Syon House

Syon House, and its 200-acre (80 hectare) park, Syon Park, is in west London, historically within the parish of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence. The family's traditional central London residence was Northumberland House. The eclectic interior of the house was designed by the architect Robert Adam in the 1760s.

History

Syon House derives its name from Syon Abbey, a medieval monastery of the Bridgettine Order, founded in 1415 on a nearby site by King Henry V. The Abbey moved to the site now occupied by Syon House in 1431. It was one of the wealthiest nunneries in the country and a local legend recalls that the monks of Sheen had a Ley tunnel running to the nunnery at Syon. In 1539, the abbey was closed by royal agents during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the monastic community was expelled.

In 1541 and part of the following year, Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was brought to Syon for her long imprisonment. In February 1542, she was taken to the Tower of London and executed on charges of adultery. Five years later when King Henry VIII died, his coffin was brought to Syon on its way to be buried in Windsor.