Roughwood Park
Location/Address
Burtons Lane
Little Chalfont
Type
Description
Late 19th century mansion house and gardens, used as a training school for the Special Operations Executive in WW2. Contemporary photographs of this private house cannot be sourced, but a comparison of historic photographs with aerial imagery suggests that the building retains its architectural interest.
Statement of Significance
Asset type
Substantial country house with gardens. Bucks Historic Environment Record relates to the parkland.Age
Built in 1887. The house and outbuildings, including the ornate iron greenhouse, are seen in the 1896 OS map.Architectural and Artistic Interest
Substantial and ornate elevations. The extensive grounds include formal landscaped gardens and a large greenhouse which appears to be from the nineteenth century.Historic Interest
From chalfonthistory.co.uk: The name Roughwood, or Roweood first appears in a deed of 1296 transferring some land which was adjacent. It appears as a distinct estate when Henry Spigurnal held land called La Rowtewood of Matthew de la Vache. Henry died in 1328 and his son Thomas Spigurnal succeeded to the estate. These lands remained together as a block right through until modern times. The lands remained as part of the Vache Manor until 1696 (D-RA/2/5) when James Clayton, the then owner, sold them to Henry Gould of Oak End. Roughwood was sold off in about 1820 to William Morton, a prosperous lace merchant of Amersham. At the time of the Tithe Survey he had leased out Roughwood to William Crouch who was also farming Warren Farm, the home farm for the Vache Estate. On William Morton's death in December 1860 he bequeathed Roughwood to his son Thomas Morton who leased out the farm. Thomas sold the estate to William Rush of Norwood Green, Southall for £13,650 in 1868. He sold the estate in September 1881 for £13,000 to George James Robinson of Chorleywood House. In 1887 he had built Roughwood Park, a substantial mansion house set in about 80 acres of parkland. From the Rating Valuation lists (DC9/15/2) it appears that in February 1916 Roughwood Park House was "in a bad state of repair and empty" but by April 1919 the house with 60 acres had been bought by T A Agelasto who lived there until he died 21 June 1947. The Agelasto family was part of an very extended and interelated group of families of Greek origin. The story of these families and their involvement in undercover activities for the Allies is well told by Christopher Long. During World War Two Roughwood Park was an SOE training site (STS 42) commanded by a Maj. V. E. Blomfield, and specialised in sabotage and paramilitary training. Amersham Museum has extensive information about its wartime role: https://amershammuseum.org/history/research/wars/roughwood-park/ On 4 April 1913 the house was gutted by fire, believed to be an arson attack by suffragettes.Images and Documents
Date Listed
n/a
Last Updated
05 Mar 2023