Our thanks to Monique for submitting the results of her research into the history of Mornington. 

History of Mornington and the brick summerhouse at 11 Mornington, Digswell.
Monique Bodil van Niel, January 2023

I have been interested in the origin and age of a brick summerhouse located in the back garden since we moved to Mornington in 1998.

I was told by some of the original residents that the summerhouse was the only surviving part of a Country House called Mornington. Residents suggested that the house may have been built by Sir Edwin Lutyens and this sparked my interest and further research.

Grainy aerial photos of the house were available and are enclosed. They show the house at various unknown dates. Interestingly, the summerhouse is not visible in what is assumed to be an earlier photo, and may have been added later.

The formal pond was filled in by the owners at 7 Mornington. These owners also reported that builders laying a new drive uncovered the original basement of the country house!

With time, I have added information which has come from Census information as it became publicly available. Online access to the National Archives lead in turn to Archive collections held at Bedford County Council. The latter hold all the records from Richardson and Gill, later Richardson and Houfe architects.

The archivist reported that the complete collection of documentation from these architects was stored, but not all the work was catalogued yet. Permission to view the information was required from the owner of the collection who is the son of Eric Houfe and grandson of Sir Albert Richardson.

I visited the Archives and looked through the very extensive set of information, letters, and drawings relating to Mornington. Unfortunately I was not able to copy much of it, as the rolls of paper were in a fragile state. I did however, take photographs of items of particular interest and they have been included here.

The archives in Bedford confirm that Richardson and Houfe were responsible for an extension to Mornington in 1952-1954. There was a drawing for a prosed children’s summerhouse but it does not resemble the final built summerhouse!

A final interesting twist was identifying and communicating with Mark Lutyens, grandson of Eadred Lutyens and son of Charles Lutyens. Mark was going to look through some trunks he inherited from his father Charles, to see if the watercolour exhibited at the Royal Academy of Mornington and painted by his grandfather was available to share in this document.

The information collected together below summarises the history of Mornington and has corrected some of the earlier information about the history provided to me. The research has also confirmed that the summerhouse is a later addition to Mornington, and not part of the original plans drawn up by Eadred Lutyens.

Mornington was built after 1927 on half the plot previously occupied by Red House. That house still exists in New Road but has recently converted into individual apartments. The original boundary fence between Red House and Mornington is still traceable in the garden of 22. Mornington was leased to ICI in 1940 for them to hold Board Meetings, though they continued to be held in London. Mornington is said to have been used subsequently as accommodation for staff of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) engaged in top secret research and development work at The Frythe (Station IX) in Welwyn. Mornington was bought by the Carnegies for £9000 in 1946. Their local family business was a chemical manufacturing company in Tewin Road, Welwyn Garden City. As well as the main house, the property comprised a lodge house, stables, brick built summerhouse and 9 acres of land. It is thought that the lodge was adapted and extended into what is now No 1 Mornington.

Mornington did not have a long history, and was was demolished in 1968 after falling into disrepair when two sisters lived in the house after the war years. A builder was selling 1 acre plots for customisable houses. There was a covenant in the New Road/Mornington land which restricts buildings to one per acre. Since the Covenant was to High Welwyn Ltd which went out of existence in 1923, it has been ignored in recent years. When the builder failed to sell any plots, another developer produced some plans for houses with names like Buckingham and Windsor. The builder only built one house at No 8 Mornington. Finally, Lyon Homes came and built 24 houses with the first ones completed 1971.

As the Covenant was always going to cause finance companies to refuse a mortgage, the new owners were all given an insurance policy of £250,000 per house to reassure the lender! Since houses were selling for £18,000-£20,000 at the time, this was quite some policy! Lyon homes went out of business after extending themselves too much and having moved to Great Amwell.

The cellar of Mornington was uncovered under the drive of what is now No 7 Mornington. The original formal pond was also retained at No 7 Mornington until it was later filled in by the owners.

A summerhouse in the garden of No 11 still exists and an old head of a golf club was found in the roof space during repairs. Later discussions with Mark Lutyens suggest that this could have been from his grandfather, Eadred, who was a keen golfer and did play with him. An old mange was also found when a pond was being dug next to the summerhouse.

Anecdotal evidence from residents suggested that red bricks dug up in the garden of No 14 made this the site of the stable blocks. However, architectural drawings from Richardson and Houfe in 1950 show the stable block as being near the current 5 Mornington. 

Plan showing Mornington homes today:
 

Sources of information 1. Bedfordshire Archives, archive ref RGH6/20A, RGH8/87, RGH8uncat E27/18, RGH8uncatE27/18-19 for 1912-1980. Accessed May 2021. 2. Census information for 1911, 1921 3. Information available on Find my Past Thanks to the following people who have helped over the years 1. Past and present residents of Mornington 2. Rosemary Lee-Bapty, Documentation Assistant, Welwyn Hatfield Museum service 3. Peter Thomas, Godalming Museum 4. Carrie L. McDade, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley 5. Helen M Ward, assistant Librarian, Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society 5. Pamela Birch, Bedford County Archivist 6. Mark Lutyens, landscape architect, grandson of Eadred Lutyens 7. Oliver Summersell

I hope that this collection of information from various sources is of interest. I am always interested in further information that you may have available in the community, or better quality photos of Mornington over the years. There may also be inaccuracies in this document which can be corrected if you let me know. I will also be trying to contact people who may have additional information available and update this document as I receive new information.

Note. More information will be included later and the link to it will be here.