Beech Lodge was at Red Pitts off Henley Road with views over the Quarry Woods, a major attraction for tourists and day trippers. This view was always one of the main selling points when the house was up for sale or let.
The lodge came with 30-37 acres of land.
Wadham and and his Irish born wife Anne Wyndham lived in "Beech Lodge Great Marlow" by 1819. Together the couple had 20 children, 16 sons and 4 daughters, many of them born at Beech Lodge. Like most later residents of the house they also maintained a London home. Theirs was 24 Dorset Place.
In 1833 the property consisted of the house plus a lawn, flower garden, a large kitchen garden, a small yard, coach houses, stables, harness rooms and "other offices". Plus the other fields and land adjoining.
Wadham and Anne were close to the Marquis of Chandos, Wyndham's cousin, who visited them at Beech Lodge at least twice. At the time of his 1829 visit the Marquis went with Wadham to view Marlow's new suspension bridge and caused a lot of red faces when he expressed surprise that after months of supposed work on the project progress was minimal. To read about the painfully protracted business of building this bridge see my post here.
In 1827 Wadham chaired a meeting in the town in which voters met to decide whether to petition parliament against granting further civil rights to Catholics. Lieutenant-Colonel William Clayton gave an impassioned, hysterical speech in which he equated Catholicism with tyranny, evil and stupidity. Wadham's own opinion is not clear as he did not as far I can see speak himself. Lord George Nugent M.P spoke against the petition but the townspeople overwhelmingly voted to send it to parliament.
Wadham worked with George Nugent as a trustee of the Marlow to Reading turnpike road. He was also a local magistrate and the Lord Lieutenant of Bucks.
Wadham's leisure hours were spent in part following horse racing. His father had been devoted to the sport and Wadham owned several race horses himself. He and Anne at least once attended the annual horse racing meeting at Marlow, bringing I think his brother to watch as well. More about Marlow Races (and the cheating that went on there!) in this post.
In 1828 Anne and Wadham and their 8 living children woke up in the night to discover their dining room was on fire. Wadham and his brave servants fought the fire themselves and succeeded in saving the rest of the house from damage though everything in the dining room was destroyed. Anne and the children found shelter in a nearby cottage while the flames were being quenched.
In 1835 Wadham put the house up for let or sale. As he was leaving he decided to sell off his furniture and library of books including volumes on the subject of travel, famous lives, novels and plays by the "most approved authors" [British Library Archives, Bucks Herald December 19th 1835]. If he and Anne did leave it wasn't for long and the house was not in fact sold as the couple were definitely still resident there (at least) 1841-1845. In the latter year Anne passed away after a severe illness. By then only 7 of her 20 children were still living. Their 17 year old daughter Anne had died at Beech Lodge in 1835. This event may have precipitated the couples wish to leave the house for a while that year. Son Wadham junior along with his friend drowned in a boating accident on the Thames near Temple in 1839. He was 22.
I am not sure when Wadham moved away from the house but it was Frederick Parker who lived at Beech Lodge by 1846. Wadham still lived somewhere in Marlow when he died in 1849. He asked to be buried in the same grave as his wife and deceased children in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. However he was actually buried at Marlow. I'll post a pic of his grave in future. He left his personal estate in the hands of trustees for the benefit of four surviving sons. These included Chandos and Penruddocke who as children were pupils at the boarding school for boys Prospect House Academy at the junction of Little Marlow Road and Wycombe Road in Marlow (now demolished). More about the school in this post here.
To read about one of the Wyndham's servants Sarah Hawkins see here
Beech Lodge was demolished and then rebuilt in 1877/8.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.
Other Sources:
Will Wadham Wyndham 1849, my transcription.
Censuses my transcription from microfilm. Census information always remains Crown Copyright.
Windsor and Eton Express May 1827. British Newspaper Archives.
Property records in my family, transcribed by me.
Centre of Buckinghamshire Studies, property conveyance.
The Family Topographer Or The Ancient And Present State Of The Counties Of England by Samuel Tymms, 1832.
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