Cassiobury House
| Cassiobury House | |
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A chromolithograph of Cassiobury House, published around 1880.
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 Location of Cassiobury House in Hertfordshire
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| Former names | Manor of Cashio |
| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Type | English country house |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical, later renovated in the Gothic Revival style |
| Town or city | Watford, Hertfordshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°39′54″N 00°25′08″W / 51.66500°N 0.41889°WCoordinates: 51°39′54″N 00°25′08″W / 51.66500°N 0.41889°W |
| Construction started | 1546 |
| Completed | 1556 |
| Renovated | c.1677–80; 1805 |
| Closed | 1922 |
| Demolished | 1927 |
| Grounds | 693 acres (2.80 km2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Other designers | Grinling Gibbons, Antonio Verrio, Moses Cook Humphry Repton Jeffry Wyatville |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect | Hugh May; James Wyatt |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 56 |
| Website | |
| Cassiobury Park - house history | |
Cassiobury House was a country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was notable for being the ancestral seat of the Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison, it was substantially remodelled in the 17th and 19th centuries and ultimately demolished in 1927. The surrounding Cassiobury Park was turned into the main public open space for Watford.
St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Cashio (then called "Albanestou"), which included Watford, dating from a grant by King Offa in AD 793. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539, Watford was divided from Cashio, and Henry made himself lord of the manor of Cassiobury. In 1546 he granted the manor to Sir Richard Morrison, who started to build Cassiobury House in the extensive gardens, but had not made much progress by 1553 when he went into exile abroad. The estate grounds were much larger than they are today, reaching as far as North Watford and southwards almost to Moor Park. After the death of his father in 1556, Sir Charles Morrison (1549-1599) continued building and completed the mansion, which had 56 rooms, a long gallery, stables, a dairy and a brewhouse. Sir Charles was succeeded by his son, also called Charles Morrison (1587-1628); the younger Charles had a daughter, Elizabeth Morrison (1610-1660).
In 1627 Sir Charles Morrison's daughter, Elizabeth (the heir to Cassiobury), married Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (1610–1649) and the estate passed into the Capel family. The Capels were settled at Little Hadham in Hertfordshire, but after the marriage they became closely associated with Cassiobury. Arthur Capel was a politician and a supporter of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War; during Cromwell's rise to power, Capel was tried and condemned to death by the Parliamentarians, and beheaded in May 1649. Cassiobury had been sequestrated by Parliament. Arthur Capell's widow Lady Elizabeth Capell successfully petitioned Parliament for Cassiobury (and the other lands she had inherited from her father Charles Morrison) to be returned to her on (7–8 May 1649).
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