Reigate Priory Park Restoration

When our gracious parkland dating back to medieval times was being restored in 2007, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council did well to get a video made for them by local photographers.

There are some beautiful shots and rare footage of the special equipment used for digging up trees and dredging silt from the lake. An archaeologist is shown hard at work, examining the area near the old gatehouse, which was since covered up again. Several council employees are interviewed.

What a shame that Director of Services to the Community, Graham Cook, had failed to grasp the basics about Lady Henry Somerset, whose entire life from 1851-1921 is associated with Reigate Priory.

He speaks to camera: "Lady Somerset", and goes on to say "because she was a society hostess there were many photographs in magazines of the time."

To put the record straight, may I point out that she was never addressed as Lady Somerset - it was, at first, "Lady Isabel" as a girl, and then after her marriage, always "Lady Henry Somerset". It is a misrepresentation to describe her as a society hostess, and by so doing, it trivialises her life and achievements. In fact, soon after the birth of her first child and legal case for custody, severe social limitations were placed on her, caused by the embarrassment over a failed marriage. She had discovered that her husband was homosexual and had many like-minded friends. Society ostracised her for not 'turning a blind eye', so at Reigate Priory with its beautiful parkland, she was able to find peace and serenity again. As well as her heavy responsibilities as a landowner, she devoted the rest of her life to social reform, the temperance movement and Christian charity - hardly the description of a 'society hostess'!

It was the custom to rent out properties of that size - and in the case of Reigate Priory, to notables such as Lord Curzon, Mrs Ronnie Greville - THE society hostess, General Sir Ian Hamilton and Princess Wiazemsky. If you refer to Ernest Scears' history of Reigate Priory, or the visitors books, you would find that their guests included "such outstanding personalities as Edward VII, the Grand Duke Michael of Russia, the Russian Ambassador Count Benckendorff, the Hon. Mrs George Keppel [Alice] and their associates". If you refer to Audrey Ward's book "Discovering Reigate Priory - the place and the people", you would find that those associates included the Churchills, Lord Jack Fisher, Hilaire Belloc ('ex-MP') etc. etc..

Those remarkably high quality photographs of the house and grounds were taken shortly before the whole estate was coming up for auction at the Grand Sale of Reigate in 1921- a sensible course of action, don't you think? The explanation is far more practical and down to earth than the Council Director's version.

Sadly, the Lottery-funded interpretation boards in the park give no indication that there are Augustinian canons buried on the estate, and yet Lady Henry Somerset wished for that fact to be commemorated since it is hallowed ground. Even more ironic is that the pet dog graves get an interpretation board of their own!

Who is kidding whom about "introducing" tennis courts? Here at Reigate Priory, we had "Real Tennis", as at Hampton Court and King Henry VIII. For the 2007 renovations, the existing tennis courts were actually dug up and new ones constructed elsewhere in the park - that is all. A skate park? In Lady Henry Somerset's day there was a 9-hole golf course and top quality horses to admire on the estate. The famous stables, frequented by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, have been left for the vandals. Even the paddock fences, abandoned and ignored, are now a disgrace.

There is another great shame, though. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council failed to take the opportunity to get the magnificent 18th Century Park Lane wrought iron gates restored. They date back to about 1720 and would have stood to welcome all the rich and famous for many generations of society hostesses! The gates and railings in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea were made by the same smith and they are still there to be admired for their excellence, in tip-top condition.

In contrast, the even larger, and of national importance, Reigate Park Lane gates and railings are sitting forlornly, in a parlous state. They are now thoroughly rusted from being left in the undergrowth from WW2 until 1993. Even a box of bits of original ironwork has gone missing, it seems. Where are they located? Well, for 17 years they have been in a Council depot right beside the ratepayers' winter road salt supplies.

It's basic science that salt is corrosive to ironwork.

Towards the turn of the 19th century into the 20th century, Lady Henry Somerset chose the Park Lane Gates and Railings as the main entrance to her beloved Priory - in time for her son's 21st and his wedding. What a wonderful feat of engineering excellence she was honouring, and it was right there that she chose to build her dower house, Makepeace.

So Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, well done on having a lovely video made as a record of the restoration project, but with £6.5 million to play with, it also shows that the history homework hadn't been done properly by a key Council officer. For how long will we ratepayers wait for the beautiful gates and stables to be restored?

Lady Henry Somerset's eloquent testimony, 1895

Lady Henry Somerset was the main landowner here in Reigate in 1895. She also owned Eastnor Castle in Ledbury, Herefordshire, from where she wrote the following letter that has just turned up. It was the occasion of the retirement of the Pastor of the old Congregational Church in the High Street - ah, those were the days. Nowadays it's a Marks and Spencer's.

