Note 355 — Chapter XXIII · AUDUBON IN LONDON

Swainson's house has been kindly identified by my friend, Mr. George E. Bullen, to whom I am indebted also for an interesting photograph, taken from an old print. Mrs. Swainson, who died February 12, 1835, was buried in the parish church, with which she was closely identified, at London Colney, and a tablet to her memory is still to be seen there. Swainson probably preferred the historic associations of Tyttenhanger, a name originally applied to the manor and manor house of the Abbot of St. Albans, a famous abbey property acquired before the Conquest, with a history extending over six hundred years, but he did not live there. The oldest resident now on the spot, a man over ninety, told Mr. Bullen that as a boy he often collected butterflies, moths and other specimens of natural history which he took to "Highfield Hall," and was always paid by one of the Swainson children. Since Swainson's time the original house, which was approached by a long walk, has become almost unrecognizable, having received an addition to one side; the grass land which then surrounded it has been converted into beautiful lawns.