Chorleywood House Estate

[3] The River Chess runs through the estate which has formal parkland, meadows and mature woodland.

[1] Chorleywood Dell is a key neutral grassland site in the Biodiversity Action Plan for Hertfordshire.

When Chorleywood UDC devolved to become Three Rivers DC in 1974 the mansion was entirely converted into flats which are now leased privately.

[9] The couple had eleven children, one of whom was Colonel Osmond Barnes who was a notable military commander.

John died on 13 February 1866[10] in Bayswater, London and in 1870 the property was advertised for sale by his sons.

Howard Gilliatt who was the cousin of the Lord of the Manor of Rickmansworth lived in the house for about three years and then rented it.

He amassed a large fortune and when he died in 1879 his son Harding at the age of only 15 inherited a great deal of money.

[14] He was very interested in the theatre and it was here that he met his future wife Hebe Gertrude Barlow (1861-1938), a soprano and well known actress.

[17] She lived at Woburn Abbey, which was the ancestral home of the Dukes of Bedford, for many years and did not marry.

In the following year she bought Chorleywood House and started a long program of extensive renovations and additions.

Ermyntrude died in 1927 and Ela continued to live at Chorleywood House and to run the Estate.

She was the daughter of Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill who was Ela’s uncle, the younger brother of her father the 9th Duke of Bedford.