Grim's Dyke

Grim's Dyke
The main entrance
LocationOld Redding
AreaHarrow Weald
Built1872
ArchitectRichard Norman Shaw
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameGrimsdyke
Designated5 September 1969
Reference no.1079676
Official nameGrims Dyke
Designated5 July 1996
Reference no.1001254
Grim's Dyke is located in London Borough of Harrow
Grim's Dyke
Location of Grim's Dyke in London Borough of Harrow

Grim's Dyke (sometimes called Graeme's Dyke until late 1891)[1] is a house and estate in Harrow Weald, in northwest London, England. The house was built from 1870 to 1872 by Richard Norman Shaw for painter Frederick Goodall and named after the nearby prehistoric earthwork known as Grim's Ditch. It was converted into a hotel, Grim's Dyke Hotel, in 1970.

The house is best known as the home of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, of the opera partnership Gilbert and Sullivan, who lived and farmed there for the last two decades of his life. He died while attempting to save a girl from drowning in his lake. Lady Gilbert and the Gilberts' ward, Nancy McIntosh, lived there until her death in 1936. The statue of Charles II now found in Soho Square stood on the property from about 1880 to 1938. The house was then used as a rehabilitation centre until 1963.

From 1963, the house was used mainly as a location for films and television, including Futtocks End and The Avengers. Since its conversion into a hotel, the house continues to be used as a film location. The hotel leases 30 of the original 110 acres of land that Gilbert purchased with the house.

  1. ^ How, Harry. Illustrated Interviews: No. IV – Mr. W. S. Gilbert", The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, October 1891, pp. 330–41, reprinted at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 20 November 2011