Halton House - History of The Halton Estate

History of The Halton Estate

There has been a manor house at Halton since the Norman Conquest, when it belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Cranmer sold the manor to Henry Bradshaw, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the mid-16th century. After remaining in the Bradshaw family for some considerable time, it was sold to Sir Francis Dashwood in 1720 and was then held in the Dashwood family for almost 150 years.

The site of the old Halton House, or Manor, was west of the church in Halton village. It had a large park, which was later dissected by the Grand Union Canal. In June 1849 Sir George Dashwood auctioned the contents and, in 1853, the estate was sold to Baron Lionel de Rothschild, who was expanding his estate at Tring. Rotschild then continued his policy of expansion. The old house was uninhabited and allowed to become derelict, and finally completely demolished.

Lionel then gave the estate to his son Alfred de Rothschild. At this time the estate covered approximately 1,500 acres (6 km²) in a triangle between Wendover, Aston Clinton and Weston Turville. However, it lacked a dwelling of any significant size, at least by Rothschild standards.