Ashridge College

"Ashridge College" is an estate and house in Hertfordshire, England; part of the land stretches into Buckinghamshire and it is close to the Bedfordshire border. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about two miles (3 km) north of Berkhamsted and twenty miles (32 km) north west of London.
It has a history of more than 700 years and has been the setting for a variety of events. As the home of a religious order for 250 years, then briefly as a royal residence and later the mansion of dukes and earls.

The house that you can see today was built between 1808 and 1814 to a design by James Wyatt in the gothic style. The only remains of the original monastery are the undercroft and the well. Parts of Monks Barn date from c1580.

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, founded a small monastery in 1530 but with the dissolution of the monasteries, Ashridge became the property of Henry VIII and was one of the residences to which his three young children were sent at various times. Mary, Elizabeth and Edward were here together in 1543. Most of Elizabeths childhood years were spent hereand at Hatfield. In 1554 when Queen Mary was on the throne, Elizabeth was removed from Ashridge and taken to London, suspected of being involved in the conspiracy of Sir Thomas Wyatt against the Queen. There was insufficient evidence to sustain the case and she was released but never returned to Ashridge.

The estate is currently owned by the National Trust and the house is a training college for Conservative party agents and workers.