Documents & Ephemera - Berkshire - Reading - Maiden Erle...

Hammer

£450

Documents & Ephemera - Berkshire - Reading - Maiden Erlegh Estate.  Late 19th/early 20th century.  Col. John Hargreaves archives mainly relating to his Maiden Erlegh Estate. An extensive collection of documents, correspondence, plans, sale brochures, etc. With Schedule of Deeds back to 1693. 1900 Tenancy agreements of fishing in the River Lodden. 1850 - bundle of documents with lease to a paper mill on the River Lodden. Case papers J. Hargreaves & J. Harrris re. Old Wheat Neptune Mining Co. (Derbyshire lead mine). 1903 draft conveyances John Hargreaves to Soloman Barnato Joel, London, Teabroker of Mayfair, with plan attached for the purchase of the Maiden Erlegh Estate. 1905 Sale brochure & plans of estate farms at Lower Earley. 1903 Sale brochure The Nook & building land with plans & Thames Meadow at Earley. 1896 Maiden Erlegh sales brochure 23pp. 1898 Draft lease of mansion house & related papers, Hargreaves to Nicol. 1878 bundle of documents Mrs Louisa Grace Golding & William Golding conveyance of Maiden Erlegh Estate to John Hargreaves. 1896 large original bill poster 35" wide, 68" high. 1896 Estates gazette with feature & photo on the sale of the estate. Large traced coloured plans of Earley Lower Wood Farm Estate made in 1805. A similar traced plan for Maiden Erlegh Estate & mansion house, etc.  (After Hargreaves' death, Maiden Erlegh was purchased in 1903 by "Solly" Joel, the lavish yet generous mining, brewing & railway magnet who became its most famous resident. He spent a small fortune making the house one of the most beautiful in the county, expanding it to over seventy rooms, fifty of them bedrooms, perhaps with the help of Alfred Waterhouse. Most opulent were his Italian marble winter garden & "Pompeiian" swimming pool with colonnade surround & nude frescos. The latter was build at a cost of £12,000 (about £700,000 today) & finally sold for just £350, with the intention of shipping it to Barbados. Stories of extraordinary parties & mysterious visitors have passed into local folklore. Alas, after Solly's death in 1931, the building's life as a Boys' School & Training College were short lived & Berkshire County Council decided against its purchase for council offices. It was demolished in 1960 & the area is now a housing estate.