Trent Park

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Mansion at Trent Park

Trent Park is a country park and mansion house, currently forming the Trent Park campus of Middlesex University in the north of London, United Kingdom. It is home to the performing arts, teacher education, humanities, product design and engineering, television production and biological science departments of the university.

[edit] History

View of the park from the Mansion

Trent Park dates back to the fourteenth century when it was part of Enfield Chase, one of Henry IV's hunting grounds. In 1777 George III gave the site to Richard Jebb as a reward for saving the life of the King's younger brother, the then Duke of Gloucester.

In the early twentieth century the estate was owned by Philip Sassoon (cousin of the poet Siegfried Sassoon), who entertained many celebrity guests at Trent Park, including Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill.

During World War II Trent Park was used as a special prison for captured German generals and staff officers. They were treated reasonably hospitably with special rations of whisky and regular walks in the grounds. Many of the rooms inside the mansion had been equipped with hidden microphones and listening devices, and thus the British military was able to gather important military information and an intimate inside-view into the minds of the German military elite. They received information about war crimes, political views and got a clearer picture of the military resistance that led to the unsusccessful coup on 20 July 1944. 84 Generals and a number of lower ranking staff officers were brought to Trent Park. More than 1300 protocols were written by the time the war ended.

Blue Room at Trent Park (by Winston Churchill)

In 1951 the estate became the then Trent Park College, which became Middlesex Polytechnic then part of Middlesex University in 1974.

In 1973 Trent Park was opened to the public as a 3.8 km² country park, which surrounds the university campus.

Within the grounds, close to the Hadley Road entrance, can be found a small moated isle known locally as Camlet Moat. The name has been abbreviated over the years from "Camelot". A survey of the area conducted between 1656 and 1658 attributes the site as the seat of habitation of Geoffrey de Mandeville during the reign of William the Conqueror. Sir Philip Sassoon conducted excavations in the 1920s and was reported to have found oak beams which formed the basis of a drawbridge, Roman shoes and daggers as well as mosaic tiles depicting a knight on horseback. The foundations of a large stone building were also found. English Heritage refilled the excavations in 1999.

[edit] Country Park

The country park includes publicly accessible countryside, farmland, a golf course and an equestrian centre. Some of the grounds were attractively landscaped by Humphry Repton in the English manner (some also attribute the work of Capability Brown). Features of the original landscaping that can still be seen include an impressive avenue of lime trees, an obelisk, ornamental lakes and a water garden.

The original mansion and a number of statues and other structures located within the grounds (such as the Orangery) are Grade II listed building. The site is designated as Green Belt, and lies within a conservation area and is also included within the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The park is open to the public – closest London Underground stations are Oakwood and Cockfosters. During the summer months a number of concerts and festivals take place there.