Previous articles here I have mentioned John Julius Angerstein, the wealthy and influential banker who lived at Woodlands in Westcombe Park. I’ve usually talked about him in connection with his son’s construction of the Angerstein railway. I’ve also discussed his wealth and the fact that the National Gallery was founded on the basis of pictures which he collected and displayed at his house in Woodlands, now in Mycenae Road, Westcombe Park.
From their website I learn that the National Gallery has actually had over this weekend 11/12 May - a big celebration for their anniversary but with no mention of Angerstein’s gallery in Westcombe Park.
The National Gallery has for a long time been very concerned about Angerstein’s links with the slave trade and has commissioned quite a bit of academic research into what exactly these links were. There seem to have been slave owning estates in the West Indies over which he had some sort of legal responsibility. There is also a big issue about marine insurance. If you want to follow this up can I recommend the National Gallery website where at the end of the history section is a list of various academics who have written about Angerstein. I have also had some material sent to me which I was intending to use on the Greenwich Industrial History Face book page. There is quite a bit of research by those of us without academic appointment and I will draw attention to these as much as possible.
I am a bit disappointed that the National Gallery in their write up about Angerstein say that he was the son of a ‘German family in Russia. We all thought that he was the secret son of a Russian empress - which is much more exciting. I would hope the National Gallery are prepared to say what their source material is for this rather boring German family origin story .Neither do they say anything about Angerstein’s Westcombe Park house -- Woodlands.
Woodlands House is listed Grade I.. It was built to a design by a local architect, George Gibson. and completed in the summer of 1776. After John Julius Angerstein's death the family remained at Woodlands but eventually it was sold and had a variety of occupants, including ship builder Yarrow. After the Great War until the mid-1960s the house was a nunnery. .The Council then bought the house and the ground floor became an art gallery – while upstairs was the local history library and archive. After they moved out it was taken over for the Steiner School who are atill there now.
So what was Woodlands like when John Julius was there? I have discovered some reports of what it described as ‘public breakfasts’ held there in the early 19th century by his daughter. I am not sure what constitutes ‘public' with these events because I see that the guests are listed in order of title starting with royal family. moving on to the dukes present, earls present, etc so perhaps it wasn’t as public as all that up I also am not used to breakfasts in the afternoon - bit you never know with the nobility.
Reports of these events say some quite interesting things about Woodlands and what people found in the grounds. I’m quoting some of these because I think they are particularly interesting - we had no idea there was something so grand. Apologies for lots of quotations which I have cut and linked to others. There are basically three different accounts here.
“A delightful Villa, called the Woodlands. - The house is a white square building, in the construction of which, ornament is judiciously used.... on your approach, you pass through two gates, the second of which opens into serpentine. walks, bordered with the beautiful trees and flowers, which conduct you to the front of the house”
...you can see “boats sailing up and down the river ...at several mile s distance ... it commands a most enchanting and picturesque view of the Thames from Limehouse to Leng Reach,.... a great part of Romford, Brentwood..... London, Highgate, and all Essex”.
Paths diverge .... various walks, bordered with roses, myrtles, and alt the other tribes of the most fragrant and beautiful shrubs the perfume of which filled the air with their delicious odours... beautiful meandering paths, the edges of which are embroidered with shrubs and flowers, some growing in pots, others in beds, with exquisite taste
Three elegant marquees were erected and tables were placed on the beautiful lawn ....The grand front parlour, drawing room, and dining parlour, were all laid out for breakfast. The front parlour was appropriated to the Prince of Wales and his Royal Highness's particular friends.
The Conservatory. This is one of the finest in England. It is about three hundred feet long, by fifty feet wide. Being upon the largest scale of any structure of the kind in Europe . It exhibited one of the finest pineries ever beheld in this country, together with orange and lemon trees of uncommon Size and in full bearing, and a profusion of the finest flowers. shrubs and flowers, deemed the most curious and beautiful of the Cape of Good Hope, Botany Bay, India, Egypt, Tunis, and Algiers, ail in full bloom, and in all the luxuriance they could boast in their native beds. In every climate of the torrid Zone, has here a representative.
One of the guests at the party was Sir Joseph Banks who of course had collected and promoted plants from all around the world - bringing specimens back from foreign parts to England.
Kitchen Garden, a space of four acres, divided into compartments, filled with every species of succulent vegetables, and abounding with straw berries, cherry trees, &c. Of the cherries, the bleeding hearts were the largest ever. At the bottom of the garden is a pile of glass, consisting of ten ranges filled with grapes, pines, melons, peaches,
Hot-house, profusion of grapes, in all the tints, from the most delicate green, to the purple, hanging in luxuriant clusters, and with the broad and beauteous foliage and spreading branches of ‘the parent vine, forming a solid and continued ceiling. The hot-houses have apricots, & heated by stoves of a curious and peculiar construction, for which Mr. Angerstein has obtained a patent, and not: used in any other hot-house in the kingdom. The heat is regulated by thermometers, of which each house is with one.
A gravel walk, of about a quarter of a mile in length, conducts you to the bottom of a hill, and affords a view of the front of the house, and the lawn, -
A beautiful dairy in rural simplicity, with the pails of milk arranged upon the various shelves. a curious grotto, and a farmyard, in the centre of which is a jet d’eau, cooling and refreshing the air with its streams, and presenting a beautiful picture as they played in the sun-beams.
A large orchard well stored with fruit trees.
The American Plantation, of curious American shrubs and flowers, collected, with infinite care, and great expense, from every part of that immense continent.
A large basin, situated between one .of the houses and the stables, into which all the rain that falls upon the roofs of all the surrounding buildings is conveyed by pipes, and forms a reservoir, from which all the hot-houses are supplied with water.
But – the event was interrupted about four o'clock, by a sudden and dreadful clap of thunder. Terror and dismay were now depictured in those lovely countenances, that a moment before beamed with life, spirit, and joy ; and tears bedewed thou cheeks, that were mantled with smiles. Even those who had sought shelter in the groves, finding themselves feebly protected there, from the pelting of the pitiless storm," endeavoured to make their escape to the house. But before they reached it, they appeared like so many dripping VENUS'S just risen from the sea. The rain continued to fall, and the thunder to roll, to the total prevention of all further amusement out of doors.
I don’t know what to say apart from ‘oh dear’.
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