The History
Church Gardens is all that remains of the formal walled gardens of Harefield Place. Harefield Place was the principal manor among several in the parish of Harefield from the 11th Century to the early 20th Century and it is incredible that its history can be traced back for more than a thousand years. The Newdigates acquired Harefield Manor in the mid C15th but in 1586, John Newdigate (in need of money) exchanged Harefield Manor for Arbury, Warwickshire. Harefield Park covered 72 acres and was mostly wooded, with the house set in a walled enclosure.
​In 1601, Harefield Manor was sold to trustees for Alice, Countess of Derby and wife of sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and later Lord Chancellor. In 1602, the ageing Queen Elizabeth was entertained at great expense by the Egertons, using the landscape of Harefield Manor quite specifically as a setting for at least part of the entertainment. In 1608, Thomas Egerton embarked on a major rebuilding phase of the mansion house and works to the garden, perhaps including the initial construction of an arcaded wall.
c1634, Milton's masque 'Arcades' with music by Henry Lawes, was performed in front of the Countess at Harefield. It is possible that the walled garden, with its arcades was the site for the performance.
c.1656-60 Harefield Place was largely burnt down. It is unknown exactly when the house was rebuilt, probably sometime in late C17th or early C18th. In the mid to late C18th an arcaded screen wall was added to the South West side of the Coach House perhaps as a symbolic gesture to the importance of the earlier arcade built in the orchard.
1813-14 Harefield Place house was largely demolished, the associated gardens had been remodelled to an informal character. Mid to late C19th the Coach House was converted into a modest dwelling for the Johnson family who worked for the Newdigates. The Coach House began to be referred to as 'Church Gardens' in 1931 and was sold to the Johnsons in 1949. Church Gardens was being run as a nursery in the 1950's, growing vegetables and bedding plants.
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In 1996 Kay and Patrick purchased Church Gardens and they spent two and a half years restoring the Coach House to a habitable condition, installing services to the property and beginning clearance work in the gardens which had become overgrown.
