A Tudor Treasure: 6 Details to Spot At Lauderdale House

Walk through the lovely Waterlow Park in Highgate and you will come across Lauderdale House.

Its rather modest exterior conceals a fascinating story going back to the Tudor period, including tales of royal prisoners, devastating fires and hidden compartments. 

Tudor Origins

Lauderdale House, for most of its history, has been a private home. It was built in 1582, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, as the manor house of Sir Richard Martin, three times Lord Mayor of London. 

In 1611 it briefly held a royal prisoner when Arbella Stuart, a prisoner of King James I and claimant to the throne, stayed at Lauderdale House for 6 days. Arbella had been arrested by the King when she attempted to marry William Seymour, another claimant to the throne.

She was to be taken to Barnet on her way to Durham for safe keeping but fell ill at the start of the journey. She was therefore brought to Lauderdale House to recover, before continuing her journey North. Find out more about Lady Arbella here.

Later in the 1600s the house passed into the hands of John Maitland, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale. He was a chief advisor to King Charles I and governed Scotland for King Charles II.

John Wesley preached at the house in 1782, describing it as ‘one of the most elegant boarding houses in England’. 

Lauderdale House’s last private owner was Sir Sidney Waterlow, another Lord Mayor of London, in the 19th century.

In 1889 Sir Sidney gave the house and park to the London County Council, which they then used as a public park, tearooms and park-keepers flats. 

The Nell Gwyn Legend

It is thought the Earl of Lauderdale potentially allowed the King to use Lauderdale House to rendezvous with his mistress Nell Gwyn.  

Legend has it that Nell wanted her son to be given an aristocratic title so held the boy out the window at the house and threatened to drop him unless a title was bestowed that very moment. 

King Charles is said to have replied ‘God save the Earl of Burford!’. 

To be honest there seems to be no actual evidence that she ever stayed at Lauderdale House or that the window story ever happened but, who knows, perhaps there is a grain of truth to it!

Fire, Restoration and the House Today 

Sadly, in 1963 a huge fire broke out at Lauderdale House destroying the roof and much of the interior.

In the 1970s the Lauderdale House Society was established to restore it, launch the house as an arts venue and the charity continues to run the house to this day. 

After another huge refurbishment in 2015-16, the house is now a brilliant asset to the community. They put on free lunchtime concerts, art exhibitions and outreach programmes for local schools. 

6 Details To Spot

The old front door– look out for the frame where the front door once was before a renovation in 1893. 

The overhanging jetty– you will notice that the top floor overhangs: a typical feature of a Tudor house. This is called ‘jettying’ from the French verb ‘jeter’, meaning to throw.

Tudor timbers– inside you can see lots of original, over 400 year old, Tudor oak timber3s. Look out also for the column with the original Tudor craftsman’s carved line marks, used for assembling the structure. 

Charred timbers– at the top of the stairs there are some charred, blackened timbers, left from the 1963 fire. 

Restored 18th century features– look out for the beautiful cupola on the top floor and the decorative ceiling in the Long Gallery. Spot the toads amongst the fruit! 

Tudor good luck charms– there is a fireplace in the Long Gallery upstairs with brickwork dating from 1582. In 1961 a strange collection of items were found bricked into a compartment behind the fireplace.

Amongst other items, it contained four chickens, a candlestick, 2 shoes and an egg. They are thought to have been left by the Tudor builders as good luck charms. This was apparently a popular practice in this period to try and ward off evil spirits from the house.

Click here for their website and more information on how to visit Lauderdale House.

You can also read here my blog post on other Tudor treasures in London!

Thank you for reading, more of London’s hidden history below…