Harlow Town Park 4.56

Harlow Town Park is a 164 acre park located in Harlow, Essex, England. The park includes Spurriers House, Pets' Corner, Bandstand, aventure playground, Water Garden, Newfoundland Garden, Peace Wood, Lookout Hill, paddling pool, outdoor gym, Harlow skatepark and showground.HistoryIn the early 19 century the land around what is now Harlow Town Park was agricultural. In 1837 a tithe was granted for farmhouse and homestead in what became Spurriers Farm.Between c.1861 and c.1868 William Cox (1817-1889) a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Finsbury, London had a house built called Spurriers House. Cox and his wife Emma Cox, née Angell lived in the house until William Cox's death in 1889 aged 72. The house was left to Emma in his will who continued to reside in the house until her death in 1895. Emma Cox left the house to her spinster sister Mary Ann Angell, who died in 1906.In 1906 Lizzie Mewburn, née Angell and her husband William Bowyer Chiltern Mewburn lived in the house. They emigrated to British Columbia for a short time where William ran a small business and Lizzie worked as a concert pianist.William Angell Mewburn and his wife Olive lived at Spurriers House in the early 1930s. William jnr. worked as a builder and oversaw the construction of The Drive, an estate which still exists today. William Mewburn went bankrupt in the mid 1930s and the house was sold.Spurriers was bought by Thomas Herbert Chapman, a solicitor in c,1935 who lived in the house with his wife Hilda Marion Chapman, née King until his death in 1950. Hilda continued to reside at Spurriers House before moving into a care home in north London prior to her death in 1960.