The Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust has secured part of the building to be used as a museum and memorial dedicated to those who served in the RAF.

[2] Although little detail is known, the lands of Bentley Priory and the surrounding area were scantily populated but civilised long before the time of the Romans.

Although the area was in part heavily wooded, many Anglo Saxon finds have been made indicating thriving communities around Brockley Hill and Harrow Weald Common.

By the time the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, William the Conqueror had invested his own bishop (Lansfranc) with the Archbishopric of Canterbury and restored the lands of Harrow, appropriated by King Edward the Confessor, to the Church.

It is referred to in the early 14th century, but according to the court rolls of manor of Harrow in 1535, St Gregory's had ceased to maintain a cell at Bentley many years earlier.

[7] The first Priory was reported by Druett in his book, The Stanmores and Harrow Weald Through the Ages, to stand further downhill than the present building.

He places it in the area of Priory House on Clamp Hill, with the chapel standing apart on Harrow Weald Common.

Apart from a short list of Priors from this period in The Victoria County History of Middlesex, the only other reference to the Priory is in Chronicle by Matthew Paris who was a monk and chief copyist at St Albans.

The refurbishments included a gallery of fine paintings, several large apartments and a grand staircase of Portland stone; the intricate wooden banister is thought to have been added by Sir John Kelk.

In the early 1860s, Sir Robert Smirke (architect of the British Museum) was commissioned by the Marquess to make further additions to the Priory.

Sir William and Lady Emma Hamilton (who was later the mother of Lord Nelson's illegitimate daughter Horatia) and thespians Mrs Sarah Siddons and John Kemble were attracted to the beautiful surroundings.

Sir Walter Scott was a frequent visitor in 1807, spending much of his time in the summerhouse which was built on an island in the lake, writing and revising Marmion.

It was long believed that the ceiling was painted with frescos depicting the Arts and four Seasons to give Queen Adelaide something of interest to look at while lying sick in bed.

However, on the basis of evidence obtained from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, it now seems likely that she actually used the area of the present VIP suite for her bedroom and that this was where she died on 2 December 1849 at the age of 57.

Sir John began immediate improvements to the Priory spending £9,000 on the conservatories alone (demolished in 1939 in order to provide additional office space).

He also added a picture gallery, a library, the clock tower, an orangery (which stood some way in front of the present main entrance) a cedar garden and a deer park.

On the front of the house was the Gordon Badge (a flexed bow and arrow) and motto Fortuna Sequatur, which means 'Let Fortune Attend'.

Despite access to the Gordon Family records and research by Debenham, Tewson & Chinnocks who still practise in the city, no reason for the failure of the hotel has been identified nor why it was not auctioned unless, of course, it failed to meet its reserve price.

The school housed 70 boarders, and as part of its music focus, maintained a number of pianos in separate soundproof rooms.

Local actor and journalist Pete Knobbler referred to his great-uncle's attempt to remain in the school after hours in an article published in the Harrow Observer in 1983.