Moor Park mansion near Rickmansworth is set within several hundred acres of parkland. Throughout the years, it has been home to several interesting occupants.

The original house was built in 1678 for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, a man with an impressive military career and a reputation as one of England’s finest soldiers. He served in the English fleet during the Second Anglo-Dutch War at age 16 and upon returning to England became colonel of His Majesty’s Own Troop of Horse Guards. Charles II put great trust in him, giving the order that all military decisions should be brought first to Monmouth for examination. This gave him effective command of the royal forces.

However, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot in 1683 – a plan to assassinate Charles II and his brother James – Monmouth was identified as a conspirator. Arthur Capell, the Earl of Essex and owner of CassioburyHouse, was also arrested for conspiring to kill the king. He died of apparent suicide in the Tower of London.

On Charles II’s death, James Scott led the Monmouth Rebellion. He landed in Dorset with three ships and began to cross the country, declaring himself king at various places along the route.

Monmouth’s army and the royal army met at the Battle of Sedgemoor. This was the last clear cut pitched battle on open ground fought on English soil.

Monmouth’s makeshift force could not compete with the disciplined royal army, and he was defeated, captured and arrested. Despite begging for mercy, he was executed in July 1685 on Tower Hill. It is said that it took multiple blows of the axe – accounts range from five to eight – to sever his head.

According to legend, a portrait of Monmouth was painted after his execution. It was realised after his death that there was no official portrait of him, so his body was exhumed, his head stitched back on, and it was sat for a portrait to be painted. However, there were two formal portraits in the National Portrait Gallery dated before his death, so this is probably untrue.

Monmouth is also rumoured to be the legendary Man in the Iron Mask. This is based on the unlikely reasoning that James II would not execute his own nephew, so someone else was executed in his place, and James arranged for Monmouth to be taken to France and put in the custody of his cousin, Louis XIV of France.

Later, Benjamin Hoskins Styles, who had made a fortune in the South Sea Company before the great collapse, purchased the house. The current appearance of the mansion traces back to him. He spent £15,000 on remodelling his new home, the equivalent of over £1 million today.

The next owner was Admiral Lord Anson, who bought the house in 1752. He commissioned English landscape architect Capability Brown to remake the formal gardens, complete with small lake.

In 1828, Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury, became the new owner of the estate. He built the gateway at Batchworth Heath and planted the pleasure grounds with trees and ornamental shrubs. It is said that the commercial strawberry, a hybrid of the European strawberry and a Chilean species, was first cultivated in the kitchen gardens of Moor Park.

During World War II, the mansion was requisitioned and became the headquarters of the 1st Airborne Corps, who planned Operation Market Garden. This was an unsuccessful Allied military operation fought in the Netherlands and Germany.

The goal was to force entry into Germany over the Lower Rhine, allowing the Allies to encircle Germany’s industrial heartland. However, the Allies failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force and the river remained a barrier to their advance. The failure of Operation Market Garden ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944.

After the war, Lord Leverhulme purchased Moor Park. He commissioned golf course designer Harry Colt to lay out courses around the estate. The golf course opened in 1923, and remains open today.