Place Name
Previously garages, this road leads to Lancaster Court a modern development built in 2010 and the road was named sometime around 2013. The Grove refers to Chiswick Grove, which was first mentioned sometime around 1210 as Grava, from the Old English word grāf(a) meaning a grove or copse. In 1412 it was called the Grove when a house that was on the land was sold to one Thomas Holgill. In 1540 the property became the home of the Barker family who owned it for 200 years. John Bowack, writing in 1705, describes the house as a “spacious regular modern building…behind it gardens, said by some to be the finest in England”. The estate was sold in 1747 to Henry d’Auverquerque, Earl of Grantham and was passed to his daughter. In 1772 its then owner Earl Cowper sold the freehold to the animal-loving MP, Humphry Morice, who added extensive offices, a large riding house and stables. He died in 1785 leaving his estate to Mrs Luther, a distant relative by marriage. In 1810 the estate was sold to the Reverend Robert Lowth, during his ownership it was recorded as Chiswick Grove. In 1831 it was bought by the Duke of Devonshire who carried out extensive alterations to the house, removing the top storey entirely. The duke also developed much of the land for the Grove Park estate. In 1894 the house was rented to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Shipway who bought it in 1897 and lived there until his death in 1928 when the house was demolished.
