Description

TL 4113 HUNSDON HUNSDONBURY
(west side)

8/22 Hunsdonbury

-

GV II

Country house, reduced by demolition of centre. Rebuilt 1832
(blundered inscription in cellar noted by Gibbs (1915) 22 'This
house rebuit 1832 at the expense of the Revd R U Calvert Rector.
C. Kemp. architect'). Altered in later 1840s when Calvert
family abandoned Hunsdon House and moved here to former Rectory.
Centre part demolished c1950 and 2 wings became separate
premises. White brick with stone dressings and stucco in parts.
Red tiled roof behind parapets and gable parapets. A large
irregular rectory in Tudor style recorded in Buckler drawings of
1835 (HRO) and the Tithe Map of 1842 (HRO). Shallow W entrance
wing and its 2 storeys porch are alterations of the later 1840s.
The present house is a compact rectangular 2 storeys house facing
N. The 2 window N front shows marks of the original single storey
porch around the W window, and the E window is probably a modern
copy since a similar sized wing ran northward from this wall and
had the other surviving part of the house (now called The Gate
House qv) connected with its NE corner. Single storey vaulted
stucco cloister on E end with 3 pointed arches, angle buttresses
and fine moulded figures as hood mould stops to windows. Lofty
stuccoed buttressed wall with open work cusped parapet, links
house to a tall octagonal stucco pillar to the W, carrying a lion
rampant holding a vane. The wall is partly concealed by the 2
storeys brick and stucco W entrance wing with a 2 storeys
parapeted porch. An 8-panelled door under a 4-centred arch.
Single storey canted bay window on S;front at E end. Plaster rib
vaulted passage leads from a Gothic half-glazed garden door at
the NE to the stair hall with flat panelled ceiling, stone arched
moulded fire surround and Gothic staircase. An elaborate Gothic
rectory of 1832 of outstanding architectural and historical
interest, and especially notable for the contemporary interiors
and the vigorous grotesques used as label stops. Reduction in
size has not reduced its interest. Part of a grout with The Gate
House. (RCHM Typscript: Gibbs (1915) 22: HLHS 1979) 41).

Listing NGR: TL4136013035

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26395869

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback