The following information is largely taken from information supplied by Joan Pearman, whose family had links to Parlaunt Park after the Ive's had given up the tenancy of the farm, much of this had come in turn from Slough Museum including information given to the Museum by Michael Bayley..
The earliest reference to a farm on the site is Grove Farm (possibly Gref or Cref Fferm i.e. Strong Farm). A 1495 spelling of the name, written by a scribe who may have been of Norman/French extraction, would seem to spell Parlaunt in a French manner as Parlande or Parlem.
The park seems to have come into being at the end of the 15th century as Langley New Park probably as a deer park. The estate had a number of owners, Sir Henry Norreys was made keeper of the park for Henry VIII in 1531 Sir Henry was executed in 1536 apparently because of links to Ann Boleyn. Prior to 1531 in 1523 Sir Henry had been granted the Manor of Langley Maresses (Marish), following Sir Henry's execution the manor was not granted to another owner until 1540 when it was granted to Sir Antony Denny. Subsequently in 1548 the manor was granted, by Edward IV, to Sir Thomas Hennage who was to serve as Vice Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth I, in 1551 Edward granted this manor, as parcel of the Honour of Windsor, to his sister the then Princess Elizabeth.
The manor later passed to the Paget family, who already owned an adjacent manor in Iver, it remained in their possession until the mid 18th century when it was accquired by Sir William Irby, later to become Lord Boston, it was shortly after this that John Piper became tenant of the farm. A record of this transaction exists at the Buckinghamshire Record Office the following is an extract from it:
Of Parlaunt Park, Mansion House, land called Hog Pasture (1a.2r.4p), Bakers Piece (7a.0r.5p), Ashen Grove (11a.1r.32p), Carters close (3a.2r.15p), Twenty Acres (21a.0r.20p), Five Acres (5a.2r.12p), Further Horsemer Green Park (7a.2r.34p), Hither Horsemer Green Park (14a.2r.25p), Hither Sutton Park (9a.3r.8p), Middle Sutton Park (16a.1r.6p), Further Sutton Park (12a.1r.27p), The Two Acres (2a.0r.3p), Colnbrook Grove (3a.1r.0p), Further Heath Piece (6a.2r.32p), Middle Heath Piece (12a.3r.4p), Hither Heath Piece (10a.2r.29p), Waldings Orchard (1a.1r.0p), Urlings Orchard (1a.1r.14p), Ockerage ? (2a.2r.30p), Barn Close (3r.25p), Old Field Close (2r.20p), Alder Close (3r.39p), 3 pieces in Langley Sheep Mead (1¾a), Checker Mead (1r.19p), 5 pieces in Theacham (2a.3r.0p), 5 pieces in Colnbrook Moore (3a.2r.32p), Stone Hill (3r.1p), Goodman's field (3a.0r.24p), Dean Mead (31p), Old Slade (3r), Wyrardisbury Field (1r.31p), Mead Field (1r.21p), 4 pieces in Hoppers Field in Sheepmead Shot (6a.2r.0p), 5 pieces in Hoppers Field in Lane Furlong (15a.1r.20p), 5 pieces in Hoppers Field in Upper Furlong (18a.1r.1p), Sutton Field (2a.3r.16p), in the parishes of Langley, Iver and Wraysbury (263a.0r.32p. total).
Term of 21 years at £140.10.0d p.a. Hon. Sir William Irby of St. George, Hanover Square, London, to John Piper of Langley, yeoman.
John Piper was married to
Anne Goodwin, their daughter Jane married Edward Ive in 1772 their
eldest son William inherited the tenancy of the farm upon the death
of his grandmother, Anne Piper, in 1799. William's son, by his
second wife Margaret, William Henry became tenant of the farm in
1851, when he reached the age of twenty one his father having died
in 1847. The exact extent to which the Ive's farmed the land
themselves is unclear as according to the details contained in
William's will some of the land was sub-let to others, the income
from which apparently was used for the benefit of Williams' widow
Margaret. A notice appeared in the Windsor & Eton Express in
1851 detailing an auction to be held on the 21st and 22nd of
October at which the live and dead farming stock of Parlaunt Park
were to be sold, this was held under the terms of Williams' will
which required his son William Henry to pay a fair price for the
stock and for the proceeds to be divided between his mother
Margaret and his siblings.
By the time of the 1881 Census the farm is occupied by an Elisha Rose who is described as farming 250 acres, the land was now in the onwership of Colonel Meeking who apparently accquired the estate in about 1855. The 1891 census has Richard Seymour as tenant of the farm and he is living in the main house with his family, his son Alfred is living at Parlaunt Park Lodge with his wife and family. In the early 1920s the farm was part of the Richings Park Estate having been purchased by the Sykes brothers, the creators of the dormitory surburb on Richings Park.
The following description and photograph of the farmhouse are from "Old English Houses" by Allan Mea (published about 1909).
PARLEM PARK
An old moated house where it is said Queen Elizabeth was nursed while her vindictive sire held sway at Windsor Castle, some three miles away as the crow flies, stands back from the road on the outskirts of the park. It is known as Parlem Park (corrupted into "Parlaunt"), and once belonged to to the Stanley's, who's coat of arms and quarterings remained in one of the old window-frames, now open to the sky. This part of the building is a sad ruin. The greater portion of the building of the roof have fallen in , and lie in a confused heap upon the ground, though some of them remain suspended. The old timbered walls are still equal to a battle with the elements, and the luxurious mantle of ivy lends support as to a friend in distress; for if no longer this is habitation for the lords of creation it is a very comfortable one for owls and the feathered tribe in general. There is a curious open corridor beneath the projecting upper storey, with oaken supports, suggestive of the Rows of Chester or the entrance to Ockwells. It is the communication between the habitable and ruinous parts of the house. One of the most interesting features, however, lies concealed beneath a tangled mess of box and yew - a dismal dungeon-chamber, with rounded roof and walls of immense thickness. Overhead dangles an ominous-looking iron ring, suggestive of unfortunate victims starved to death in "the good old days". One fancy may ramble far away, for in the corner is a hole, blocked with rubbish, the bottom of which the good farmer told me had never been touched.Moreover, there are traditions of secret passages running to Windsor, B umham Abbey and the Parsonage Farm (mentioned later); not entirely unauthenticated either, for in ploughing the land in a level line with Windsor, the hoofs of the farm-horses frequently ring forth a hollow sound, and at a considerable distance from the house. The moat is broad, but within memory was double the width across. An old farm-hand who died some twenty years ago remembered when, in place of the present brick bridge, the water was spanned by a drawbridge, which was raised regularly as those of today at Sherborne Castle in the adjoining county of Oxon.
The park is now obliterated by commercial and housing developments although the boundary can still be seen in the curve of Common Road. The farmhouse was demolished in about 1940 when the land was in the ownership of Hawker Aircraft who built the Hurricane fighter plane there during World War Two. After the war the site was used by Hawker Siddeley Nuclear Power and subsequently by Ford Trucks, the site has now been further developed and is occupied by various companies most of whom have links to nearby Heathrow Airport.