Bushy House: Royal Park Lodge and National Physical Laboratory Site
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page4 sections
History
Bushy House is an English classical house in Bushy Park, Teddington, United Kingdom, first built in 1663 as the lodge of the park’s Ranger, the official responsible for a royal park. Edward Proger, a royalist courtier, received the house with the post in recognition of his loyalty to Charles II during the king’s exile. An earlier house on the site was known as Upper Lodge.
Successive Rangers and residents
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, acquired the three parks from Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, and became Ranger. He rebuilt Bushy House between 1714 and 1715. The house and office then passed to his cousin George Montague, who held them from 1715 to 1737, and to George’s son, George Montagu-Dunk, from 1737 to 1771. Lord North, a grandson of the 1st Earl through his eldest daughter, occupied the house from 1771 to 1792.
After Lord North and his wife died, George III appointed his son William, Duke of Clarence, Ranger in 1797, with residence at Bushy House. William lived there with the actress Dorothea Jordan and their ten children until their relationship ended in 1811. He remained with the FitzClarence children and, after marrying Princess Adelaide in 1818, lived there with her as well.
Royal residence and later uses
On 26 June 1830, a messenger told William that George IV had died and that he was now king as William IV. He reportedly said he had always wanted to sleep with a queen, then returned to bed. As king, he appointed Adelaide Ranger in her own right. After William’s death in 1837, Bushy House became her official residence until her death in 1849.
In 1865, Queen Victoria offered the house to Louis, Duke of Nemours, and other exiled French royals seeking to restore the House of Bourbon, a French royal dynasty. Nemours returned to France in 1871 but kept control of the house as a possible refuge. He died in 1896 without children, and the house stood empty from 1897.
In 1900, Bushy House and about 30 acres of surrounding parkland were chosen for the National Physical Laboratory, a British institution for measurement science and standards. The choice replaced a proposed site at Old Deer Park, Richmond, amid concerns about flooding there. The laboratory opened at Bushy House in March 1902, inaugurated by the Prince of Wales, later George V. The house became part of the institution, and its first director, Richard Glazebrook, and later directors used part of it as private accommodation. Bushy House was listed Grade II* on 2 September 1952, an English category for particularly important buildings of special architectural or historic interest.
Remains
The house’s upper two storeys overlook the adjoining park. Its basement and ground floor have been adapted for laboratory use. The building contains laboratories, two small museums devoted mainly to historical scientific equipment, and rooms used for meetings and conferences.
