Harrow Museum

Harrow Museum, is known as Headstone Manor & Museum, and is the local history museum for the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London, England.

The Museum was established in 1986 and is located in the grounds of Headstone Manor, hence its updated name, and from autumn 2017 will tell the story of Harrow through its Collections, Exhibitions and Buildings, detailing the significance of the intriguing historical site in which it is set as well as the people and wider area.

Harrow Museum is made up of four historic buildings, which are all located in the grounds of Headstone Manor, records of which date back to 825 AD. All the buildings are listed, and the site as a whole is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Built in 1310, the moated Manor House known as Headstone Manor is the earliest surviving timber framed building in Middlesex. Described as ‘one of the most interesting domestic complexes in the whole country’, the fabric of Headstone Manor contains examples of work dating from the 14th, 17th and 18th centuries. Headstone Manor is a Grade I listed building.

Headstone Manor is surrounded by the only surviving filled moat in Middlesex. The moat is contemporary in date to the oldest part of the building, and was constructed as a status symbol to reflect the wealth of the Manor’s owner. The land on which Headstone Manor stands is recorded to have belonged to Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 825AD. The construction of Headstone Manor began in c.1310, as revealed by the dendrochronological dating of the building’s oldest timbers. John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, purchased even more land around the site in 1344 and used the site as his main residence in Middlesex. Headstone Manor remained in the ownership of the Archbishops of Canterbury until 1546, when it was surrendered to Henry VIII. Soon after, Henry VIII sold it to one of his court favourites, and it remained in private ownership for almost four centuries.

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