Stubbers

The earliest reference to the estate subsequently known as Stubbers was in 1334. The name comes from William Stubber who owned the house in the 15th century.^[1] In the early 17th century it was the home of William Coys, a well known botanist, who established a walled garden that subsequently provided plants for the establishment of Kew Gardens.^[2] The garden contained 342 plant species and in 1604 a yucca plant bloomed there, for the first time in England.^[3] In the book Early English Botanists Coys is attributed with compiling a list of his plants for John Goodyer of Hampshire, this being described as the oldest known list of plants from an English garden giving their scientific names.^[4]

In 1689, the estate was bought by Sir William Russell, a London draper who included King Charles II among his acquaintances.^[4] Stubbers remained in the Russell family for nearly 300 years, and Humphry Repton was commissioned to suggest how the gardens could be landscaped for which he produced a "Red Book".^[5] On Repton's advice, the Coys garden was removed.^[6] Writing in 1951, before the house was demolished, Glynn Morgan described the southern facade as "attractive".^[7] To the east of the house was a dovecote with 662 nesting boxes.

The house was demolished in 1955 and the grounds are now the site of an activity centre.^[8] A walled garden survives from the house, but its date is not known.^[9] In August 2011, it was announced that Havering Council had agreed to sell the land to the activity centre.^[10]

51°32′18″N 0°16′02″E / 51.5384146°N 0.267266°E / 51.5384146; 0.267266^[1]