"It would be impossible for any inhabitant of Reigate to fail to appreciate the services of Mr Adeney - his venerable presence and his uplifting influence have made their mark on the town, and I am glad to think that many will assemble to tell him all the glad things that are in their hearts. It is well when we are ready to speak words of cheer to the ears that are still quick to listen, and to grasp living hands with warm congratulation while yet the heart is able to respond, instead of waiting to lay our tribute on cold stone, and when the soul has gone beyond the power of earthly voices.
"For this reason I hope I may add my word of hearty appreciation for the life and services of your revered Pastor."

Isabel Somerset, 16/9/95.

It is nice to see a letter of appreciation. Many thanks to Mr David Blunkett for sending one on the occasion of my own retirement a century later.

DVD of Churchill's Secret Reigate talk

It's £8 plus Post & Packing - and you can buy it here online, from anywhere in the world! For a limited time the pack also contains the specially commissioned poem by Barrie Singleton which was the finale of my presentation.

P&P

UK + £1 post and packing £9.00 Overseas + £2 post and packing £10.00 UK pick up £8.00

The ATS girl who worked in the bunker

One of the very happy outcomes of my "Churchill's Secret Reigate" talk was a phone call from a lady in the audience who has found this little gem.

In a 4-page document we can see a photo and read about Eileen Olive McKerron, nee Graves. She describes in exact detail her uniform issued, her daily tasks and memorable moments between 11/12/1942 and July 1945. How exciting to be posted in her home county, in the signal office tunnelled out of the chalk hills, up steep steps and narrow paths and the whole area disguised with camouflage material. Inside the tunnels were the cipher room, the office, the radio room, the switchboards and the teleprinter room - all in constant use and with urgent, important messages. When the news of the success of the invasion of Normandy reached them, the office staff felt that they had done really valuable work.

She even chronicles as memorable moments the cycling in Surrey with most signposts missing, and watching the 'doodlebugs spluttering overhead'.

You can read this rare document here:
http://www.atsremembered.org.uk/mckerronsheetpdf.pdf.

Churchill's Secret Reigate photobook

I am getting ready for my 2nd lecture about 'Churchill's Secret Reigate' next Saturday. Over 100 people have reserved free virtual tickets and there are limited spaces with good visibility.
This will be videoed fortunately, since publishing any research is a challenge. A few notable Churchillians, friends and military historians have seen the potential and are offering great support.

Would you like to view my souvenir photobook free of charge? Please scroll down to see the link. It's of little consequence compared with the material I'm able to share in my talk. If you'd actually like to purchase it, then I will send £4 for each copy to CHASE Children's Hospice, since I gather the small amount of Govt. funding has just been cancelled.

It was a treat this week to hear from Eric Sykes' agent regarding my research. His message is that Churchill was always his hero and I am very welcome to include an extract from his autobiography about his experience of Reigate during WW2. Certainly, it is an honour to do so. Eric Sykes was in the RAF stationed at Gatton Park. His book recounts how he was in radio signals and barely saw any aircraft, let alone women, but describes beautifully, the day he first walked all the way down the hill to Reigate and saw the Canadian effect of their troops that were over here. I think that all this time, he didn't realise that Reigate Hill was actually the HQ of South Eastern Command and exactly where Monty was in charge. It says a lot for the disguise techniques that I describe in my lecture. Eric Sykes has also documented his experience of D-Day after leaving Gatton, and later on, years later, meeting up with a fellow Canadian and introducing him to Vera Lynn. The message to me was that he was "thrilled"about my news.

So do take a look. On page 25, right at the end, is a poem by a good friend of mine who has a knack of encapsulating a great story, in a nutshell. The previous pictures have no caption so you can make up your own story if you are inspired to do so. Please notice Winnie the Pooh on page 2.

The secret tunnels of Reigate Hill

I learned recently that "our" Reigate Hill underground Battle HQ known as Monty's Hideout was the inspiration for the secret tunnels of South Heighton on the South Downs for the Navy - started and completed soon afterwards in 1941.

Geoffrey Ellis describes this as follows:

'Col. FH Foster DSO OBE TD RL RIBA CRA 4 Corps Troops Royal Engineers disclosed how he designed the subterranean labyrinth after visiting Montgomery's headquarters at Reigate."

Haven Life, March 2006 page 19.

Take a look at the photos - it's a magnificent story of perseverance and restoration. The South Heighton site was eventually recognised as being of National Importance by English Heritage.
www.secret-tunnels.co.uk

A little snippet of information I like is that one of the secret entrances was disguised a chicken coop.

Now then, how about its inspiration, here in Reigate?

Reigate's famous centenarian parrot, Charlie

It had to happen.

I gave my illustrated talk on "Churchill's Secret Reigate" in November to a very appreciative audience of Churchill Fellows, Churchill fans and local people, with the promise that I would repeat it in January for those we didn't have enough seats for that day.

Many thanks to Major-General Jamie Balfour for introducing me and to Randolph Churchill who spoke to us afterwards, and there was time for several questions.

Perhaps it was inevitable. I had carefully avoided the subject of Charlie the parrot because I know that Winston Churchill's daughter Mary, Lady Soames, had commented several years ago that it was too tiresome for words!

