Marshalls

In 1618 Marshalls was an estate of some 40 acres in the ownership of a family called Thorowgood who held it until the early C18th. The name is presumed to derive from the Marshall family who owned the estate in the C12th. It is said to be on the site of Durolitum, a Roman military camp; Romford was situated on the great Roman road between London and Colchester. By 1816 the Marshalls estate comprised 112 acres and at its most extensive it covered the area between what is now Eastern Avenue in the north and Main Road in the south, Pettits Lane in the east and North Street in the west. In the C17th the estate belonged to Edward Carew, son of the Deputy Steward of the Liberty of Havering. In 1816 it was purchased by Rowland Stephenson, one-time MP for Leominster, who enlarged the house as a gentleman's residence. The sale catalogue of 1816 described its grounds that had water well-stocked with fish. Stephenson was later nicknamed the ‘fugitive banker' for defrauding the bank of Remington, Stephenson & Co., of which he was a partner. When the bank failed he was made bankrupt but while in residence at Marshalls he held lavish parties. In 1829 Marshalls was purchased by Hugh McIntosh, whose family held the estate until 1924. The Tithe Map of 1845 and Edward Gotto's Map of Romford of 1853 show Marshalls estate at that time, with the buildings, parkland and substantial lake crossed by a bridge.

The land was sold in 1924 and the estate broken up for development; the parkland was largely built over with housing although the stables remained, used as a riding school, and the house was used as the Conservative Club until after WWII. It then became an annexe for Romford County Technical School but later deteriorated as new school buildings were added, and was eventually demolished in 1959. The site was first used to extend Romford County Technical School, and part of the land became Marshalls Park Upper School and Romford Adult College. The house was located to the west of Havering Drive and north of Park Drive; a drawing of 1890 shows a stuccoed building of five bays facing a stretch of water with a small C18th bridge. The bridge remains today, visible from Lake House, and a remnant of the serpentine lake also survives, now surrounded by a development of early C20th private houses and reached from Park Drive. Two further schools have been built over the rest of the site of the house.