Henlow Grange

File:Mrs George Gribble.jpg, 1887]]

The house chiefly dates from the early 18th century. For generations it was the family seat of the Edwards.{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=Sir Bernard|title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852|url=https://archive.org/details/b24877876_0003|date=1852|publisher=Colburn and Company}}{{cite book|title=Collectanea topographica et genealogica|date=1840|page=291|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mycAAAAAQAAJ&q=henlow+grange&pg=PA293|access-date=29 January 2018}} By 1869 the manor was in the possession of Rev Henry Addington, who inherited it from his relative Major General Hanbury Raynsford{{cite book|last1=Walford|first1=Edward|title=The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland|date=1869|publisher=R. Hardwicke|page=7}}(died 1868).{{London Gazette|issue=23393|page=3611|date=26 June 1868}} Until the late 19th century, the house and estate passed down through inheritance or marriage between the Edwards, Raynsfords, and Addingtons.

In 1889 it was sold, and after a few owners, by 1908 it was the family home of George Gribble,{{cite web|title='Parishes: Henlow', in A History of the County of Bedford|volume=2|first=William|last= Page |location=London|year=1908|pages=280–285|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol2/pp280-285|access-date= 29 January 2018}} who later restored Kingston Russell, Dorset, with architect Philip Tilden.{{cite web|title=Tilden, Philip Armstrong (1887–1956), architect and garden designer {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-64603|access-date=29 January 2018|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/64603}} George Gribble's wife Norah Royds was a Slade-trained artist, a cousin of Mabel Allington Royds, and her murals still decorate Henlow Grange, notably the Peacock Room. Some of the Gribble children who spent at least part of their childhood at the Grange include Phyllis, later Phyllis Fordham of Ashwell Bury;{{cite web|title=Phyllis Fordham of Ashwell Bury 1882-1958 {{!}} 'Fourpenny Phyllis' {{!}} Biographies {{!}} People {{!}} Ashwell Museum|url=http://www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk/page/fourpenny_phyllis?path=0p3p35p|website=www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk|access-date=29 January 2018}} Vivien Gribble, the engraver and illustrator; Lesley, who died as a young woman,{{cite web|title=Seebohm/Gribble|url=http://www.prestonherts.co.uk/page128.html|website=www.prestonherts.co.uk|access-date=29 January 2018|language=en|archive-date=7 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407205149/http://www.prestonherts.co.uk/page128.html|url-status=dead}} mother of Frederic Seebohm, Baron Seebohm; Major Philip Gribble, a writer and adventurer who married the daughter of Ronald McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun and financed Anna Wolkoff;{{cite book|last1=Willetts|first1=Paul|title=Rendezvous at the Russian Tea Rooms: The Spyhunter, the Fashion Designer & the Man From Moscow|date=2015}} and Julian Royds Gribble, who won a VC at the end of World War I and died of influenza in a German prison of war camp. Phillip's autobiography describes Henlow Grange as having about 24 bedrooms once his parents had finished their renovations, with dozens of indoor and outdoor servants.{{cite web|url=http://www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk/page/fourpenny_phyllis?path=0p3p35p |title=Phyllis Fordham of Ashwell Bury 1882-1958 |publisher=Ashwell Museum|access-date=2 September 2018}}]

Henlow Grange was the home of several High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire:{{cite book|last1=Hughes|first1=A|title=List of Sheriffs for England and Wales from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1831.|date=1898|publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode.}} in 1804 George Edwards;{{London Gazette|issue=15671|page=145|date=31 January 1804}} in 1827 George Nigel Raynsford (who changed his name to Edwards upon inheriting in 1809), also the deputy lieutenant;{{cite news|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GQ3AQAAMAAJ&q=George+Nigel+Raynsford+deputy+lieutenant&pg=PA104|access-date=29 January 2018|publisher=F. Jefferies|date=1847|language=en}} in 1897 George James Gribble;{{London Gazette|issue=26828|page=1238|date=2 March 1897}} in 1916 Cyril Gurney;{{London Gazette|issue=29492|page=2235|date=19 February 1916}} and in 1932 Christopher William Gurney.{{London Gazette|issue=33809|page=1854|date=20 March 1932}}

In 1936 Alan Lennox-Boyd, who represented Mid-Bedfordshire in Parliament from the 1930s until the 1950s, moved his family into the house.{{cite web|title=Henlow Timeline |url=http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/henlow_digitisation_timeline.htm |access-date=29 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006170158/http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/henlow_digitisation_timeline.htm |archive-date=6 October 2007 }} Later he became Colonial Secretary and finally Lord Boyd of Merton and was responsible for the granting of independence to most of the former British overseas colonies. In 1950 Lord Boyd of Merton and his family left Henlow Grange, and on their departure the Boyd Memorial field was left to the Parish.

