Tucked beside one of the world's busiest airports sits a piece of English history that most travellers rushing through Heathrow will never know existed. In the village of Stanwell in Surrey, the grounds of a once grand estate called Stanwell Place now lie forgotten. The manor house is gone. The parkland has been swallowed by time. Only a pair of iron entrance gates remain standing as the last trace of a property that hosted wartime military commanders and a young Iraqi king.
As reported by Metro, Stanwell Place grew over several centuries under different owners. Its most significant development came in the early 19th century when the Gibbons family built the manor house at the heart of the estate. The surrounding parkland is believed to have been designed in the 18th century and once covered hundreds of acres. Over time portions of the land were sold off for reservoirs and smallholdings and the estate gradually shrank.
