Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Description
The map location of this house, which was taken down in 1757, is very rough and based on descriptions such as this:
Rucksholt House stood near the Lea, about a mile south of the church, and near its site is a square embankment, enclosing a circular mound, about 30 yards in diameter, and encompassed by a moat six yards in width.
It was one of the houses of (Sir William Hickes](http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/8951.php).
If you would like to update and look after the description for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com
Annotations
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Ruckholthouse.
The mansion-house, which was for many years the residence of the Hickes’s, stood about a mile south of the church. In the years 1742, 1743, and 1744, it was in the occupation of William Barton, who opened it as a place of public amusement for breakfasts and afternoon concerts, which were held weekly during the summer: oratorios were sometimes performed. It appears, by some of the advertisements (fn. 30) , that tradition called this old mansion one of Queen Elizabeth’s palaces, evidently with no foundation; it is not improbable that she honoured Sir Michael Hickes with a visit there, which might give rise to the tradition. Ruckholt-house was pulled down about the year 1757. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45472