Description

MOGERHANGER

348/3/20 FORMER PRINCIPAL STABLE BLOCK OF MOGGE
06-MAR-85 RHANGER HOUSE

(Formerly listed as:
OUTBUILDING IMMEDIATELY SOUTH WEST OF
PARK HOSPITAL)

GV II*
Domestic outbuilding, formerly stable block of 1790-92, by Sir John Soane for Godfrey Thornton, built as part of Soane's first remodelling of Moggerhanger House.

MATERIALS: Colourwashed red brick, with hipped slate roof.

PLAN: Rectangular plan of 2-storeys, with small gabled block to NW and recently restored block to SE.

EXTERIOR
South-west elevation of five bays. The ground floor has five recessed bays with round gauged brick heads. Each bay contains a round-headed window and the central 3 bays have doors below. The first floor has four small casement windows, now mostly C20 replacements, and small double plank doors to the right. The north-east elevation also has five bays, but with the five recesses breaking through the first floor band to hold Diocletian windows. These windows retain all their sashes and (an interesting Soaneian feature) by means of small half-domes light the ground floor rather than the first floor. The ground floor has doors and sash windows.

HISTORY
Moggerhanger Park, a country house of C18 origins was remodelled by Sir John Soane between 1790-1799 for Godfrey Thornton, Director of the Bank of England, and further altered by Soane for Thornton's son, Stephen, between 1806 and 1811.

The principal stable block was built as part of Soane's first remodelling of the house in 1790-92 and shares the same axis with the house, suggesting that it was planned as part of the ensemble from the outset.

SOURCES
Boutwood, J 'Mogerhanger Park' Bedfordshire Magazine (1956) Vol 5 No.38
Cooper, J 'A Guide to Moggerhanger House' (2005)
Inskip,P and Jenkins, P 'Mogerhanger House, Bedfordshire, a historical summary with illustrations' (1994)
Stroud, D 'The Architecture of Sir John Soane' (1961)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The principal stable block at Moggerhanger Park, designed in 1790-92 by Sir John Soane is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* It is a C18 stable block designed by the renowned architect Sir John Soane.
* This stable block was built as part of the first remodelling of Moggerhanger House by Sir John Soane for the Thorntons, and it forms an exceptional group with the house to north (Grade I) and the other outbuildings to the west and south-west recommended for listing at Grade II.
* Not only is it a significant Soane building in its own right but it is also an important element of the ensemble at Moggerhanger Park, sharing the same axis as the extended main house of 1810-12 and thus demonstrating Soane's ingenuity in the planning of the whole and the likelihood that there was an overall scheme for the buildings' layout from the start.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q96262777

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair