Place Name
Brettenham Park was the country estate of Sir Thomas Courtenay Theydon Warner who developed land on his Walthamstow estate for housing. His company, The Warner Estate Co. Ltd., was registered in 1891, and in 1897 he created another company which became Courtenay Building Ltd. to construct the housing. He bought Brettenham by 1903. He was also the first mayor of the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow after its incorporation in 1929. A Liberal MP he was made baronet of Brettenham Park, Suffolk, on July 9, 1910. The name Brettenham itself means Brettas’ (the Britons) meadow or enclosure. After Sir Courtenay’s death the Grade II* listed house, originally built in the 16thCentury, was passed to his son. When he died in 1956 it was bought by Old Buckenham Hall School, a day and boarding preparatory school with pre-prep for boys and girls.
