Barn Elms replaced the earlier one occupied by Sir Francis Walsingham, "Elizabeth's Spymaster". Queen Elizabeth I would visit Barn Elms to see her Spymaster. Barn Elms features in English literary history from the time the royalist poet Abraham Cowley moved to the house belonging to John Cartwright in 1663. In the 1660s Barn Elms became a fashionable destination for boating picnics. Samuel Pepys, who arranged many a Sunday afternoon or moonlit evening boating party to Barn Elms himself, recorded that on 26 May 1667: "I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw some gallant ladies and people come
Baron Walsingham Baron Walsingham Baron Walsingham, of Walsingham in the County of Norfolk, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. This noble title was created in 1780 for Sir William de Grey on his retirement as Lord Chief Justice, who had previously served as Solicitor-General and as Attorney-General. His son, the second Baron, represented Wareham, Tamworth and Lostwithiel in the House of Commons and served as Joint Postmaster-General from 1787 to 1794; Lord Walsingham was also Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords for many years. His eldest son, the third Baron, was a Lieutenant-General in the Army, who