Description

SU86NE
674-1/15/144

BRACKNELL
Easthampstead
Ringmead (south side)
South Hill Park

20/12/72

(Formerly Listed as: SOUTH LINK ROAD, Easthampstead, South Hill Park)

GV
II

Large country house, now Arts Centre. Late C18, rebuilt externally in 1906 for Lord Haversham.

MATERIALS: Orange brick in English bond, Bath stone dressings, tile hipped roof.

PLAN: Long rectangular plan.

STYLE: Georgian style.

EXTERIOR: two storeys, cellar and attics. Several chimneys, all altered. Small dormer windows with semi-circular pedimented heads. Sash windows with glazing bars in moulded stone architraves. Projecting brick plinth with stone capping, stone quoins, small string courses at heads of ground floor windows and sills of first floor windows, stone blocking course, plain brick parapet with stone coping.

Entrance (north) front: Main section of eight-bays; dormers with casement windows, some altered. On right hand two-bay projecting wing with single bay return. Wing has attic window with scrolled stone surround and pediment. On left of main section and rising above it single bay entrance tower with parapet and flat roof. Three windows on fourth level, windows at second and third level with stone surrounds and pediments. On ground floor pair of panelled entrance doors in elaborate stone baroque doorcase with semicircular pediment, on carved console brackets, coat of arms in typanum. To left of tower is two storey section with full height cant bay of three windows, to left of this at ground floor level are three windows in large stone surround. Over these is stone panel with pediment and heraldic device in centre. Windows on ground floor are taller than those on first floor.

INTERIOR: in entrance lobby are tall columns with moulded capitals and bases with egg-and-dart enrichment. Panelled pilasters on walls with similar decoration. To left of lobby is double height hall with gallery on south, having balustrade of vase balusters and moulded handrail. Gallery supported on two fluted Corinthian columns, wall behind panelled with fluted Corinthian pilasters, dentilled cornice with egg-and-dart enrichment, and frieze of garlands and swags. Pilasters are of full height and have elaborately carved wooden panel at base decorated with fruit and flowers. Ceiling with shallow coffers enclosed by projecting border with floral decoration. Marble fireplace in panelled wooden surround. Staircase hall: dog-leg staircase of three flights with panelled dado, vase balusters, large moulded handrail and square panelled newel posts. Stairs lead to galleried half-landing with three semicircular arches supported on fluted wooden columns with tall panelled bases and moulded heads. Balustrading to gallery similar to that of stairs. Ceiling has deep cornice moulded in two stages with acanthus leaf ornament.

HISTORY: alterations to original house had been carried out by Sir John Soane in 1801, but none of these remain. There were further alterations in 1856, and some of ceiling plasterwork may survive. House was owned by two Prime Ministers: William Pitt and George Canning, and in late C19, WE Gladstone stayed there and planted tree in the grounds.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• South Hill Park at Wikipedia
• South Hill Park official website
• Wikidata Q7567474

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings