Cranbrook Castle, or Raymond’s Folly, Ilford, Essex

In 1765 Charles Raymond built a tower on his estate at Valentines in Ilford, Essex. Money was not an issue, for Raymond had grown wealthy in business, and in particular shipping, having started his career in the employ of the East India Company. The prominently-placed sham fortification was an eye-catcher that announced his status to all who passed by. It was intended as his family mausoleum, but things didn’t quite go to plan.

Raymond (c.1713-1788) bought the Valentines (sometimes Valentine’s) estate in 1754. He renovated the house, and filled it with treasures from his travels and curiosities brought home on his ships. His garden was home to a menagerie with exotic birds, and in 1771 one Captain Rogers returned to England from China with a sampan to sail on the estate’s lakes.

Sir Charles Raymond (he was created a baronet in 1774) died in 1788. His plans for a grand mausoleum had been abandoned when the Bishop of London apparently refused to consecrate the tower. In his will Sir Charles stipulated a more conventional funeral plan: he wished to be ‘buried in as private a manner as may be’. He was laid to rest at St Margaret of Antioch in Barking, where he is commemorated by a monument in the church.

Daniel Lysons noted the tower in his Environs of London, published in 1796. He described it as being built in 1765 as a burial place, but noted that ‘it was never put to that use’. The little further information we have comes from the Ilford historian George Tasker. He wrote about Cranbrook Castle, as it became known (the Cran Brook runs nearby and gives it name to the area), in the local newspaper, and in 1901 published Ilford Past & Present. Tasker was privy to information from a descendant of Raymond, described as an ‘impeachable authority’, who stated that the intended mausoleum had cost £420 to build, and that the disagreement with the Bishop had led to the plans being dropped. Tasker had explored the tower, and wrote that outlines of the fourteen semi-circular niches for coffins could still be traced on the walls of the vault, which was built within the mound on which the tower stands.

Throughout the 19th century Cranbrook Castle had been rented out as a dwelling house: tenants in the second-half of the century included the local milkman, his wife and four daughters. Tasker described how the ground floor chapel had been divided into two rooms, and the room above had been converted into four apartments. Another writer thought it made an odd home, as the spiral staircase from the chapel to the roof took up much of the space. The tower, which was ‘conspicuous several miles round’, remained a popular local landmark, and featured on countless picture postcards.

During the First World War Cranbrook Castle was taken over by the Admiralty and became ‘the most important observation station’ near London, giving ‘very valuable information during air raids’. After the war the tower deteriorated and became a target for vandals bent on ‘wanton destruction’. By this time the land around the tower was in demand for housing, and new homes on the 45 acre Cranbook Castle Estate were advertised from the start of the 1920s.

Alongside the housing the Port of London Authority was building a new recreation ground, and locals became aware that their tower was under threat. There were proposals to turn it into a museum, or to incorporate it into the new pavilion needed for the sports ground, but ‘the authorities ordered its removal for causes not determined’. The strongly-built tower did its best to resist, with 12 strong men with ropes being needed to pull down the turrets in 1923. But soon not a trace remained, and the site was developed.

The Valentines estate was bought by the local authority in 1912: the mansion became council offices and the grounds became a public park. With help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and an active Friends group the house and parkland were restored in 2007-08. The house is now open regularly, with furnished period rooms on view, and also operates as a wedding venue. The gardens can be visited daily. Read more https://valentinesmansion.com

For the work of the Friends see https://valentines.org.uk

The castle is remembered in Ilford in the names and logos of Cranbrook Castle Lawn Tennis Club and Cranbrook Castle Montessori Nursery.

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