Denford Park, Kintbury - Hungerford Virtual Museum

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June 2007 

Mercian Heritage Series No.340 

RICHARD K MORRISS & ASSOCIATES - HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONSULTANTS 

BROMLOW HOUSE BROMLOW SHROPSHIRE SY50EA

DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkshire 

Denford Park 

Denford 

Kintbury 

Berkshire 

NCR: SU 362 692 

An 

Archaeological & Architectural 

Assessment 

Text 

Richard K Morriss MA(Hons) MSOCSC 

Assistants 

Ruth Little 

RCatt 

June 2007 

Mercian Heritage Series No. 3 38 

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RichardK Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park. Kintburv. Berkshire 

Denford Park 

Denford 

Kintbury 

Berkshire 

NGR: SU 362 692 

Summary 

To come 

1. Introduction 

Denford Park is a Grade II listed Regency country house set in its contemporary 

parkscape just to the north of Hungerford, in west Berkshire. 1 Since the end of the 

1940's it has been in educational use but this ceased in 2002. The house is now 

empty and awaiting renovation and reuse as a private dwelling. 

Although this will be of considerable benefit to the building and its setting, it could 

have some impact on the historic built fabric and the layout and appearance of its 

setting there is a need to fully understand the building and its development to inform 

the proposals. 

Under the guidelines of both Planning Policy Guidelines Nos.15 and 16 it is 

incumbent on owners of listed buildings to understand and assess what impact any 

proposed alterations will have on the building(s) (PPG15) and the archaeological 

resource (PPG 16). 

~ 

This report is a detailed study and recording of all the standing buildings on the site of 

historical or architectural worth -- the original house, outbuildings and garden 

structures. It is written in line with the most up to date and useful of the various 

guidelines for recording buildings - the update by English Heritage in 2006 of the 

original RCHM(E) guidelines. 

1.1 Report Format 

The report format is fairly straightforward. Following this brief introduction, Section 

2 is concerned with a brief outline of the setting (2.1) and history (2.2) of the site 

based mainly on the existing reports. 

Section 3 outlines the basic divisions of the main historic buildings, and Section 4 

discussed the suggested phasing. Section 5 is concerned with a brief overview of the 

various estate buildings - such as the stables and walled garden. Section 6 is a very 

brief assessment of the laterÔ* century additions. 

1 First listed in 1951, the listing revised in 1984 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromhw House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark. Kintburv, Berkshire 

2. Outline History 

2.1 Denford 

Denford Park sits on higher ground overlooking the valley of the Kennet just to the 

north-east of the ancient market town of Hungerford in western Berkshire, close to the 

county border with Wiltshire. The rather scattered settlement of Denford is in the 

northern and western part of the modern parish of Kintbury, consisting of a riverside 

core and rising land to the north. 

There is considerable evidence of prehistoric settlement in this area of the Kennet 

valley and traces of a probably Roman road, perhaps part of the Iknield Street, have 

been identified to the north of Denford Park; there is mention of a road called Iknield 

Street and another called Coleway in deeds of circa 1252 and the site of a Roman 

building has been identified in Kintbury itself. 2 

In about 93 5AD the estate of Denforda, then in Wessex, was bequeathed by Wulgar 

to Athelstan and Cynestan, providing that they obeyed him until he died; they could 

have been his kinsmen. 3 Although tempting, the possibility that the name refers to the 

'Dane's Ford' over the Kennet seems unlikely; instead the name probably derives 

from the 'ford' in a valley - denu - the valley probably being the small side valley 

that leads up to the position of the present Denford Park. 

In the late Saxon period Daneford was in Kintbury Hundred and held by Alweard 

immediately prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066; it was then assessed at 10 hides 

and was worth 100 shillings a year. 5 Sometime after the Conquest it was given to a 

Norman, William de Eu; at the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086 it was assessed 

at just 5 hides but was worth £4 a year. 6 

It was then a small village, with four villans, four bordars and three slaves 3 slaves, 

and it had a church. 7 The church is mentioned as being a chapel of Kintbury in deeds 

of 1179, 1199 and 1270 but there are no subsequent surviving references to it until a 

new one was built at the start of the 19 th century. 8 

In 1095 William de Eu took part in a failed rebellion against William II and although 

not executed, was, in January 1196, condemned to be blinded and mutilated and lost 

his lands. 9 

2 Page, W, Ditchfield, P H, & Cope, J Hautenville (eds.), 1972, The Victoria County History of 

Berkshire, Vol. IV, 206 

3 VCH, op. cit., 212-3; Gelling, M, 1974, The Place-Names of Berkshire, Part II, 314 

4 Gelling, qp. cit., 314 

5 Williams, A, & Martin, G H (eds.), 2002, Domesday Book: A Complete Translation, 150 

6 ibid 

7 ibid 

8 VCH, op. cit., 216-1 

9 VCH, op. cit., 212 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Den fordPark, Kintburv. Berkshire 

By 1201 Denford was considered to be part of the Honour of Kinton and was held by 

de Broase, Lord of Brecon, until William de Broase was executed in 1230. His 

estates were divided and Denford went to his daughter, Eleanor, who married 

Humphrey de Bohun, 2 nd Earl of Hereford. 10 

Eventually the manor became part of the extensive holdings of the Duchy of 

Lancaster and remained so until the 17 th century. The manor was held of Ralph Grey 

in 1455 and of Robert Veyse in 1464 and was granted to the Lovel family by the early 

15 th century. 11 At the start of the 17 th century there are references to Thomas and 

Richard Weare, both alias Browne, and both one time of Denford. 12 

There was presumably a manor house at Denford in the medieval period, if not 

beforehand. It seems clear that the manor house, like the settlement and the mill, was 

by the river. This is clearly shown on Morden's map of 1695 used in the 1722 edition 

of Camden's Britannia which labels 'Denford H' by the river just to the east of 

Hungerford. 13 This is presumably the 'capital messuage or mansion" mentioned in a 

deed of 1780. 14 

In 1640 Denford was sold by Francis Choke to Alexander Browne who then sold it to 

Anne James, widow of Walter James of London, who had been 'sergeant of the bakehouse' 

for both James I and CharlesJ. 

