Prospect Park

Originally the site of Dirle's Farm, the land was part of the Calcot Park estate. By the middle of the 18th century, Calcot Park was the home of Frances Kendrick and her husband Benjamin Child, but after Frances's death Benjamin sold the bulk of the estate to John Blagrave, keeping only the eastern part that is now Prospect Park. In the 1760s, Benjamin turned the farmhouse of Dirle's Farm into a mansion. He named the park after its views over Reading; it was formerly known as Prospecthill Park.

The present regency style house, known as The Mansion House (and originally named Prospect House), was built by John Liebenrood in the late 18th century. John Engelberts Liebenrood (1754-1821) was born in Germany in 1754. His birth name was John Engelberts Ziegenbein and he immigrated to England and obtained naturalisation in 1781. He lived with his great uncle John George Liebenrood, a very wealthy merchant in Purley. When his uncle died in 1795 he inherited his fortune and in accordance with the will changed his name to Liebenrood. In the following year he married Lucy Hancock whose brother was Rear Admiral John Hancock. Soon after his marriage John commissioned James Wright Sanderson, a…