Charles Higgins purchased the Turvey estate at the end of the C18 from Charles Henry Mordaunt, 5th Earl of Peterborough. Turvey Abbey, at the eastern end of the village, was Charles Higgins’s main residence and the family were instrumental in the development of the village at this time. Charles’s son Charles Longuet Higgins was responsible for enlarging the parish church, rebuilding the estate cottages, erecting new schools and providing a reading room for the village.
Charles Higgins sold part of the estate to his cousin John Higgins, who built Turvey House in 1796 on former agricultural land as a home for himself and his wife, Martha (née Farrer). He also bought other land in Turvey, including the former inn, the Tinker of Turvey (now the village store), and the Mordaunt's family mansion, Turvey Old Hall in the late 1780's from his father in-law, Mr W Farrer of Brayfield House. As well as building the house, the stables were almost certainly constructed in some form along with a walled garden, although the current garden carries a date stone of 1821.
John Higgins died on 5th July 1813, his eldest son Thomas Charles was 16 at the time of his father’s death and did not take full control of the estate until his 21st Birthday in 1818. Thomas Charles Higgins (1797-1865) was responsible for some significant changes to the estate. He was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1823 and went on to marry Charlotte Price, daughter of Sir Rose Price of Trengwainton, in 1838. In the same year a detailed survey of Turvey was carried out, and this provides the first cartographic evidence of the estate. At this time the house was set in a small park with extensive pleasure grounds to the N of the house and NW of the church. The ornamental landscape was well designed but small. When compared to an earlier map of 1783 the estate map shows the establishment of woodland outside of the park, just south of what is now Copymoor Farm, and the creation of a track along the northern edge of the park from Carlton Road to the river. The village was screened from the house by shelter-belts and plantations that wrapped around the southern and eastern sides of the park. The main approach ran from the eastern side of the church, running through open parkland to the SW of the house. A secondary approach came through a lodged entrance on the Carlton Road to the stables. The park was bounded on the western side by a hedge set below the bank of the river terrace with water meadows retained on the banks of the Ouse, giving the effect of the park extending to the river. At the southern end of this boundary were two fishponds which would have provided views to and from the house. To the NW of the house was an interconnected series of walks through a shrubbery within which was a circular garden or maze. Beyond the pleasure gardens was a canal like feature known as ‘The Cut’ which is still (2015) evident as an earthwork. The walled garden was to the E of the pleasure grounds and divided in quadrants by paths with a glasshouse along the northern, south-facing wall and what appears to be attached buildings to the rear. Beyond this to the E was an orchard set on the northern boundary of the park. Adjacent to the NE side of the house was a courtyard with an oval lawn, enclosed by the service ranges including, at the far end of the north range, an ice house.
Although Turvey House underwent considerable changes c1830 it is not clear exactly when these took place. The Tithe map of 1843 shows much of the work completed; the house had been enlarged and an upper storey added. Etchings from the 1870s indicate that Thomas Charles was responsible for the wholesale reworking of the house to produce the elevations seen today. The range to the N of the courtyard was removed and alterations made to the buildings north of the stables. To the S of the courtyard a new arrangement of the buildings can be seen and new boundary walls were created forming three yards. Changes to the buildings were mirrored in changes to the landscape. While the overall basic layout of the park remained unaltered a farmstead (now Copymoor Farm) was added on the northern edge of the park and both entrance drives were realigned. The main drive from the S was diverted to run into the courtyard on the eastern side of the house, suggesting that the orientation of the house had been altered so the main entrance was now on the E side with a garden front to the W. Additional tree and shelterbelt planting was established to line the northern end of the drive and frame the approach to the house while at the same time screening the service ranges. Similarly the drive from the Carlton Road was diverted from the S of the stables to run immediately S of the ice house.
By the mid 1840s the alterations to the house were largely completed and attention was turned to improving the landscape of the park. Between 1847 and 1856 a series of land exchanges with the Higgins family of Turvey Abbey took place, allowing expansion of the park at Turvey House and allowing the landowners to embark on a major reworking and remodelling of the village. The former C18 workhouse and a number of cottages and their gardens were removed as a result of the park and the ponds shown on the 1838 Tithe map were infilled. These features remain evident in the park as slight earthworks suggesting the survival of buried archaeological remains. In 1854 the main approach was again altered and a new lodge, Front Lodge (now known as Bottom Lodge, NHLE 1373892), was built. The new drive was laid out to the S and W of the church while the former entrance and drive was divided for gardens and building. The creation of the new drive was not without problems as parish records document that its creation ‘inclosed a considerable space of ground belonging to the parish.’ It was resolved several months later when Charles Higgins of Turvey Abbey provided new gates for the churchyard.
