I’m a resident of Westcombe Park which lies between East Greenwich and Blackheath - but claims to be in Blackheath. I was delighted to see in a recent issue of the newsletter Stanley Slaughter’s excellent article about John Julius Angerstein and the origins of the National Gallery. He also mentions Angerstein’s house – Woodlands.
Angerstein is a fascinating character and well known to people in Westcombe Park where we not only have Woodlands but we also have the railway built fir Angerstein’s son, John. For many years Woodlands housed the Greenwich local history collection and archive and its now used by the Greenwich Steiner School. In the past it was a nunnery and their novices’ house is still our local community centre.
Recently when I was looking the local papers I discovered reports on three consecutive years of the early 19th century of ‘public breakfasts’ held by Angerstein’s daughter. I’m not sure how they were ‘public’ as the majority of the guests seem to have titled and include the Prince of Wales and - intriguingly Sir Joseph Banks. I’m also not sure about breakfasts which take place mid afternoon.
However the newspaper reporters walked around the estate and commented on what they saw. I’ve put below a compilation of some of their comments - giving a picture of the grounds of a banker’s house on the outskirts of London around 1800.
“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 Long 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.
Kitchen Garden, a space of four acres, divided into compartments, filled with every species of succulent vegetables, and abounding with strawberries, 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 the 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.
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