Charlton House is celebrating its 400th anniversary
Ornate design, views across London and a ghost with wandering hands - there's plenty to celebrate at Charlton House, as reporter THOM KENNEDY discovers.
WHILE Christmas and New Year provide plenty of reasons for celebration, Charlton House had an extra reason to crack open the bubbly.
The building, widely considered to be the best preserved Jacobean house in Greater London, spent December and early January celebrating its 400th anniversary.
Charlton House's first flagstone was laid in 1607, after Adam Newton, tutor to the then Prince of Wales, commissioned its building, although it was a further five years before it was completed.
When the house was built, it was with the hope it would at some point accommodate royal visitors - an
ambition which went unfulfilled.
Charlton House manager Sue Butterfield said: "Newton was a very outgoing man, and the entrance marks his personality in that it is so
elaborate.
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"There are gargoyles and lions' heads all over it. It is quite magnificent. The building itself is mainly red brick, but with a wonderful facade.
"It is built on an apex so you can look from the river to the north up as far as Shooters Hill in the south."
Councillor John Fahy
In modern times, Charlton House, Charlton Road, Charlton, has become a centrepoint for the community, and is open to the public seven days a week. It also offers a tea room, a library and a toy library.
This is a departure from the house's use before it was bought by the council for just £45,000.
A succession of different owners had held the house privately, beginning with Newton and ending with the 1925 sale to the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich.
During its long period of private ownership, the general public very rarely got near the house, especially after the Horn Fayre, an annual event dating back to 1268, was banned from stopping at the boundary of the house because of rowdy behaviour.
Although Charlton House is out of private hands now, it is said the ghost of one previous owner, William Langhorn, still haunts the building.
Langhorn, a man in his 80s, had married a woman in her 20s but died shortly afterwards.
His ghost is said to walk the corridors, pinching young ladies' backsides.
External investment in the house has seen it brought into the modern age, and it is now open for concerts every Friday lunchtime, and has a large garden open to the public.
Councillor John Fahy, Greenwich Council's Cabinet Member for Sport, Culture and Olympics, said: "As the Anniversary year comes to an end, I'm very proud of all the projects and events that have been made possible thanks to the commitment from
everyone involved with Charlton House."
Many of the open events held last year were photographed as part of the house's anniversary, and these photographs will be on display until January 14.
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