condition than when these photos were taken.   Ice for the table would have kept well during the warm months and was available commercially as well as being collected locally in the winter. A similar icehouse survives at Ditton Park though when last seen was in poor condition.

Typical ice house, showing brick structure below ground

 This house advertisement from the Windsor Express almost certainly refers to the Lawns:

August 29^th 1812; To be sold by auction:

A very excellent & substantial freehold house with coachyard, standing for 3 carriages, good stabling, granary & other buildings; suitable accommodation for servants & offices of every description, gentleman's rooms or study with water-closet, breakfast parlour & spacious eating-room, handsome staircase to an elegant & lofty drawing room & 12 bedchambers with closets etc. The house is most desirably situated within a pleasant walk of Windsor, with a front lawn on Datchet Green*, commanding delightful views of Windsor Castle, Cooper's Hill & the Thames and presenting a pleasing elevation to its retired & beautiful back grounds & gardens which are partly walled, tithe free & tastefully ornamented with shrubberies, fine timber, ice house etc.'

(* 'Datchet Green' in this context is not the present village Greens, which were then a pond anyway, but a strip of common land each side of Horton Road)

Mrs Crake's Cottages or Lawns Cottages, Horton Road

These three cottages, which are now approached from Link Road, were first recorded in the 1871 census and so were built at some time during the preceding decade. They were built by Mrs Crake as housing for her servants on the edge of her estate, perhaps as model cottages  as she was much concerned with good works in the village.

In 1871 the Littlewood and Mace families were tenants (one empty); in 1881 the Littlewoods and Cliffords who were still there in 1891 plus George Hancock and family.

There is a delightful detail about the Mace family from the Parish Magazine in 1875. Thomas and Ann won the 'Prince Consort's Association Prize for bringing up a family'. The Prince Consort (Prince Albert) took a great interest in the welfare of the labourers in the Great Park and the villages around and in 1850 he established the Windsor Royal Association for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Class. There was also a prize for 'keeping a clean cottage'. The Maces must have reached high standards set by Mrs Crake; they were prolific and there are probably still descendants in the village.

Listed Building information from local authority

House: Windsor & Maidenhead, 40676 The Lawn, Horton Road, Grade II, 5130, SU 9976 6/11

Now flats. Late C18 red brick, parapet, Welsh slate roof. Long low asymmetric facade, with splayed bay at right hand end with scalloped blind hood. Two storeys, 5:3 double hung sashes in reveals with flat arches, window over door has no glazing bars. Right central closed porch with parapet & flat roof. Two-fold four fielded-panel door with top panels round arched, door surround of architrave, consoles & pediment. First floor has cast iron balconettes & right hand balcony has stone brackets & cast iron railing. central first floor window to bay has raised impost bands & round headed arch; oblong raised panel above & sunk circular panels over side window of bay. Cyma recta stucco cornice.

Icehouse: Windsor & Maidenhead 40677, Ice House in garden of number 60 Lawn Close, Grade II, 5130, SU 9977 5/20

C18 brick walls, Flemish bond, segmental roof. Brick paviours to floor. Circular single chamber, threshold below ground level reached by six irregular brick steps. Roof forms conical mound in ground above. Small flint & mortar retaining wall above entrance, to top of mound. This ice house may once have belonged to The Lawn

Sources and references

Court Rolls, Manor of Datchet 16thC to 19thC; Northampton Record Office & Archives at Beaulieu
Parish Rate Map & schedule 1839; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury
Enclosure Award and Map 1834; ditto
Wills of Charman, Reddington, Mason families; Documents Online, The National Archives (Public Record Office)
Local newspapers: on microfilm at Slough & Windsor public libraries
Datchet Parish Magazines, 1874 & 75, 1893-97(only); St Mary's Church

Researcher: janetkennish@tesco.net