Park Place (Berkshire)

Park Place is a historic Grade II Listed country house and gardens in the civil parish of Remenham in Berkshire, England, set in large grounds above the River Thames near Henley, Oxfordshire.

Lord Archibald Hamilton bought the estate in 1719 from Mrs Elizabeth Baker and built a new villa on the site.Frederick, Prince of Wales (father of King George III) bought the house from Lord Archibald in 1738.

The estate was purchased by Henry Seymour Conway in 1752 and he made extensive improvements.Humphrey Gainsborough, brother of the artist Thomas Gainsborough, designed Conway's Bridge, built in 1763 at Park Place. This is an interesting rustic arched stone structure close to the River Thames that still carries traffic on the road between Wargrave and Henley-on-Thames.

Henry Hawkins Tremayne visited Park Place in 1785 whilst touring various gardens in southern England. He enthused about the garden, being especially impressed by its subterranean passages, menagerie, temples and "Rustick" bridge. These provided inspiration for his own new garden, now better known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

In 1797, following the death of Conway, the estate was bought by James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury who auctioned the estate in 1816 with the main lot (mansion & park) being purchased by Henry Piper Sperling. In 1824 Henry Sperling exchanged the estate for Norbury Park, Surrey, with his cousin Ebenezer Fuller Maitland of Shinfield Park, Berkshire. He erected The Obelisk in memory of Queen Victoria's ascension, also known as the Victoria memorial – originally the late 17th century spire of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, designed by Christopher Wren.

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