The estate of Wormleybury, originally known as Wormley Bury, was one of several estates with which King Harold endowed Waltham Abbey. A house was built on the site in 1525, just north of the present building. The first houses's owner was Edward Sharnebrook. Wormley Bury was in the Abbey’s possession until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, between 1536 and 1541. Afterwards, the estate was granted to Edward North and his heirs. North sold the manor to Elizabeth Woodcliffe. The house was subsequently bequeathed to William Woodcliffe, and it later passed to many owners in the next two centuries. The sixteenth century house was replaced by a new house built in 1734, by John Deane for Alexander Hume.. Sir Abraham Hume, 1st Baronet, rebuilt Wormleybury house in the 1770s. The present house was an expansion of the earlier house built in 1734 for his older brother, Alexander Hume. Abraham Hume inherited the estate from Alexander when he died in 1765. Architect, Robert Mylne supervised the house remodel from 1767 to 1769, and from 1781 to 1782, after Abraham's son, Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Baronet inherited the estate after his father's death in 1772. The interior decorationof the house was supervised by Robert Adam from 1777 to 1779. Adam also designed the garden buildings for the estate. The drawing room has painted roundels by Angelica Kauffman. The Wormleybury estate passed to the male children of Lady Brownlow, after Lord Hume died without male issue in 1838. The estate passed through several owners, and is currently divided into flats. The house is a Grade I listed building.
Park and garden
Lord Hume and his wife, Lady Amelia were well known among leading horticulturalists during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, both in England and abroad. With the help of their gardener, James Mean, they established many exotic plant species in the gardens and greenhouses at Wormleybury. They introduced into England, between 1785 and 1825, a large collection of rare plants, primarily from India and the Far East. Botanist James Edward Smith, along with other notable botanists at the time, discussed the Humes's contribution to English horticulture in their publications. Many new plant species were first cultivated at Wormleybury after they arrived in England. According to Smith, in his volume, Exotic Botany, "Dr. Roxburgh... has sent Lady Hume a fine young tree of this species, Dellinia speciosa, Malabar, which is now in a very thriving state. It is presumed to be the first ever brought alive to Europe". The Humes introduced the first white pomegranate in England in 1796, and the 'Maiden's Blush' and the large Mandarin orange in 1805. The Hume's most important introduction, the first Tea Rose from China, 'Hume's Blush Tea Scented China Rose' was planted at Wormleybury in 1810. Wormleybury is listed Grade II in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
