Eastcote House

Eastcote House Gardens
The dovecote and herb beds
Location within Greater London
General information
Location	Eastcote
Town or city	Greater London
Country	England
Coordinates	51°35′12″N 0°24′08″W / 51.586667°N 0.402222°W / 51.586667; -0.402222

Eastcote House Gardens is an area of public parkland in Eastcote, within the London Borough of Hillingdon. The site covers 3.63 hectares (9 acres)and incorporates the walled garden, dovecote and coach house of Eastcote House. The house was demolished in 1964 by the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council (RNUDC), the predecessor of the London Borough of Hillingdon. At the public's request, the garden and outbuildings were retained and are now maintained by a group of volunteers, the Friends of Eastcote House Gardens, in partnership with the local authority.

Eastcote House was one of three largest in Eastcote, together with Highgrove House and Haydon Hall. All came to be owned by the RNUDC, but only Highgrove House remains in its original form; Haydon Hall was demolished in 1967 by the RNUDC's successor.

The coach house, dovecote, and garden walls received Grade II listed status on 6 September 1974. Ecological surveys have found fifty types of trees in the gardens, and numerous species of birds, mammals and insects have been recorded. The gardens received the Green Flag Award in September 2011 following an earlier inspection.

Eastcote House is first recorded in 1507, when it was known as "Hopkyttes", under the ownership of the Walleston family. In 1525, Ralph Hawtrey married Winifred Walleston, and they made Hopkyttes their marital home, renaming it Eastcote House. The house was extended by either Ralph Hawtrey or his son John, and the brick exterior added. The original timber framework was not revealed again until the house was demolished. John Hawtrey built the dovecote without applying for the required licence. After his death in 1593, his nephew Ralph Hawtrey applied retrospectively, and the licence was granted. During the 18th century, the dovecote was substantially rebuilt, leaving only the original first few rows of bricks. The Hawtrey family, later the Hawtrey-Deanes, continued to live in the house until Francis Deane moved to East View in Uxbridge in 1878. Eastcote House was then let to tenants and parts of the estate sold for housing developments.

The Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council purchased the house and grounds, totalling 9.1 acres (3.7 ha), in 1931 after it became endangered by the proposed new housing development by the builders Comben & Wakeling. Eastcote House became a public building for the use of the Scouts, Guides, Women's Institute and a welfare clinic, though under the ownership of the council, the condition of the house deteriorated. In 1962 the house was declared unsafe, and it was demolished two years later after the council ruled there were no features of the house worth retaining.