Flitwick Manor

Flitwick Manor
Type	House
Location	Flitwick, Bedfordshire
Coordinates	51.9965°N 0.5024°W / 51.9965; -0.5024
Built	18th century, with earlier origins and later additions
Architectural style(s)	Georgian
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Flitwick Manor
Designated	22 October 1952
Reference no.	1137690
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Grotto 50m west of Flitwick Manor
Designated	23 January 1961
Reference no.	1321732
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official name	Flitwick Manor Park and Garden
Designated	1 July 1989
Reference no.	1000383
Location of Flitwick Manor in Bedfordshire

Flitwick Manor is a Georgian country house in the south of Flitwick, Bedfordshire, England. It is located on Church Road off the A5120 road. Now operating as a hotel, the manor is a Grade II* listed building. The park surrounding the house is listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

History

Flitwick Manor and Church 1776

Edward Blofield built Flitwick Manor in 1632. He died in 1663 and left the property to his wife Jane. In 1668 she married Samuel Rhodes and the property passed through the Rhodes family until it was bequeathed in 1736 by Benjamin Rhodes to Humphry Dell who was a relative. Humphry Dell (1706–1764) was a physician who practised in Flitwick. He was a friend of Jeffrey Fisher and acted as godfather to his daughter Anne who was born in 1757. When Dell died in 1764 he left Flitwick Manor to Anne Fisher, his goddaughter, but as she was only seven years old her father Jeffrey Fisher was the proprietor until she turned twenty-one. An engraving of Flitwick Manor was made during this time in 1776. Anne married James Hesse of Edmonton in 1778 but he died in 1783 and in 1789 she married George Brooks (1741–1817). The manor then came into the possession of the Brooks family where it remained for the next 145 years.

Brooks family

Playing croquet at Flitwick Manor in about 1870

George Brooks was a barrister and banker in London. After he married Anne he continued to live there and let Flitwick Manor to tenants. Robert Trevor was a very significant tenant as it was he who instigated the significant changes to the manor between 1793 and 1808. He agreed with George Brooks to pay half of the costs. In 1816 George's son John Thomas Brooks (1794–1858) was given Flitwick Manor on his marriage to Mary Hatfield. This couple lived there for the rest of their lives, and made extensive improvements. The grounds were praised by the renowned landscape design reviewer J C Loudon in the 1820s and 1830s, especially the arboretum, planted in a "natural arrangement".

John Thomas Brooks wrote several diaries which give a picture of life at Flitwick Manor. The most important event in these diaries seems to be the death of his only daughter, Mary Ann Brooks (1822–1848), who died aged 26, in 1848. He was particularly fond of his garden and made major improvements to the grounds. When he died in 1858, his eldest son John Hatfield Brooks (1824–1907) inherited the manor.

Major John Hatfield Brooks was educated in Rugby, Warwickshire and later became an officer in the 1st Bengal Light Cavalry. He served over in British India. It was in Calcutta that he married Sophia Margaret Cloete in 1850. The couple had two daughters. When John died in 1907, his eldest daughter Catherine Mary Frances Brooks (1853–1934) inherited the house. Catherine did not marry and lived in the house until she died at the age of 81 in 1934. Her obituary outlined her work in the village of Flitwick and praised her generosity. When she died she had no heirs so she left the property to her cousin Robert Adolphus Lyall (1876–1948). When he died in 1948 it was left to John Comyn Lyall. He advertised it for sale in 1953.

Later history

After being advertised for sale, Flitwick Manor was bought by Anthony Gilkison, a film director, who lived there until the early 1970s. The manor stayed in private hands until 1984, when it was converted to a restaurant. This was sold in 1990 and the manor is now a hotel, operated by Best Western.

Reputed haunting

Flitwick Manor is reputedly haunted, and these stories have sometimes been used for publicity since it became a hotel. The manor was featured in the episode "The Jim Twins/Flitwick Ghost" of the television series Strange but True? in 1995.

Architecture

The main part of the existing house is the entrance front which dates from the early 18th century. It is two-storeys and is built of red brick. Charles O'Brien, in his 2014 revised Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, in the Buildings of England, series, identifies earlier work from the late 17th century and later, 20th century, extensions. Flitwick Manor is a Grade II* listed building. The park surrounding the house is listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. A grotto in the grounds is listed Grade II.

Sources

• Adams, Paul; Brazil, Eddie (2013). Extreme Hauntings: Britain's Most Terrifying Ghosts. History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-8956-8.
• O'Brien, Charles; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2014) [1968]. Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough. Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-20821-4.
• O'Dell, Damien (2008). Paranormal Bedfordshire: True Ghost Stories. Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-445-62992-6.
• Puttick, Betty (1996). Ghosts of Bedfordshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-853-06386-2.
• Thompson, Francis (2007). English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-41285-8.
• Wiltshire, Kathleen (1973). Ghosts and legends of the Wiltshire countryside. Salisbury: Compton Russell Ltd. ISBN 978-0-859-55007-9.

External links

• Flitwick Manor Hotel website