The Uxbridge Treaty House

In January 1645, the Peace Faction of the English Parliament was able to arrange negotiations between the king and parliament in an attempt to end the bloody English Civil War.  Straddling the London-Oxford Road on the parliamentary side of the front lines, the town of Uxbridge was chosen as the the site for these negotiations.

Among the commissioners negotiating on behalf of King Charles I was Sir Richard Lane (the subject of this research project).

First arriving for an unplanned stop in Uxbridge during a 2018 research trip to the UK, I knew very little about the building except that it was a listed Class II* historic site that (today) hosted a pub called the Crown and Treaty.  But when we arrived (hoping to enjoy a pint of English ale in a place Richard Lane had once been), we found the  building was was dark, empty and locked up.  In a state of significant disrepair, the lovely old building was between owners.

I didn’t realize at the time that there was a significant,  little recognized mystery about the Uxbridge Treaty House.  Nor could I have guessed that my curiosity about it would lead me down an unexpected “rabbit hole” of research that would occupy the majority of my effort for the next 5 years.  But, by studying the surviving building and piecing together a wide scattering of clues, I was ultimately able to resolve something that has been lost to history for more than 200 years–the original, spectacular form of this historic structure and its impressive grounds.

A 3D model of the house and its grounds that began as a research tool evolved into a visualization tool.  Although the folks at Industrial Lights and Magic won’t be calling me with job offers anytime soon, I was able to produce an amateurish but fascinating “fly through” video of this historic site as it was during the time of the 1645 Peace Treaty Negotiations.  I also arranged for an artist, Misha Farris, to create a lovely artists rendition of the original building.  This artwork was donated to the town of Uxbridge, and perhaps one day will appear in the new museum being built there.

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