- Camden Park Rd, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 5HJ, United Kingdom
Collections
Camden Place is the home of Chislehurst Golf Club. It is not a museum but we are proud to be able to showcase its history and heritage.
The rich history of Camden Place has made it something of a magnet for artefacts and items of interest found hidden in the Club’s archives or collected by others.
The materials in our archive are wide ranging, including letters, ephemera, pictures and artefacts, mainly associated with the life of Napoleon lll and the Imperial family.
The Sygrave Collection
In November 2022 historian and private collector, Ian Sygrave came on a tour of Camden Place. His life long interest in French history meant he had accumulated a large and diverse personal collection relating to Napoleon lll and the Imperial family.
After a year of Ian’s generously sharing his extensive knowledge with the people of Chislehurst, Ian decided he wanted to leave his collection to Chislehurst Golf Club. As Ian said ‘I can think of nothing better than for my collection to come home.‘
This was an interesting challenge as well as an opportunity for the golf club. We are not a museum and space for display of artefacts is limited but much of the collection which is in ephemera could be shared digitally. With the help of grants from Historic Houses Association, Ovation Data and ASAMAA Charitable Trust we were able to digitise some 3,000 pages and images. You can access these via the Collections section of this site.
A small heritage display
The golf club has been able to purchase a pair of heritage cabinets enabling us to curate a small exhibition of artefacts in the club house. We aim to change the display every 2 – 3 months.
Carpeaux's sculpture of the Prince Imperial and his dog
The Filon Collection
An attic find
Late in 2023 a phone call to Chislehurst Society, our local civic society group, led to a box of material (much of it in French) being saved from the skip.
The box turned out to contain letters and photos belonging to the Prince Imperial’s tutor, Augustin Filon. He was educated at the École Normale and he lectured for some years in the Lycées of Nice and Grenoble. In October 1867 Duruy, then the French minister of education, appointed him tutor to the Prince Imperial. He committed not to marry until the Prince completed his education and so he stayed with the Prince even when he was a cadet at the Woolwich Military Academy. During the Empress’s Regency in 1870 M. Filon acted as her private secretary.
He later produced two books of his memories of the Prince Imperial and the Empress.
There are a number of interesting things in this small Filon collection – perhaps most notably the hand written and annotated notes planning for Napoleon’s funeral.
https://my.ehive.com/accounts/206788/objects/2189842/planning-notes-for-napoleon-llls-funeral
Engraving of St Mary's Church made by Augustin Filon
Additional archive contributions
Local people , collectors and those with a connection to the Imperial story have shared their materials and allowed us to share images on line, from coins to autographs and cartoons. The Priest at St Mary’s Church, Father Francis Lynch, has a large collection of Punch cartoons, whilst a local man has a large collection of coins and medals that have been lent to us for different events.
We have been lucky to host talks by a number of experts, historians and authors who have shared their insights with a growing loyal audience.
Punch cartoon: Louis Napoleon's journey to becoming President
Architecture of the Chateau de Bercy
Birthday book, signed by the Prince Imperial during the voyage to South Africa