The Frythe was part of the property of Holywell Priory, Shoreditch, and in 1523 William Wilshere obtained a sixty-year lease of the Frythe from the priory. As a result of the dissolution of the monasteries, in 1539 the property was granted to Sir John Gostwick and Joan his wife. Within ten years, Wilshere had purchased The Frythe from Gostwick's heirs, and the property remained in the possession of the Wilshere family for several centuries.[1]
The present "Gothic revival" mansion was built in 1846 for William Wilshere (MP for Great Yarmouth from 1837 to 1846). The architects were Thomas Smith and Edward Blore. After William Wilshere's death in 1867 the house was enlarged by his brother Charles Willes Wilshere who inherited it. In 1908 on Charles Wilshere's death, it passed on to his three unmarried daughters, until the last one died in 1934. The estate passed to a great-nephew, Captain Gerald Maunsell Gamul Farmer, of a landed gentry family of Nonsuch, Surrey, who adopted the surname of Wilshere,[2] and ran the house as "The Frythe Residential and Private Hotel".[3]
The Frythe was for many years a commercial research facility, operated by ICI from 1946, by Unilever from 1963 and by Smith, Kline & French from 1977.[3]
The Frythe site was closed by GlaxoSmithKline and sold to a property development company on 19 December 2010.[6] In 2017, the conversion of the property into flats was still underway.[7]
Referencesedit
^"Parishes: Welwyn, A History of the County of Hertford". 1912. pp. 165–171. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
^Burke's Landed Gentry 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, 1952, pp. 811, 2745
^ abcd. Archived from the original on 13 March 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
frythe, country, house, grounds, rural, hertfordshire, just, south, village, welwyn, about, miles, north, london, contents, history, early, history, station, research, facility, unilever, residential, accommodation, referenceshistory, editearly, history, edit,. The Frythe is a country house set in its own grounds in rural Hertfordshire just south of the village of Welwyn about 30 miles north of London The Frythe Contents 1 History 1 1 Early history 1 2 SOE Station IX 1 3 Research facility 1 3 1 Unilever 1 3 2 GSK 1 4 Residential Accommodation 2 ReferencesHistory editEarly history edit The Frythe was part of the property of Holywell Priory Shoreditch and in 1523 William Wilshere obtained a sixty year lease of the Frythe from the priory As a result of the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 the property was granted to Sir John Gostwick and Joan his wife Within ten years Wilshere had purchased The Frythe from Gostwick s heirs and the property remained in the possession of the Wilshere family for several centuries 1 The present Gothic revival mansion was built in 1846 for William Wilshere MP for Great Yarmouth from 1837 to 1846 The architects were Thomas Smith and Edward Blore After William Wilshere s death in 1867 the house was enlarged by his brother Charles Willes Wilshere who inherited it In 1908 on Charles Wilshere s death it passed on to his three unmarried daughters until the last one died in 1934 The estate passed to a great nephew Captain Gerald Maunsell Gamul Farmer of a landed gentry family of Nonsuch Surrey who adopted the surname of Wilshere 2 and ran the house as The Frythe Residential and Private Hotel 3 SOE Station IX edit nbsp Weapon developed by Station IX The Frythe was commandeered in August 1939 by the British Military Intelligence 4 During the Second World War it became a secret British Special Operations Executive factory known as Station IX making commando equipment Secret research included military vehicles and equipment explosives and technical sabotage camouflage biological and chemical warfare In the grounds of The Frythe small cabins and barracks functioned as laboratories and workshops 4 Research facility edit The Frythe was for many years a commercial research facility operated by ICI from 1946 by Unilever from 1963 and by Smith Kline amp French from 1977 3 Unilever edit From 1946 to 1963 the site was shared by ICI with Unilever 3 New buildings were built by Unilever in the 1960s with a contract for 400 000 in 1964 to Taylor Woodrow Research was conducted on edible oils margarine ice cream and frozen foods in the 1960s Techniques included molecular biophysics X ray crystallography nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy NMR mass spectrometry ESR spectroscopy electron paramagnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy 3 GSK edit nbsp Cimetidine discovered at The FrytheSmith Kline amp French discovered Tagamet Cimetidine at The Frythe in 1971 which treats peptic ulcers by Sir James Black FRS and C Robin Ganellin FRS with research on H2 antagonist 5 Residential Accommodation edit The Frythe site was closed by GlaxoSmithKline and sold to a property development company on 19 December 2010 6 In 2017 the conversion of the property into flats was still underway 7 References edit Parishes Welwyn A History of the County of Hertford 1912 pp 165 171 Retrieved 6 January 2018 Burke s Landed Gentry 17th edition ed L G Pine 1952 pp 811 2745 a b c d The Frythe Welwyn Hertfordshire Archived from the original on 13 March 2015 Retrieved 6 January 2018 a b S O E Retrieved 25 April 2009 Ganellin C R Parsons M E 1982 Pharmacology of Histamine Receptors Butterworth Heinemann ISBN 978 0 7236 0589 8 Welwyn site sold for 15m Welwyn Hatfield Times 3 December 2010 Retrieved 6 January 2018 New era for Welwyn s former Commando gadget lab Welwyn Hatfield Times 16 April 2017 Retrieved 6 January 2018 grid reference TL22614851 49 12 N 0 13 24 W 51 82000 N 0 22333 W 51 82000 0 22333 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Frythe amp oldid 1183278110, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
