Description

SU 44 NW
6/15

HURSTBOURNE PRIORS
HURSTBOURNE PARK
The Bee House

II*

Early C18, late C19. Probably built as a gazebo or garden pavilion, and could be the
design of Archer, who prepared a house design for the landowner in 1712; now a
dwelling of 3 storeys, following mainly internal alterations. The structure is a
rectangular block with a symmetrical facade on 3 sides; a tall main storey above a
basement and below a deep parapet. The narrow west elevation has a circular panel in
the parapet (with the coping curving above the upper part), a moulded cornice, a tall
central opening with a rubbed round arch, an impost band, a band at ground floor
level, and a later entrance in the basement. Walling is in red brickwork in Flemish
bond with blue headers, with flush panels of blue headers on each side of the main
floor. Two casements within the single opening are separated by a later brick panel
(masking the inserted floor); there is a 6-panelled door with a large canopy on
brackets. The east elevation has 2 recessed panels on either side of the central
wider opening (also with 2 windows), the parapet having 3 recessed panels and the
basement 2 windows; the features are the same but the walling is in blue headers above
cill level, with red brick quoins passing through as vertical lines, red brickwork in
Flemish bond below cill level. On the north elevation the basement is hidden by the
higher ground level; above the recessed arched side panels are circular panels in the
parapet, and the cornice divides in the centre as a segmental pediment with a
rectangular panel above; modern extensions and a doorway fill the east side. The east
elevation has later outshots and reveals the slate roofing. The building appears to
be one of 2 survivors in a once notable landscaped park, of the Earls of Portsmouth.

Listing NGR: SU4419846379

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532514

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)