Introduction

Abstract

This chapter describes the rural retreat of Dr. John Coakley Lettsom at Grove Hill in Camberwell, which commanded a panoramic view of the bustling and rapidly expanding city of London on the opposite side of the river Thames. Unlike larger and more rural estates, its situation in Camberwell connected Lettsom visually to the city, where his town house and successful medical practice were located. Lettsom's professional metropolitan career that began in 1770 when he became licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and began practicing in Basinghall Street in the City of London. The chapter mentions that the purchase of the estate at Camberwell in 1779 represented a statement of personal and professional success and a suitable retreat for a late Georgian medico-gentleman. This visual relationship to London also denoted Grove Hill's links to a world beyond the garden gate.