However, this is what people wanted to ask about.

Yes, I was very non-committal in my replies but, knowing that I shall be doing the talk again to a larger audience, and also publishing my research some time soon, it seemed like a GOOD IDEA to go and do a little bit of investigating of my own about Charlie the parrot.

So off I went on a dull and dreary afternoon to Heathfield Nurseries on Reigate Heath where Charlie lives. It is a beautifully tranquil setting with its trusty old greenhouses, pots of bulbs, a huge, health-giving aloe vera plant and bucketfuls of deep yellow and orange chrysanthemums. It shares its name with Heathfield, the spacious mansion next door that was the home of movie magnate and miller, J Arthur Rank. His father Joseph was the richest man in England, by the way, so he would have had his pick of excellent locations in which to make their family home. A devout Methodist and Sunday School Superintendent, J.Arthur was also a great fan of Churchill. He was one of the group of people who contributed to the purchase of Chartwell some time post-war, so that Churchill could live out his days there. But I digress.

To my delight, I met the manager of the Nurseries, Sylvia. She already knew about the talk I had given - her customers had been talking about it! She simply gave me the story of Charlie the parrot so there seems to be a simple explanation of why there have been so many denials and rumours over the years. I see there is even a Wikipedia page about Charlie (and as usual it needs a bit of modification to set the record straight).

This is what I gleaned from my conversation with Sylvia.

For a start, Charlie is a female. She is a blue and gold macaw. She is not the same Charlie Parrot that lived at Dabner's pet shop in Redhill, nor the Charlie Parrot that lived at the Reigate pet shop, Gay Dogs (the name has since been changed...). In the words of Monty Python, both of those Charlies are deceased, no more.

She has lived at Heathfield Nurseries since about 1995, and she shares her light and airy modern conservatory with her good friends Rosie, an African Grey and Daisy, a Bare-eyed Cockatoo. They certainly all look pretty perky and in good health, with the radio playing music in the background. In warmer weather, Charlie is happy to go walkabout around the nurseries and doesn't ever fly off, so it appears that she is very settled there in her old age of about 106, and is counting her blessings, perhaps! Rosie often snuggles up to her affectionately. In all this time Charlie has been a single girl - no mate and not had a chance to breed. Her glistening rich blue head feathers are a bit of a contrast to her rather bald chest because she has developed a habit of plucking out those feathers. According to the vet, she is unlikely to stop now. Perhaps it's a fashion statement.

So how did she come to live in Reigate? What tales would she tell us if she could? These days, she is keeping quiet.

Sylvia assures me that Charlie was one of the birds bought for Winston Churchill's menageries at Chartwell from Mr Dabner's pet shop in Surrey Street, Croydon. This outdoor location at Chartwell could explain why Lady Soames doesn't recollect seeing the macaw there.

She showed me a large black and white photograph of Churchill from the Getty archives, with a cockatoo on his left shoulder and a macaw - Charlie?, on his right. This had been given to her by one of the newspapers that featured the story a few years ago.

In 1965, when Mr Churchill had passed away, Charlie was returned to Mr Dabner and she lived there in the pet shop in Croydon for the next thirty years.

HOWEVER.... if you remember Surrey Street from all those years ago, as I do, you would recall a thriving open street market, bulging with fruit and veg, and ringing with the raucous sounds of the traders and market boys that jostled for business. Dabner's pet shop would certainly not have been able to offer a peaceful, serene outdoor setting that Charlie was used to. She would have had to endure prodding and teasing, and no doubt, many lessons in swearing, the cursing of Hitler and Churchill impressions from those mischievous young lads! How undignified for such a glamorous and high class bird used to much more refined versions of the English language!

And what was the result of this bad company for all those years? She must have become more and more unhappy. Sadly she was repeating profanities that we won't go into here. Unfortunately she became rather spiteful too in her behaviour, which was hardly surprising under those circumstances. By about 1995, Mr Dabner knew that Charlie needed somewhere peaceful with fresh air, and where better than his son-in-law, Mr Oram's nurseries in Reigate?


And we have a happy ending. Yes, the music and fresh air, good company and loving care in Reigate have cured her! She no longer swears. She is evidently a popular bird with her feathered friends and the public alike - and so she should be after her long and colourful life.


How silly everyone was to believe that it was Churchill that had taught her to swear, when it was likely those foul-mouthed cheeky 'monkeys' on the Surrey Street market were having fun at her expense. It is a shame their taunts made her so ill and unhappy but there is a lesson to be learned there, don't you think?

I hope this version of events is a lot closer to the truth, and no need to be included in my talk on Churchill's SECRET Reigate. After all, it is in the public domain and Charlie is world-famous!

I took a photo of Sylvia with her picture of Churchill, and will return in the warmer weather to meet Charlie close up. I look forward to taking some colour photos when she is out and about, enjoying some of our English sunshine on Reigate Heath.