Samuel Hieronymus Grimm 1733-1794

Park Place is situated a mile east of Henley-on-Thames in the village of Remenham, Berkshire.  It was built in about 1719 for Lord Archibald Hamilton, who later became an MP and Lord of the Admiralty.  The house was sold in 1738 to Frederick Prince of Wales, the eldest son of George II. Frederick died in 1751 and the estate, which totalled 900 acres, was sold by his wife, Augusta, in 1752 to General Henry Seymour Conway.

In the 1780's General Conway made a number of improvements to the grounds of Park Place.  The cycloplic bridge depicted in one of these drawings was commissioned by him and cost £2,000.  According to contemporary sources this was 'a large arch curiously constructed; and built of natural stones of vast dimensions brought at considerable expense from various parts of the country.' (A.Robertson, A Topographical Survey: The Great North Road from London to Bath and Bristol, Vol.I, 1792, p.103).  The main road from Henley to Twyford, depicted in the other drawing included in the present lot, passed through the grounds of Park Place and over The Great Arch but was 'totally excluded from the sight, by plantations and shrubberies'  (op.cit.)

General Conway died in 1795 and his wife, Lady Ailesbury, sold Park Place to Lord Malmesbury in 1796.  Lord Malmesbury auctioned the estate and the house was purchased in 1816 by Henry Piper Spurling.  He only lived there for a short while before exchanging the estate in 1824 for Norbury Park in Surrey with his cousin Mr Fuller Maitland.  He died in 1858 and his wife remained there until 1865.  In 1867 the estate was sold to Charles Easton.  In 1870 John Noble bought the estate and the following year, a fire destroyed much of the interior of the main house.  Noble engaged the services of Thomas Cundy to rebuild Park Place in a French Renaissance style which took two years to complete.  The estate remained in the Noble family until 1947 when it was auctioned, the main house was bought by Middlesex County Council for use as a residential school.   On the formation of the new London Boroughs in 1965, Hillingdon Council assumed responsibility until its closure in the summer of 1988