 Scargill left Luton in 1893 and the house and property was acquired by lime burner Benjamin John Harfield Forder, who renamed the estate Wardown, after the hill (War Down) behind his family home at Buriton, Hampshire.In 1903, Forder and his partners, Halley Stewart and Sir Malcolm Stewart, who later acquired the London Brick Company, decided to sell the house and park, and placed the property up for sale.The property was bought by Luton Council in 1904.