Rickmansworth: The Bury

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 21 Jan 2009

You'll have to believe me when I write that this was a totally unplanned and accidental re-photograph of the building shown in a Francis Frith image of 1897 http://www.francisfrith.co.uk/rickmansworth/photos/bury-house-1897_39684/ The 2009 picture was taken from virtually the same location, possibly from a little closer to the house. Little appears to have changed on the building, apart from the angled chimneys losing their pots and the first floor window being blocked up, but the house is now screened at ground level from the parkland by shrubs and bushes. The Bury itself was formerly a manor house with a central section, visible here, and two wings. The building fell into disrepair during the nineteenth century and the north wing, which would have been on the left side of the building in this photograph, was demolished. After several private owners refurbished it the house was eventually sold to Rickmansworth Urban District Council just before the Second World War. After wartime use as the Civil Defence headquarters and then as a health centre the building again fell into disrepair, a situation exacerbated by a damaging fire in 1991. Since then the house has been restored again and is now back in private ownership.

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