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History - The 20th Century

ERNEST AND MARY GILLICK

Sculptors Ernest and Mary Gillick first came to Chelsea from Nottingham around 1903. They had met at the Nottingham School of Art and both later studied at the Royal College of Art. After living and working at various locations on the Kings Road and Cheyne Row, they leased the Close in 1913 and from 1914 lived in the Manse until 1964.

 

The Close had been unoccupied for several years and the Gillicks cleared rubbish that had been thrown over the walls and began to lay out their new surroundings. They built the porch at the entrance to the Manse, added and expanded doorways to the Chapel which became their studio and designed and built Studio 4. They converted most of the old Chapel to artists’ Studios 1, 2, and 3. They planted the plane trees inside the Close walls and laid the path on the North terrace with Portland stone and pebbles from the beaches of Cornwall where they spent time at the Lamorna artist colony. A privet hedge was planted round the Burial Ground, and the four fig trees planted in its centre.

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They also developed the South end of the Close. Many classic sculptures, coins and medals were designed and created here by the Gillicks including the allegorical group that is on the National Westminster Bank above Bank tube station, carved reliefs of Sir Thomas More and Sir John Crosby now in Crosby Hall, Chelsea. In 1952 Mary Gillick designed the first effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Mint which appeared on UK and Commonwealth coinage from 1953-1968. This design is still used on Maundy money and the silhouette is still used on Royal Mail commemorative stamps. Mary Gillick survived Ernest Gillick, and their tenancy ended on her death in 1964.

a decorative path

THE GILLICK PAGEANT

The pergola, Portland stone seat, columns, and timber shield sculpture were created by Ernest and Mary Gillick in the early C20th to be a focal point at the South end of the Close. The Pageant records the 500 year history of the (now demolished) house which had been known as the 'Greatest House in Chelsea' in the 17th century, and its estate. The shields are the coats of arms of the owners of the estate up until the present Moravian owners.

 

More 1520 – More purchased the land and built a house.

Paulet 1535 – After More’s execution the estate was granted to Sir William Paulet, first Marquess of Winchester, and inherited by his son the second Marquess.

Fiennes 1576 – The Estate passed to Gregory Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre of the South, and his wife Anne, a daughter of the Marchioness of Winchester by her former husband, Sir Robert Sackville.

Cecil 1595 – On the death of Lady Dacre, the house was left to Lord Burleigh, who is said to have lived there, followed by his youngest son, Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, who took possession in 1597.

Clinton – Gorges 1599 – The great house was sold to Henry Clinton, second Earl of Lincoln who settled the property on his son-in-law, Sir Arthur Gorges and his daughter Elizabeth. ‘But while Lincoln lived in the great house, he had another house built for Gorges and his wife close by, just north of Lindsey House’ this was known as Gorges House.

Cranfield 1619 – Lincoln sold More’s house to Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, who also purchased several additions to the property, including “Brick Barn Close” and “The Sandhills,” both north of the King’s Road.

Villiers 1627 – The house was granted by Charles I to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. After the Duke’s assassination, the family continued to reside here until the outbreak of the Civil War, when the house was seized by Parliament.

Digby 1674 – By then, the house had been passed on to the trustees of George Digby, Earl of Bristol after a turbulent history of ownership during the Civil War. Occupied during the Commonwealth by the Parliamentary Commissioners, Sir Bulstrode Whitlocke and John Lisle and passing through the second Duke of Buckingham who lost it through his debts.

Somerset 1682 – Bristol’s Countess sold the house to Henry, Marquess of Worcester, afterwards Duke of Beaufort, the house remaining in his family until 1720.

Sloane 1737 – Beaufort House was purchased by Sir Hans Sloane. Sloane demolished the already ruined Beaufort House for the lead on the roof then sold the land to its current owners.

shields showing coats of arms

CHRISTIAN THE LION

In the 1970s, John Rendall and Ace Berg, who worked in ‘Sophistocat’, a furniture shop on the King’s Road, bought a lion cub from Harrods which they called Christian. As Christian grew, they were allowed to exercise him in the Close as it is completely enclosed and safe!

 

Eventually, when they realised that he was too big to live in London, they were able to return Christian to Africa. They went back to see him once, and he still remembered them, even though he was now a wild lion, with his own family.

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See the film about Christian on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=btuxO-C2IzE

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