Description

HERTINGFORDBURY WOOLMERS PARK
TL 21 SE
Letty Green
5/78 Woolmer's Park with attached
20.10.52 outbuildings and wall
- II*

Country house. C18 origins. Rebuilt 1796-1802 by J Lewis for 3rd Duke of
Bridgewater, shortly thereafter altered for Sir J. St. Aubyn. 1821-3
remodelled and extended by C.R. Cockerell for Sir Gore Ouseley. E wing
destroyed 1947, subsequent alterations. Stuccoed brick. Hipped slate
roofs. Neo-classical style. 2 storeys. 1:6:1 garden front: septastyle in
antis Greek Doric colonnade central on ground floor, first floor
balcony with ornamental ironwork, cornice to parapet. Outer full height
canted bays with pediments, tall 15 pane recessed sashes throughout.
Cross axial stacks. Left return is entrance front. 3 bays, central steps
up to double doors, 2/3 glazed with reeded lintel and large semi-circular
fanlight, all recessed with a distyle in antis Roman Doric porch. Central
bay breaks forward with a first floor 12 pane sash, pediment. Tripartite
sashes to outer bays, dummys to right, plat band between storeys. Right
return has a ground floor 'Venetian' window with reeded mullions under a
segmental arch. Two first floor sashes, cornice to parapet. Extending to
rear left and angled inwards is a 4 bay 3 storey service block, 2 bays
towards rear break forward. Sashes with blind windows on 2nd storey. 2
bays to rear have an entrance, first floor round-headed sash with a
balconette. To rear of main block is a large tripartite stair window.
Added to rear are further 1 and 2 storey blocks enclosing a service yard,
all stuccoed with mixed casements and sashes. Interior: stone and slate
paving through entrance lobby with an apsidal niche, reeded door
surrounds, to triple groin-vaulted hall with fluted pilasters to open
well stair with scrolled ironwork balustrade, moulded handrail. Drawing
room has C18 fielded panelling, pilasters and overdoors, an C18 chimney-
piece. Dining room, a cube with one apsidal and one recessed end, apsidal
niches in corners, coving to plaster ceiling, an C18 sculpted marble
chimneypiece, further early C19 detail throughout. Extending from laundry
block to right and returned to rear is a red brick wall about 5m in
height which originally formed two sides of stable yard, blocked openings
with gauged brick segmental heads. The earlier house at Woolmer's Park is
said to have been designed by I. Ware and occupied in 1760s by
J. Collins, calico printer. Landscaped grounds. (Cussan's History of
Hertfordshire, vol.II, p.105: VCH 1912: Pevsner 1977: H. Colvin,
Biographical Dictionary of British Architects:1660-1840, 1978).

Listing NGR: TL2856510243

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17542978

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair