Arborfield Hall

Arborfield Hall c. 1850

Arborfield Hall was a large country house on the banks of the River Loddon near the village of Arborfield in Berkshire.

History[]

The manor house, which originally stood on the site, was occupied by the Bullock family from the early 13th century.^[1] It was acquired by Edmund Standen in 1589 and passed to his son, William Standen, who rebuilt the house in Jacobean style in 1603.^[1] A stable block was added in 1654.^[2] The manor house was sold to Pelsant Reeves, a Master in Chancery, in 1730 and it remained in the Reeves family until George Dawson, a descendant, demolished it in 1832.^[1] George Dawson commissioned a new hall in 1837 but sold it to Sir John Conroy, Controller of the Household of the Duchess of Kent, in 1842.^[1] The new hall was bought by Thomas Hargreaves, a businessman who became High Sheriff of Berkshire, in 1855 and it remained in the Hargreaves family until 1926.^[1] The hall was then bought at auction by the Allsebrook family.^[3] It was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and then acquired by the University of Reading after the war: the university demolished it in 1955.^[1]

References[]

Coordinates: 51°24′22″N 0°55′34″W / 51.406°N 0.926°W / 51.406; -0.926