Some friends and I recently formed a new small local history society, call the Commoners’, and one of the first trips was a special visit to Mount Clare in Roehampton. Boasting a lot of history and a heritage going back 250 years, we counted ourselves very lucky to go, as its recently been sold and all its internal treasures are likely to be off limits in future. If you would like to know more about the society please get in touch.

In the middle of the Alton Estate, and up until recently in the care of Roehampton University (and part of their campus) its easy to visit, at least from the outside.

The ceilings and some of the internal architecture is simply beautiful.

The small balcony’s are original and rather decorative.

Sir Robert Taylor designed and built the house for George Clive in 1773 and even got Capability Brown to lay out the gardens (which house didn’t, how did the guy find the time?) Sadly built over, the only remaining part of the garden is thought to be the Yew tree found at the back.