It was named after an early pastoral run managed by Edmund Blucher Uhr, who named it after the Essex village of Wivenhoe.
Charles Cowper built Wivenhoe in 1837 and lived there for about 30 years.
During the First World War, a bridge was built across the river to enable members of the nearby Colchester garrison to board trains at Wivenhoe when on their way to Gallipoli.
John Gurdon Rebow died in 1870 and passed the estate to his son Hector Gurdon Rebow, during whose ownership Wivenhoe House survived England's worst-ever earthquake in 1884.