What does a Botanical Magazine and Fallen Women Have in Common?

Pilgrim, trudge on; what makes thy soul complain, Crowns thy complaint; the way to rest is pain;
The road to resolution lies by doubt; The next way home's the farthest way about. 
Francis Quarles: English Poet:  born in Romford, Essex in 1592 and died in 1644

Yesterday, while out walking we took a new route. Parts of it we’ve walked before, but it was a simple case of turning left onto a footpath that took us on a circular route around a wooded area.

Glazenwood House

We headed out of Silver End on the Sheep Cote Lane and followed the footpath towards Perry Green, a small hamlet. Here a collection of three delightful houses stand, one being the farm house and another was once a row of farm labourer’s cottages.

The first slide: The Perry Green Farm house. Second slide: this house stands opposite the farm house. Third Slide: Farm labourer’s cottages: Fourth slide: Crossroads signpost: Fifth Slide: One of the gate lodges to Glazenwood House.

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I wanted to find out more about the estate known as Glazenwood and found online an interesting site called Essex Gardens Trust There I discovered an interesting and wonderful article about the house I had only glimpsed through the trees as we walked along the farm track.

Glazenwood takes its name from the wood which surrounds the house and was first mentioned in 1291 on maps and in documents. The property was first acquired by a Coggeshall Quaker, Joseph Greenwood in 1802. He built a small red-brick house. From April 1806 to April 1820 Greenwood rented the property to Samuel Curtis.

Samuel Curtis, was born into a large Quaker family at Walworth, Surrey, England on 22 August 1779. He was nurseryman, publisher and editor, particularly in London, England in the 19th century. From 1816 to 1821, he worked at Clumber Park in Northumberland, England as a land agent to Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle under Lyne, and lived at Gamston Hall in Nottinghamshire, England. In 1821 he moved to Glazenwood, near Coggeshall in Essex, England where he established another, larger nursery specializing in fruit trees and a wide mixture of plants. In 1822, he published the third edition of the Florist’s Directory.

The Clockhouse is house once owned by Samuel Curtis. The black line is a rough guide to the route we took.

Samuel was a son-in-law and cousin to William Curtis, the founder of the Botanical Magazine in 1787. Samuel married William’s only child, Sarah and became the proprietor of the famous magazine. His many daughters hand-coloured the plates for the Botanical magazine, which were published at Glazenwood from 1827 with the start of a new series. Samuel sold his rights in the magazine in 1846, six years after he retired to Jersey, leaving his son James to carry on his business at Glazenwood.

Footpath around the woods.

Award Winning Samuel during his time at Glazenwood enlarged the house and planted the pleasure grounds and orchard along with a large number of ornamental trees and shrubs. He also held an annual floral fete in the grounds. The grounds at Glazenwood were divided into different areas.i.e. American plants were concentrated in the American gardens while Australian plants in the Australian gardens.

In its life time the house has been owned by Revd. Sir John Page Wood Clergyman; son of Matthew Wood (q.v.) and Maria Page (q.v.); in 1820 m. Emma Caroline (1802-1879); father of General Sir Evelyn Wood. Chaplain and private secretary of Queen Caroline (q.v.) in 1820. Ordered Deacon in 1821. Chaplain to the duke of Sussex (1821-43). Appointed rector of St Peter’s, Cornhill, in 1824; vicar of Cressing in Essex.

The gateway from the road looking towards the Glazenwood House.

In the 1868 the house was sold to Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a home for fallen women.  A Roman Catholic Order of Nuns came to England from France in 1840 and set up a series of homes across Britain and in Ireland to save fallen women and girls from prostitution and from the streets of the towns and cities. The women and girls were used as cheap labour in the laundry and needlework businesses set up by the nuns. Glazenwood Sisters of the Good Shepherd closed in 1872 as it failed to generate enough money for the nuns because of its rural location. During WW2 the house was used to house children evacuated from London. For awhile the house fell into a neglected state until it was bought in 1962.

Farm Track

I hope you enjoy reading the research I found online about this amazing house. Have a great day. I’m off to do some writing now.