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Trent Country Park is a relic of the Royal Hunting Forest of Enfield Chase which was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Trent Country Park has survived almost unchanged from the days when it served as a royal hunting ground. Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James I were among those who hunted here.

In 1777 George III gave 200 acres to his favourite physician, Dr Richard Jebb as a reward for saving the life of the King’s younger brother, the then Duke of Gloucester. This occurred in the Italian Alps at Trento, hence the name of the park. Dr Jebb had a small villa built in a classical style by the architect William Chambers (who also created Somerset House). The house was bought in 1852 by the Bevan Family.

In 1912, the Estate, now named Trent Park, was inherited by Sir Philip Sassoon who lived from 1888 to 1939. In 1926 he bought the freehold of the Estate from the Crown. He developed Trent Park as a place for grand entertainment, rebuilding parts of the house, laying out new formal gardens, creating a golf course, and this Japanese water garden below the east end of the lake.

The house has seen many uses including as an interrogation centre for enemy airmen in the Second World War. It is now part of the campus of Middlesex University.