Cooper's Hill Park
Englefield Green, near Runneymede, Surrey
Built from 1865, for 'Baron' Albert Grant (1831-1899), a slippery businessman born Abraham Gottheimer who made his fortune targeting members of the clergy and widows to invest in companies here and abroad that subsequently mysteriously collapsed. The money he amassed allowed him to give London's Leicester Square to the public but the statue he erected of himself there did not last long, his rise being as rapid as his demise. Cooper's Hill was the less extravagant of the palaces he built, being outshone by Kensington House in London. But, just five years after commissioning the firm of F&H Francis to construct his country home, he sold it in 1870 to the Government of India for £55,000 when it became the Royal Indian Engineering College....
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The college closed in 1906 and five years later (1911) it was sold to Lord and Lady Cheylesmore who converted it back into a home. Lady Cheylesmore was an American (as was her husband's mother) and the sister-in-law of Freddy Vanderbilt. Her erstwhile nephews and nieces are summed up in the history of her brother's house, Tuck's Eden.
In 1925, Lord Cheylesmore became the first peer to lose his life in an automobile accident and the ballroom that was being redone remained unfinished. It continued to be home to the Cheylesmores up until 1941 when Bessie (Lady Cheylesmore) returned to America and died four years later. Just prior to the outbreak of the war, the famous statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus was safely stored at Cooper's Hill for the duration of the conflict.
From 1951 to 2007, Cooper's Hill reverted back to school life when it first became the Shoreditch Training College for Teachers. Its purpose remained the same when it was taken over in 1980 by Brunel University but maintenance costs proved prohibitive and it was vacated in 2007. It sat empty until 2019 and is now Audley Cooper’s Hill, a luxury retirement village of 78-apartments for those over the age of 55.
In 1925, Lord Cheylesmore became the first peer to lose his life in an automobile accident and the ballroom that was being redone remained unfinished. It continued to be home to the Cheylesmores up until 1941 when Bessie (Lady Cheylesmore) returned to America and died four years later. Just prior to the outbreak of the war, the famous statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus was safely stored at Cooper's Hill for the duration of the conflict.
From 1951 to 2007, Cooper's Hill reverted back to school life when it first became the Shoreditch Training College for Teachers. Its purpose remained the same when it was taken over in 1980 by Brunel University but maintenance costs proved prohibitive and it was vacated in 2007. It sat empty until 2019 and is now Audley Cooper’s Hill, a luxury retirement village of 78-apartments for those over the age of 55.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 15/10/2021 and last updated on 17/10/2021.
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