Pyrgo Park
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Havering_atte_Bower_Pyrgo_Park.jpg/220px-Havering_atte_Bower_Pyrgo_Park.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Map_of_Pyrgo_Park_estate.jpg/220px-Map_of_Pyrgo_Park_estate.jpg)
Pyrgo Park is a
Pyrgo is one of three large parklands in Havering-atte-Bower, the others being Bedfords Park and Havering Country Park.
Toponymy
Purgore is first recorded in 1490 and probably means 'triangular plot of land where pear trees grow'. It is formed from Old English pyrige (peartree[1]) and 'gāra' (a triangular piece of land[2]). Pergore Park is first recorded in 1544 but Portegore and Portegoo were also used in the 16th century.[3] The modern form was recognisable as Pergo Park in 1805,[4] but Pirgo, Purgo and Pyrgo are all variants found.[5] Ordnance Survey maps have shown Pyrgo for at least the last 100 years.[6]
Pirgo Palace
Pirgo, spelt Portegore by Henry VIII's officials, was a
King Henry VIII and Pirgo
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Leaves_from_a_hunting_diary_in_Essex_%28Page_375%29_BHL20366234_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Leaves_from_a_hunting_diary_in_Essex_%28Page_375%29_BHL20366234_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 1537 the King's Steward,
Owners and residents after Henry VIII
Neither
The manor then passed through various descendants but ultimately to his granddaughter Ann, daughter of Thomas Cheeke, and wife of Sir Thomas Tipping. His younger daughter, Katherine, married Thomas Archer, 1st Baron Archer. In 1790 the trustees of their four granddaughters sold Pirgo to Edward R. Howe.[11]
Later residents included Albert Fytche and the widowed Alice Towneley, Baroness O'Hagan.[11]
Architectural description
The first available description dates from 1594 when the former royal residence was described as "a fair house", shown on a map dated about 25 years later as a large gabled-building. In 1670 taxes were paid on 30 hearths. The site, on which terracing of the gardens was still visible after World War I, was northwest of the surviving farm buildings and was partly excavated in 1972.
The Pirgo estate included a domestic chapel housing Grey family tombs, and memorials to several members of the Cheke (Cheek) family. All the Cheke remains were removed to
- . . . a tomb in the chapel of the mansion house at Pirgo in Essex; on which was a knight kneeling with four sons, his lady kneeling with four daughters, and many coats and quarterings; and bearing on the verge this inscription:
- "Here under lyeth buried the lorde John . . . Grey, Knyght (fourth son of) the lorde Thomas Grey mar . . . . . ques Dorcet, who dyed the xix daye of November 1564; and dame Mary his wyfe, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Knyght of the Garter, mr of the horse, and con'seler to Kynge Henry ye VIII. Dame Mary dyed . . . .
- from Collins' Peerage of England, published 1812.
Demolition
Between about 1771 and 1778 the Archer family demolished the chapel and the wings of Pirgo House. It continued in use for a short time, but the remainder of the former royal residence seems to have been demolished by about 1814.
New house
In 1852 a new mansion was built on the site. The house and 600 acres (2.4 km2) of neighbouring farms were sold to Albert Fytche in 1873.[12] The house came within the metropolitan green belt and was demolished by 1941.
An image of the house built 1852 can be found on Flickr [1]
References
Citations
- ^ "pyrige in English". Glosbe. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ "Definitions of gore". Collins Dictionary. Collins. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ Smith 1925, pp. 74.
- ^ Mills, D. (2000). Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names. Oxford.
- ^ Smith 1925, pp. 73.
- ^ "National Library of Scotland Map images". Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ^ Smith 1925, pp. 5.
- ^ Smith 1925, pp. 8–9.
- ^ David Starkey, Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne, 2000:30.
- ^ Smith 1925, p. 34.
- ^ a b c "Parishes: Havering-atte-Bower Pages 9-17 A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7". British History Online. Victoria County History, 1978. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ "Pyrgo Park".
References
- W.R.Powell, ed. (1978). "Parishes: Havering-atte-Bower".
- Smith, Harold (1925). A history of the parish of Havering-Atte-Bower Essex. Colchester: Benham and Company.