In 1960, Leida Costigan, an Estonian-born beauty specialist, and her husband purchased Henlow Grange for conversion into a health farm. Prior to purchase it had been unoccupied for seven years and had become almost uninhabitable. (Many country houses were demolished at this period.) A large elder tree blocked the main gates and over a thousand window panes were smashed.{{cite web|title=Champneys Resort Henlow|url=http://www.yougodo.com/en/Champneys-Resort-Henlow/activity/da5e4fa0-e9d4-4955-a3c0-d78429f72086.aspx|publisher=Yougodo.com|access-date=29 December 2012|date=18 September 2007}} Following extensive refurbishment, Henlow Grange became a health farm, with an average of six guests at a time. Costigan introduced the use of massage machines{{cite web|last=Pratt|first=John|title=Massage Machine|url=http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/leida-costigan-is-treated-with-a-massage-machine-at-the-news-photo/3172651|publisher=Getty Images|access-date=29 December 2012|date=5 September 1960}} to Henlow Grange in 1960. In 1975, Leida's daughter, Anne Kristina Costigan, trained as a therapist at Henlow Grange, providing services to celebrity clients such as Maureen Lipman.{{cite web|title=A few years ago...Maureen Lipman, my client at Henlow Grange Health and Beauty Farm |url=http://www.andalucia-andalusia.com/mobile-beauty-costadelsol.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116224639/http://www.andalucia-andalusia.com/mobile-beauty-costadelsol.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 January 2013 |publisher=Andalucia-Andalusia.com |access-date=29 December 2012 }}

On 17 October 1963, one of Henlow Grange's customers, a 37-year-old man from Santa Barbara named Russell Winterbottom, went missing after leaving the Grange for a run. He had paid in advance for a year's tuition in order to train as a beauty therapist under Leida Costigan.{{cite news|title=U.S. Male lost from Beauty Spot|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19631028&id=hVBIAAAAIBAJ&pg=6998,3165656|access-date=29 December 2012|newspaper=The Victoria Advocate|date=28 October 1963}} Less than seven weeks later on Monday 2 December, his burnt body was found less than a mile away by the health farm's gardener Arthur Dilley.{{cite news|title=Calif. Man found dead in England|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19631203&id=R4sgAAAAIBAJ&pg=889,3593956|access-date=30 December 2012|newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun|date=3 December 1963}}

A former chambermaid alleged that Jimmy Savile had molested her while she was working at Henlow Grange during 1977. She also reported witnessing her father Jeffrey Mantle, who was later convicted on child sex abuse charges, lead two girls, who he had claimed were Savile's nieces, into Savile's room at Henlow Grange.{{Cite web | url=https://www.thecomet.net/news/jimmy-savile-molested-me-claims-ex-henlow-grange-chambermaid-1-1661501 |title = Jimmy Savile molested me - claims ex Henlow Grange chambermaid}}

In August 1981 Henlow Grange was sold to Bob and Dorothy Purdew, in exchange for payment of Costigan's debts, and became the first acquisition by the Purdews in the chain of health farms which are now branded as Champneys.{{cite book|last=Purdew|first=Dorothy|title=The Long Road to Champneys|year=2011|publisher=Infinite Ideas Ltd|isbn=978-1906821500}} They built a wing of bedrooms which was named after and opened by Jimmy Savile.{{cite news|title=Celebrating 30 years at Henlow Grange|url=https://www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk/lifestyle/celebrating-30-years-at-henlow-grange-1-3055968|access-date=29 January 2018|work=www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk|date=15 September 2011|language=en|quote=In 1985 Sir Jimmy Savile OBE opened the new Savile wing extension, which added an extra 20 bedrooms and additional treatment rooms ...}} The resort suffered a major fire and was rebuilt.

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Category:Grade II* listed houses

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Bedfordshire

Category:Hotel spas

Category:Hotels in Bedfordshire

Category:Country houses in Bedfordshire

Category:Country house hotels

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