Description

North Mymms
TL 20 SW NORTH MYMMS TOLLGATE ROAD
(south side)

11/275 North Mymms Park with
adjoining garden walls
6.2.52 and ha ha

GV I

Country House. Built for Henry or Sir Ralph Coningsby about
1600, probably before 1596. Altered on courtyard side in 1846-7
by E Blore, and extended on same side in 1893-4 by Sir Ernest
George and Yates. H plan with long courtyard arms. Red brick
with burnt header diaper patterning. Stone dressings. Plain
tile roofs. 2 storeys and attics. 7-window entrance front has
gabled projecting ends and flat-parapeted porch bay, all
projections with flush stone quoins. 4 and 5 light windows with
2 transoms. Restored fluted Doric columns to porch; triglyph
frieze and foliate spandrels. Restored cement parapet to whole
front. NE and SW elevations are each 5 windows and have 3-light
mullioned and transomed windows. The NE side has a central C17
style stone Doric doorcase with fluted columns, bracketed cornice
and scrolled overthrow; probably late C19. This side has 3
gabled attic dormers retaining original stone mullioned windows.
SW elevation has 2 similar dormers. SE courtyard elevation is
mainly 1846-7 restored brickwork and shows tall red brick stacks
with Tudor style square and polygonal shafts, those of NE side
with C17 bases. Main elevation has projecting outer gable ends
and large central gabled oriel window, mullioned and transomed in
25 lights. Stair window to right. The side wings were built
forward with corridors but show single gabled attic dormers of
original build each side. The wings terminate in square angle
blocks incorporating 3-storey stair turrets with copper ogee
domes. Each wing has gable ends on SE elevations. The windows
throughout the house are diamond leaded casements.

Large extension to SE wing of 1893-4 is 1-2 storeys. Its most
important feature is a loggia with 3 arched lights. Barrel-
vaulted interior with mosaic patterning. Richly carved marble
frieze and arcade of Corinthian pilasters. Shallow niches.
Elaborate bronze door on SE. It joins with SE courtyard walls,
corner gazebos and gates. Red brick with stone banding. The
gazebos have stone square domes with cupids at angles and paired
Ionic pilasters at the corners. Wrought iron double gates with
wrought iron railings. These connect at SE corner with a C18
garden wall which runs for about 130 metres on the NW side of the
path to the church. It has at its centre a wrought iron gate in
an arched opening. It joins with a semi circular 'ha ha' with
red brick walling of the same date, and this connects on the SE
side of the main entrance road with a C17 stretch of wall,
joining near the house with the front garden walls which appear
to date c.1846. They form two terraced gardens and have richly
detailed wrought iron gates near the house. On the SW side of
the house are three walled gardens of the C18 and C19, containing
rose beds laid out by William Robinson in the late C19.

The interior of the house is mainly c.1893 in Elizabethan revival
style. The entrance hall has a large French chimneypiece of 1515
with rich guilloche and fluted decoration. The SW ground floor
room retains complete original panelling and chimneypiece, the
latter with an inserted crest dated 1655, its surround in stone
and the overmantel in two tiers of three ornamental panels. Rear
central room has Jacobean style minstrels' gallery and newel
staircase, and the upper front room a chimneypiece with
Elizabethan fireback. (Country Life, Jan. 1934; Pevsner (1977);
RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL2177604267

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529162

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair