The Kensington Home Where Sir Hubert Parry Wrote Jerusalem Is For Sale

Even if you were raised in the most vehemently secular of households, you’ll recognise the hymn Jerusalem. In fact, for many people, it’s the only hymn they know: set to the William Blake poem And Did Those Feet In Ancient Times, it’s so good that even Edward Elgar jumped aboard the ship, writing the now-famous orchestration to the jingle. 

And we owe it, at least in part, to one Sir Charles Hubert Parry: composer, historian and teacher of music, who (rightly) thought the poem’s timbre so good that in 1916 he decided to give it a musical facelift and set it to the tune we now know so well. And now, the very Kensington home in which he composed the now-ubiquitous hymn is on the market for £21,750,000.

Who Is Hubert Parry?

Parry was born in Bournemouth and, thanks to his father Gambier inheriting a healthy sum from his grandfather, was raised at the very fancy Highnam Court in Gloucestershire. After a childhood marred with tragedy – his mother died when he was young, his father was largely absent, and his brother, Clinton, was badly affected by their stepmother’s rejection of him and his siblings – he was sent off to board at Eton.

His time at the boys’ school got off to a rocky start when his brother was sent down from Oxford for drinking, womanising, and indulging in opium, leaving his family mired in scandal – and in even more tragic news, his younger sister then died of tuberculosis in his first term. 

But despite all this bad luck, his musical interests flourished, and while still at school Parry successfully sat the Oxford Bachelor of Music examination –the youngest person who had ever done so. 

After Oxford, he tried his hand in insurance, but music proved to be his only love: he started music lessons, began composing, and was later given a teaching post at the Royal College of Music. 

He became a well-known composer and scholar, and in 1886 moved to a spectacular 17th century – and as such, the oldest building on its square – seven-bedroom house in Kensington, where he saw out his days and wrote Jerusalem in 1916, two years before he died in 1918. 

Just over 30 years later, in 1949, a blue plaque was installed outside the house, commemorating the late composer and his impact on music. Read on to discover more about this piece of musical history, now on the market for £21,750,000…

Take A Look Inside

With seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, five reception rooms and two wine cellars underneath the garden, this townhouse is hardly short of space – it’s been fitted out by its current owners to preserve its classical charm, while also being dually suitable for entertaining and family living. 

The five bedrooms are spread across the second and third floors, and, as throughout the house, have retained their period features without feeling dated: original moulding on the walls and ceilings complement the high ceilings and ornate fireplaces add to the over-300 years of character.

The huge double-aspect drawing room is particularly impressive, with windows on both sides letting in plenty of natural light, and overlooks both the communal courtyards at the front of the house and the south-facing private garden/courtyard at the back of the house. 

In terms of communal space, you’re offered a whole host of rooms to utilise to your own desire: a well-appointed kitchen, a TV room/ play room, a dining room, a snug and a study are distributed over the lower ground, ground and first floors. In the garden, two large wine cellars sit beneath the courtyard. 

Tucked away in a quiet courtyard behind the bustle of Kensington High Street, it’s easy to see why, living here, Parry was so inspired by England’s green and pleasant land.

On the market for £21,750,000, knightfrank.com