Belhus

About

Belhus is a golf course, country park, former stately home and manor in the parish of Aveley in Essex, England. The historic manor was known in medieval times variously as "Bellhouse, Belhouse (as commemorated by today's "Belhouse Avenue" in the village of Aveley), Bell House", etc. It is now part of the Thames Chase woodland planned for the area.

The name Belhus derived from the 14th-century tenants of the manor who, according to Morant (1768), came from Ramsden Bellhouse. The name is associated with Nicholas de Belhus, who may have taken his surname name from the manor. It was later the home of the Barrett family, later the Barrett-Lennard family. The house was visited by Queen Elizabeth I in 1578. Belhus was among the properties owned by Dorothy, Lady Dacre, after the death of her husband. After her own death, an inventory was taken of her possessions at Belhus. A 17th-century curtain from Belhus was donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Mrs John Pollock, daughter of Sir Richard Barrett-Lennard, 5th Baronet. In the middle of the 18th century, the mansion was substantially altered to conform to the fashionable "gothic" style. Thurrock Museum has a...