Flitwick Manor 4.15

Flitwick Manor is a Grade II* Listed Georgian country house in the south of Flitwick, Bedfordshire, England. It is located on Church Road off the A5120 road. It is currently run as a hotel by the hotelier firm Topland, trading as Hallmark Hotels.Early historyEdward Blofield built Flitwick Manor in 1632. He died in 1663 and left the property to his young wife Jane. In 1668 she married Samuel Rhodes and the property passed through the Rhodes family until it was bequeathed in 1736 by Benjamin Rhodes to Humphry Dell who was a relative. Humphry Dell (1706-1764) was a physician who practiced in Flitwick. He was a friend of Jeffrey Fisher and acted as godfather to his daughter Anne who was born in 1757. When Dell died in 1764 he left Flitwick Manor to Anne Fisher, his goddaughter, but as she was only seven years old. Her father Jeffrey Fisher was the proprietor until she turned twenty-one. An engraving of Flitwick Manor was made during this time in 1776 which is shown. Anne married James Hesse of Edmonton in 1778 but he died in 1783 and in 1789 she married George Brooks (1741-1817). The Manor then came into the possession of the Brooks family where it remained for the next 200 years.The Brooks familyGeorge Brooks was a barrister and banker in London. After he married Anne he continued to live there and rented Flitwick Manor. Robert Trevor was a very significant tenant as it was he who instigated the significant changes to the Manor between 1793 and 1808. He agreed with George Brooks to pay half of the costs. In 1816 George's son John Thomas Brooks (1794-1858) was given Flitwick manor on his marriage to Mary Hatfield. This couple lived there for the rest of their lives.John Thomas Brooks wrote several diaries which give a picture of life at Flitwick Manor. He was particularly fond of his garden and made major improvements to the grounds. When he died in 1858 his eldest son Major John Hatfield Brooks inherited the Manor. John Hatfield Brooks had married Sophia Margaret Cloete in 1850 in Calcutta. The couple had two daughters and when John died in 1907 his daughter Catherine Mary Frances Brooks (1853-1934) inherited the house.