Stanmore

History

An obelisk on Brockley Hill, in the grounds of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, marks the reputed site of a battle between Julius Caesar's Roman legions and the local Catuvellauni tribe, under Cassivellaunus. This battle is said to have taken place during Caesar's raid in force on Britain, in 54BC. Britain was conquered after Claudius invaded in 43AD; sometime after this the Romans established a local settlement called Sulloniacis. A manor called Stanmore is first recorded in 793 AD, and the Domesday book of 1086 describes pre-existing manors (estates) of Great and Little Stanmore as having changed ownership in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. One of the really old surviving buildings are the Cottrell cottages built c. 1565. It suggests that the medieval population centre in Stanmore was around the present day Broadway, before the developments among Stanmore Hill in the late 18th. Between 1713 and 1724, the 1st Duke of Chandos built Cannons house in Little Stanmore. Shortly after, in 1729 Andrew Drummond, the founder of the Drummonds Bank and Jacobite sympathiser, purchased Stanmore House and the Stanmore Park estate as his country residence. A new mansion was built for Andrew Drummond at Stanmore Park in 1763: it was designed in neo Palladian style by John Vardy and Sir William Chambers. Zoffany painted the Drummond family in the grounds. The Drummonds leased Stanmore House to the Countess of Aylesford (in 1815) and later to Lord Castlereagh. The Marquess of Abercorn acquired the estate, along with Bentley Priory, in 1839. In 1848, Stanmore House was sold again to George Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton. The house was later used as a boys' preparatory school. It was demolished in 1938 and the site was taken over by the Royal Auxiliary Air Force as the…

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  36
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  30
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  30
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  28
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  28
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  23
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  18
• Swainson's Hawk

  Buteo swainsoni Bonaparte, 1838 · Aves
  18