:Redleaf House...the property was [sold] to William Wells, the wealthy owner of a shipyard at Blackwall (sold in around 1806). Wells was a collector of fine art, at one point owning a large collection of old masters, amongst them the famous triple portrait of Charles I by Anthony Van Dyck (now in the Wallace collection) and works by Claude, Cuyp and Van de Velde. The 19th Century sculptor Farrington records two visits to the Redleaf estate, which Wells claimed had cost around £50,000, and found that the people thereabouts were “remarkably civil”. Wells demolished the house and rebuilt a new mansion within a relaid garden including many conifers, a rockery and crazy paving which is said to be its first introduction to Britain.
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