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History
In 1419 William Parr sold St Clere's to Sir Walter Mildmay.
The Mildmays built a house in the Deer Park between 1560 and 1589 and called it Danbury Place. During the Civil War the house was still owned by the Mildmays but in 1750 Thomas Ffytch, Grandson of Mrs John Mildmay took it over. A map of 1777 of Essex shows Danbury Place well marked and on the outskirts of Danbury itself.
In 1801, Mr Disney Ffytch's sold his life interest in Danbury Place to Sir William Hilary. After his first Wife's death, the house began to fall into decay & was bought in 1826 by Mr John Round who commissioned the Architect Thomas Hopper to built the new Danbury Place a couple of hundred feet from the old building, the foundations can just be seen in the grass.
His Wife had a fear of dying in a fire so a stone staircase was built into the centre of the house. She did die in a fire while retrieving a valuable bracelet from the Raggetts Hotel, Dover Street, London.
Her grave stone in Danbury Churchyards reads:-
"Sacred to the Memory of Susan Constantin Round, beloved wife of John
Round Esq., of Danbury Park who perished in the awful conflagration
at Raggetts Hotel, Dover Street, London on the morning of 27th May,
1843(?) in the 36th year of her age. Sincerely and affectionately
regretted".
Soon after, in 1845 John Round sold the house to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as a home for Dr Murray, the Bishop of Rochester when it then became known as Danbury Palace. In 1860 Dr Murray built the Chapel at the rear of the Palace. It was occupied in 1867 by Dr Thomas Legh Claughton (1808-1892) who was then the Bishop of Rochester until 26th April 1877 when St Albans Church became a Cathedral and the Bishop transfered to be the First Bishop of St Albans until he resigned in 1890.
On the death of Bishop Claughton in 1892 the Palace was sold to Seth Taylor of Putney when it was described in a sales catalogue as "charming and picture with 3 separate staircases, 26 bedrooms and central heating!" Seth sold it on in 1899 to Hugh Hoare who cut down 492 Oak Trees and sold it then to Lieutenant Colonel, the Honourable Alwynne Greville in 1903.
In 1919 it was bought by General & Mrs Wigan when it was also called Danbury Park as it contained what is now referred to as "The Lakes". In 1922 the Chapel was in a poor state and to enable the restoration work to be undertaken it was partially stripped of its fittings & furniture. A number of items were given to Danbury Church including the second of two 17th Century Flemish Oak chairs (the first being presented by Mrs Claughton in 1892), which are now in the Chancellery.
A house was built in 1939 on the corner of land, Well Lane/Woodhill Road, for his Gamekeeper and was called Nightingale Cottage. The house has just been replaced and sold for over 1 million pounds.
During the Second World War it was used as a Maternity Hospital and in 1945 the Late Queen Mother visited it to present a layette to the 2,000th baby to be born there - was that you?.
The Danbury Society is keeping a Register of those it knows about - please tell us if you were one of those. Please click on the "Babies" Link, above.
The Wigans left in 1946 and Essex County Council took over and it was used as a Civil Defence Training Centre.
In 1969 Mid Essex Technical College took over.
In 1989 Danbury Park Conference Centre was formed and it was opened for Weddings Receptions etc. Many Danbury functions were held there - the standard was high.
More recently it was renamed and run by Anglian University but they now have their purpose built accomodation in the centre of Chelmsford - making The Palace redundant.
Proposal for Reuse
Andrew Martin and Associates have been retained by Anglia University to
obtain Planning Permission on the Danbury Palace site prior to being
put on the open market for sale.
With this in mind they put on a Public Exhibition at the Palace on Friday
and Saturday, 3rd & 4th of Septeber, 2004. A number of people turned up
& made comments at the proposal suggested.
Andrew Martin & Associates had concidered many options including turning the Palace into a Hotel, Old Folk's Home/Village, School etc but had come to the conclusion that none of these were viable.
The only proposal promoted was turning it into a series of Private Residences. This involves converting the Grade II Listed main building into 10 "Flats" and building 6 low cost houses on the existing car park at the rear. Additionally, it is proposed to build low weight rooms ontop of the sleeping blocks to enable the existing sleeping blocks to be converted into two, 2 storey "Town houses" (one ontop of the other).
The Danbury Society is broadly in agreement with that which is proposed but is critical of some details. It is important however that the Palace is not allowed to go the way of Hylands Park buildings in the mid 60 to 90s. They are lovely buildings which have to have people occupying them to prevent vandals etc from stripping the place.
It is noted that even when the Chelmsford Borough Council have given broad agreement to the Prosals as submitted the evential purchaser can submit changes.
The Danbury Society feel that the proposal to put effectively "Portacabin Loos" on the existing roof of the sleeping block perpetuates the flat roofed appearance so much in the vogue in the 1960s. If lightweight structures are required then the French Chateaux style would be more appropriate.
Without detailed examination it is considered that the existing design can be modified by "bricking-in" effectively a support wall in the centre of the ground floor such that a much more substantial 3rd floor Flat could be built instead of that proposed. It seems that the build quality involved two support walls on an Engineers Raft.
The next stage is that Andrew Martin Associates will submit a more detailed Planning Application than that normally required for an "Outline" but not as much detail required for a "Full".
As at 7th September 2005 the second Application has just been "Withdrawn".
Another Application (Nov) has been submitted which does NOT propose the erection of a toilet block style 3rd floor. Other details are not known. Watch this space.
Regardless of which Proposal is adopted, The Danbury Society feels that The Palace Gardens should be "open" to the public at least once per year
©Copyright Henry of the Danbury Society, 2005
Last revised:- 24th November, 2005