Markfield, 'on an eminence on the east side of .... at a distance from the high road at Stamford Hill, in the pencil of Tottenham, a short distance northward from the Turnpike' (W. Robinson, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Tottenham, 1840, with engraving of 'Mark Field House' facing p. 123) was built by its first owner William Hobson, a builder, citizen and fishmonger: he was one of the biggest contractors of his time, building some of the London docks as well as Martello towers along the Essex Coast. Another drawing of Markfield, similar in size and technique, belongs to the Musée du Louvre, Paris (RF. 6082 repr. exhibition catalogue, Constable, Tate Gallery 1976, no. 67, q.v. for the information given above), as do two sketchbooks, one dated 11 July 1806 (RF. 08700 and RF. 08701). One of the attractions of Markfield may have been Hobsen's thirteen daughters; as with the Cobbold daughters, whom Constable sketched in March of the same year, there may have been an element of matchmaking in the visit.
This drawing came from an album made up by Mrs. Batty as she travelled down from Scotland via London to France and Switzerland. She seems to have been related to the travel writer Robert Batty