Two great houses have been built here but it is not clear when the later (which burnt down in 1954) replaced the earlier. The original house had the surround of elms that was remarkable enough to give this name to the estate. The occupants can be traced from 1467.

Perhaps the most famed occupant was Sir Thomas Walsingham (about 1530-90) to whom Queen Elizabeth I granted her interest in the property so that he retired here in about 1579. One of her most able and least corrupt ministers and originator of the state secret service, Elizabeth gave him little else so that he died a pauper, buried in the night at St Paul's. His surviving daughter, Frances, was a well married lady. She married first Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), then Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1566-1601) which slightly disturbed his queen's favour, and finally the Earl of Clanricarde. That last marriage was brief. She died here in 1602 and was also buried in St Paul's but not as a pauper.

Other occupants have included: the Cartwright family from 1639 to about 1750; briefly by John James Heydegger (who was Master of the Revels to George II); then by the Hoare family (who were bankers) for some 40 years; from whom via the Hammersmith Bridge Company and a number of others it became the home of the Ranelagh Club

O/S Co-ords:2290.7867
Source(s):

A History of Barnes

Chambers Biographical Dictionary

A cottage near to Barn Elms Mansion was the home of Jacob Tonson who built onto the cottage a room for the use of the Kit Kat club. This club of 39 members had been formed by eminent Whigs opposing James II. Sir Godfrey Kneller was commissioned to paint their portraits and because of the size of the room the size of the paintings was limited to 36 x 28 inches. They were installed here about 1710 and presented to Tonson by the members. They are now in the National Portrait Gallery. A visitor to Barn Elms in 1815, Sir Richard Phillips, who was concerned to see the setting of this famous gathering, found in the club room:

The moulding and ornaments were of the fashion of the day, but going to ruin through dry rot. There were faded red cloth hangings, showing where the portraits had hung with the number and names written in chalk, as a guide to the hanger, and I read the names of Addison, Steele, Garth, and Dryden.
There were holes in the floor, and a swallows' nest in the ceiling.
[and further]
I...felt by irresistible association that every object of our affections, that our affections themselves, and that all things that delight us , must soon pass away like this place and its former inhabitants! Beginning yesterday, flourishing today, ceasing to morrow, such is the sum of the history of all organised beings

O/S Co-ords:2290.7867
Source(s):

A History of Barnes