Following the death of Thomas Charles Higgins in 1865 there was a period of approximately 10 years when Turvey House was leased and little change is recorded during this time. It was occupied as the main family seat again in 1876.
The development of Turvey House and Park in the late C19 is recorded in detail on the Ordnance Survey (OS) 25” map of 1884 which shows dramatic changes from the mid-C19, the most significant being the creation of New Park to the N of the walled garden which extended as far as Copymoor Farm. The park was formed by the removal of field boundaries and the incorporation of the flood plain meadows into the designed landscape. The park was planted with a fairly dense scatter of trees within which were six large roundels, the whole enclosed to the north and east by a shelter belt, lined on the park side by a double avenue of trees. To the W a boat house was erected on the banks of the River Ouse. It appears there was a deliberate view from the house to the boathouse which was balanced by further views to the SW over the park to Turvey Bridge (which is scheduled NHLE 1004506) and the wider countryside. The main approach drive has retained its 1854 alignment but is shown at this time lined with an avenue of conifers. The secondary drive from Carlton Road was realigned to the S of the house yet again and the Top Lodge cottage (NHLE 1277607) appears to have been either rebuilt or significantly extended.
Further changes occurred in the pleasure grounds and gardens. The informal shrubberies to the NW of the house were swept away and the pleasure grounds much reduced in size. The circular garden feature and the woodland walks had been removed. Whilst the walled garden was retained a new enclosed area with a glasshouse is shown to the north. Beyond this a horseshoe shaped shelter belt is depicted, enclosing a garden area with a summerhouse acting as an eye catcher.
The fully developed gardens of the late C19 were recorded in 1895 by the Gardeners Chronicle which provides some detail of the gardens and its planting.
Alterations to the house and ancillary buildings are also clear on the 1884 OS map. The house has lost its central projecting bay on the SW facade and a balustraded terrace encloses the garden front. The NE corner of the house has been reduced in size and further alterations have been made to the southern service ranges, including the addition of a bay on the south-western side. To the N of the stables the service ranges have been altered and the icehouse shown on the Tithe map has disappeared along with another building to the E. To the E of the stables a new range, including loose boxes, occupies the southern side of the yard, while three new buildings are set to the south. The entrance arch over the main drive was also erected in this period as it bears William Francis Higgins’s monograph.
William Francis Higgins died in 1899 and the estate passed to his son Gustavus Francis Higgins (1873-1912). Gustavus does not appear to have lived at Turvey House initially so any changes to the landscape and setting of the house recorded on the OS 25” 1901 map are understood to be the work of his father. The changes which did occur by 1901 were not as dramatic as those of the third quarter of the C19, but they did create features which survive today. The general arrangement of the park remained unaltered but the main drive takes a pronounced sweep around the churchyard, although the conifer avenue was retained as a vista linking the house and church. The fencing around the gardens had been extended. Off the main drive a track led to a dairy on the eastern boundary of the park, whilst the entrance from Back Lodge (now known as Top Lodge) no longer joined up with the main drive to the S of the house. The pleasure grounds to the N of the house were narrowed but extended to run along the western wall of the kitchen garden. A new path linked the NE corner of the house to the SW corner of the walled garden, whilst the quartered layout of the walled garden was replaced by an angled path. N of the walled garden a glasshouse had been added to the small walled enclosure, whilst additional planting and a new axial path formed the setting of the summerhouse.
The following decades saw little change to the layout of the estate. Turvey House remained let for most of the first quarter of the C20 but by the mid-1930s the family were back in residence. Air Commodore Higgins is recorded as living at Turvey in the 1930s and 40s; he died in 1953 and the estate passed to his daughter Prunella. Prunella had married Lieutenant Colonel Sir Hanmer Hanbury in 1939 and remained at Turvey until 2004.
The current owners have commissioned a Heritage Management Plan (HMP; 2008) and are working to ensure the future management of the house and parkland. Much of the historical detail used in this report has been taken from the very detailed HMP.