Bentley Priory

Bentley Priory
The priory in 2008
Type	Stately home
Location	Harrow
Coordinates	51°37′36″N 0°20′03″W / 51.62669°N 0.334175°W / 51.62669; -0.334175
OS grid reference	TQ 15473 93279
Area	London
Built	1789–1818
Architect	John Soane Robert Smirke
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Central entrance block of Bentley Priory
Designated	25 May 1983
Reference no.	1358638
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
Official name	Bentley Priory
Designated	9 December 1999
Reference no.	1001440
Location of Bentley Priory in London Borough of Harrow

Bentley Priory is an eighteenth to nineteenth century stately home and deer park in Stanmore on the northern edge of the Greater London area in the London Borough of Harrow.

It was originally a medieval priory or cell of Augustinian Canons in Harrow Weald, then in Middlesex. There are no remains of the original priory, but it probably stood near Priory House, off Clamp Hill.^[1]

In 1775, Sir John Soane designed a large mansion house north of the original priory, called Bentley Priory, for the wealthy businessman James Duberley. This was added to throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by various owners. It was significantly extended in 1788, again by Sir John Soane, for John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn. The priory was the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, queen consort of William IV, before her death there in 1849. It subsequently served as a hotel and girls' school before being acquired by the Royal Air Force in 1926.

In the Second World War, Bentley Priory was the headquarters of RAF Fighter Command, and it remained in RAF hands in various roles until 2008.

As of 2013, the site has been sold to a developer and plans to convert some of the building to luxury apartments and build new houses have been approved and construction commenced. The Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust has secured part of the building to be used as a museum and memorial dedicated to those who served in the RAF.