History
36 Langley Hill was built in 1904, it backs onto The Drifte, an ancient pathway which linked the Palace of the Plantagenet Kings with the Monastery in Abbots Langley. By 1913 the house was owned by William and Frances Archer and it was from this time that healing work began being practiced here.
Frances MaryArcher had been through a nervous breakdown at the turn of the century, and, travelling to the United States, had encountered an innovative system to restore health and balance in her well-being. She was so impressed and affected by these methods she trained with the originators and brought them to England. The "Archer Nerve Colony" was established to provide a residential setting to help those with "nervous diseases," as they were known at the time. Amongst others, many thespians were successfully treated using group work, singing and movement.
William Archer (1856-1924) was a renowned Theatre critic and with his wife was responsible, along with his friend George Bernard Shaw, for bringing the work of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen to the attention of the English speaking world. Both William and Frances Mary Archer became fluent Norwegian speakers in this endeavour, mostly completed before their move from Fitzrovia in London out to Kings Langley.
Shaw and Archer often sat in the garden of the house, discussing, amongst other things, the establishment of a National Theatre. At Shaw's Corner there is a photo of Archer and Shaw together.
The house passed in 1951 to London doctor Joshua Bierer and was used as a convalescent home for his patients for ten years
In 1960 a young couple, John and Jean Nuttall, moved to Kings Langley with the intention of sending their daughter Ruth to the Rudolf Steiner School, established on the site of the Palace. They looked at the house, but circumstances were such that it went to another couple for a year before they returned and purchased it.
John and Jean built a large room on the side of the house with an unexpected bequest from a distant relative in 1980, and the room has been in use for therapies and meetings ever since. After 36 happy years in the house John & Jean retired in 1998 and the house has passed to us. The Meeting Room has been completely rebuilt and refurbished, along with the rest of the house, since 1998
We would like to hear from people who remember anything about the history of 36 Langley Hill, please contact us with any photo's, stories etc