Built / Designed For: John Joseph Mechi

House & Family History: The Wilkin family came to Tiptree in the early 18th century and started farming at Trewlands farm. By 1865 the farm began the move from arable crops to fruit, which was shipped to markets in London. In 1885, after Prime Minister Gladstone recommended fruit preserves to the British public as a health food, Arthur Charles Wilkin founded the Britannia Fruit Preserving Company, which made the first Tiptree branded preserves. By 1906, as Wilkin & Sons Limited, the company was harvesting 300 tons of fruit per year and producing 10 tons of strawberry jam per day. The company has continuously held a royal warrant for preserves and marmalades since 1911 and was visited by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 to celebrate its 125th anniversary (the queen is reputed to travel with Tiptree's famous Little Scarlet preserves wherever she travels). Today Wilkin & Sons farms 1,000 acres in and around Tiptree and grows much of its own fruit, including strawberries, plums, cherries, raspberries, mulberries, quinces, and the famous Little Scarlet, a small variety of strawberry with a unique and intense flavor that is difficult to cultivate and is grown only by Wilkin. A lovely bird's eye view painting of Tiptree Hall, circa 1850-60, by William Brown is today in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut (see reproduction in the "Images" section).

House Listed: Grade II*

Park Listed: Not Listed

Past Seat / Home of: John Joseph Mechi, 19th century.

Current Ownership Type: Corporation

Primary Current Ownership Use: Offices

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No