Lee Priory (Lee House)

Earlier Houses: There was at least one earlier house on the site.

House & Family History: The Strawberry Room from Lee Priory, designed by James Wyatt and made 1783-94 for Thomas Barrett (a close friend of Horace Walpole of Strawberry Hill), was given in 1953 to the Victoria and Albert Museum, along with three library bookcases (two smaller bookcases are owned by two former V&A curators). The library’s ante-chamber was sold by Christie's in 2020 in five lots for £46,625.

Collections: Between 1813 and 1823 Lee Priory was home to one of the most important private printing presses of the early 19th century. The press was founded by Sir Egerton Brydges, a founding member of the Roxburghe Club, who lived with his son, Thomas Barrett Brydges-Barrett, at Lee Priory. The father-and-son team also formed a large and important library of 5,000 volumes, which was sold by auction on August 11, 1834.
Garden & Outbuildings: The mid-19th century stables, and a former outbuilding, today called Lee House (both Grade II-listed), were designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Architect: James Wyatt

Date of Birth: 1746
Date of Death: 1813
Nationality: British
Notes: One of the most important 18th century British architects, James Wyatt was born in Staffordshire in 1746 and received significant recognition in 1770 for the Pantheon (now destroyed), a theater on Regent Street that was modeled after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Wyatt's interiors at Heavingham Hall in Suffolk are among his most significant designs, but his most famous work was Fonthill Abbey, the Gothick extravaganza he created for William Beckford in the Wiltshire countryside. He also began the Wyatt dynasty of architects, the most notable member of whom was probably his nephew, Jeffry Wyatt (later Wyatville).

Date: Circa 1785
Designed: House

View all houses

Architect: George Gilbert Scott

Date of Birth: 1811
Date of Death: 1878
Nationality: British
Notes: Worked in partnership with William Bonython Moffatt, 1835-44; they designed Pitt House, Devon together. Among Scott's other works are London's St Pancras Hotel and the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Scott was among the most important Gothic Revival architects in 19th century Britian and a proponent of the Gothic style in domestic architecture.

Date: Circa 1860
Designed: Stables (converted to garden cottages) and Lee House, former Priory outbuilding.

View all houses
John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: 2.S. Vol. II, 1825.

Country Life: CXI, 1665, 1952.
Title: Classical Architecture in Britain: The Heroic Age
Author: Worsley, Giles
Year Published: 1995
Reference: pg. 311
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
ISBN: 0300058969
Book Type: Hardback

Title: No Voice From the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper
Author: Harris, John
Year Published: 1998
Publisher: London: John Murray
ISBN: 0719555671
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Demolished

Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: Thomas Barrett, 1757-1803; Thomas Barrett Brydges-Barrett, 1803-34; Sir John William Egerton Brydges Egerton-Barrett-Brydges, 2nd and last Baronet, 1834-58.

Current Ownership Type: Demolished

Primary Current Ownership Use: Demolished
House Open to Public: No
Historic Houses Member: No

Lee Priory (Lee House)

House, Family & Collections History

Gardens, Outbuildings, Chapel & Church History

Architects

Historic Publications References

Bibliography / Reading List for this House

Listings for House & Park

Families Who’ve Lived Here / Current Ownership Type & Use

Access

VISIT AND HELP PRESERVE HISTORIC BRITISH HOUSES