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Flitwick Manor

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Coordinates: 51°59′47″N 0°30′9″W / 51.99639°N 0.50250°W / 51.99639; -0.50250
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Flitwick Manor
Flitwick Manor is located in Bedfordshire
Flitwick Manor
Location in Bedfordshire
General information
LocationFlitwick, Bedfordshire, England
Coordinates51°59′47″N 0°30′9″W / 51.99639°N 0.50250°W / 51.99639; -0.50250

Flitwick Manor is a Grade II* Listed[1] Georgian country house in the south of Flitwick, Bedfordshire, England. It is located on Church Road off the A5120 road. As of 2022, it is a hotel.

Early history

Flitwick Manor and Church 1776

Edward Blofield built Flitwick Manor in 1632.[2] He died in 1663 and left the property to his young wife Jane.[3] 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.[4] 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 which is shown. 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.

The 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 rented Flitwick Manor. 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.[5] 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.

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.[6] 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.[7]

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).[8] 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.[9][better source needed]

The manor stayed in private hands until 1984, when Somerset Moore converted it to a restaurant. This was sold in 1990 and it is now a hotel.

Paranormal

Over the years, there have been numerous stories of Flitwick Manor being haunted, and these have sometimes been used for publicity since it became a hotel.[10][11][12][13][14]

The manor was featured in the episode "The Jim Twins/Flitwick Ghost" of the television series Strange but True? in 1995.[11][15]

References

  1. ^ Historic England. "Flitwick Manor (Grade II*) (1137690)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  2. ^ Historic England. "Flitwick Manor Register (1000383)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  3. ^ Genealogia Bedfordiensis, A. D. 1538–1700, p. 394. Online reference
  4. ^ Bedfordshire Archives. Online reference
  5. ^ Case studies of some estate gardens in Bedfordshire", p. 9. Online reference
  6. ^ Thompson F. "English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century" , p. 132. Online reference
  7. ^ Bedfordshire Times and Independent – Friday 26 October 1934, p. 9.
  8. ^ Bedfordshire Times and Independent Bedfordshire, England 25 January 1935
  9. ^ British Phone Books
  10. ^ Puttick, Betty (1996). Ghosts of Bedfordshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. pp. 9–16. ISBN 9781853063862.
  11. ^ a b O'Dell, Damien (2008). Paranormal Bedfordshire : True Ghost Stories. Stroud. ISBN 9781445629926.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Wiltshire, Kathleen (1973). Ghosts and legends of the Wiltshire countryside. Salisbury: Compton Russell Ltd. p. 3. ISBN 9780859550079.
  13. ^ Hale, Rick (19 June 2019). "Guide To Haunted Flitwick Manor, Over A Century Of Ghostly Scares". Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Flitwick Manor Hotel, Bedfordshire". Haunted Rooms®.
  15. ^ Adams, Paul; Brazil, Eddie (15 March 2013). Extreme Hauntings: Britain's Most Terrifying Ghosts. History Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-7524-8956-8.
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