During the English Civil War there is no evidence of any significant fighting in the 

vicinity of Denford - despite the proximity of Newbury where there certainly was - or, 

subsequently, of Anne James suffering for any Royalist sympathies that she may have 

had. 

In the subsequent Commonwealth period, she was able to give Denford to her eldest 

son, William, on his marriage to Sarah Southby in 1652. William died in 1666 and 

Denford passed to his son, Boulton, who married Francis Head in 1684, and then to 

Boulton's son, William, in 1692. He died, unmarried, in 1745 and Denford then 

passed to his brother John and wife Alice; they cut the entail and sold Denford to 

William Head on the proviso that they would remain at Denford for life. 

In 1772 the estate passed to an infant, William Head, whose surname was changed by 

Act of Parliament to James; he died young and Denford then went to his brother, 

Walter James Head of Langley Hall, Berkshire, who in 1778 also changed his name to 

James and took on the James' arms as well. Walter was created a baronet on the 28 th 

July 1791. 15 Although then described as being 'of Denford Court' [sic.] he seems 

later to have lived mainly at Langley Hall; he was succeeded, in 1829, by his 

grandson Walter, the 2 nd Baronet, who was subsequently created Baron Northbourne 

in 1884. 16 

10 ibid 

11 ibid 

12 Wiltshire Record Office 9/20/75-7 

13 Camden's book was originally published in 1586 and was reprinted and revised in 1722 

14 Berkshire Record Office D/EBy/T167 

15 G.,E.C., 1906, The Complete Baronetage Vol. V, 1707-1800, 268 

16 ibid 

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Richard K Aforriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park, Kintburv, Berkshire 

Fig.l: Extract from Robert Morden's 1695 map of Berkshire, showing site of original 

Denford House close to the Kennet just outside Hungerford. 

Fig.2: The James' coat of arms, after being raised to the peerage. 

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Denford Park, Kintburv. Berkshire 

2.2 Denford Park 

In 1810 Sir Walter James had sold Denford to William Hallett of Townhill, 

Hampshire, a fairly influential MP. Hallett was responsible for the building a new 

mansion, away from the riverside and up on the slope overlooking the valley. It was 

built to the designs of the then highly fashionable architect, Jeffrey Wyattville in 

about 1815. 17 

Wyattville (1766-1840) was a younger member of a dynasty of architects that 

originated in Staffordshire in the mid-18 th century; the 'ville' at the end of his name 

was added by permission of George IV after he started work remodelling Windsor 

Castle, his most famous and long-term project. 

The most famous Wyatt was his uncle, James - brilliant at times but also rather 

unreliable. Jeffrey, who spent several years as his assistant, was, on the other hand, 

perhaps less able but better organised and dependable and set up his own practise in 

1799. 

In 1806, Joseph Farington of the Royal Academy recorded a visit by Jeffrey in his 

diary; at that time he was still becoming established and had put a list of the houses he 

had designed on the back of his 'Direction Card' 'to Shew that he was a Regular 

Architect'; he then charged three guineas a day, and two shillings a mile for travelling 

- quite high fees for the time. 1 

By the time he designed Denford House he was one of the most prolific of country 

house architects in England, particularly for members of the Whig aristocracy, and 

from the 1820's was one of the leading architects in the country, helped by his Royal 

patronage. 20 

Hallett was still at Denford early in 1822, as he wrote a letter from there to Sir Robert 

Peel, the new Home Secretary. 21 Curiously, in the previous year, three deeds, now in 

the Devon Record Office, refer to a George Porcner of Denford House, Berkshire, 

clerk, eldest surviving son of Josias Du Pre Porcher; his role is unclear. 22 

At the end of 1822, William Hallet sold his new house and the rest of the Denford 

estate. The sales particulars survive and are accompanied by a plan which shows the 

new house as a square block labelled 'Mansion'. In the accompanying schedule it is 

described as consisting of 'The Mansion House, lawn, plantations, gardens, Coachhouse, 

Stables, farmyard and buildings and the two Cottages' occupying a little over 

15 acres in all; 'in front' of the mansion was a park with plantations taking up another 

70 acres or so but the rest of the estate was still agricultural. 23 

17 Linstrum, D, 1972, Sir Jeffrey Wyattville, Architect to the King, 235; in 1808 a William Hallett from 

Berkshire wrote to the architect John Nash (BL Add. 28670 ff.89-90), but the contents have 

not been examined. 

18 Colvin, H, 1995, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 1129 

19 Greig, J (ed.), 1924, The Farington Diary Vol. IV, 32 

20 Colvin, op. cit., 1129 

21 BL Add. 40347 f.281 

22 

Devon Record Office 1926 B/BC/T/2/21-23 (not examined) 

23 Berkshire Records Office D/EX 1060/2/3 

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Pl.l: Denford Park from the south-west, with later extensions to the right. 

P1.2: The house from the north-west - further unfortunate extensions in foreground 

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Ricnard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


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Fig.3: The 1822 plan of the Denford estate (Berkshire Record Office); 

note the site of the then new 'Mansion', well away from the old settlement. 

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Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park Kintburv. Berkshire 

The purchaser was George Henry Cherry, who had married Charlotte Drake-Garrard 

of Lamer Park, Hertfordshire. 24 Cherry, later Sheriff of Berkshire, was responsible 

for some remodelling of the new house and for the construction of a new church close 

by; for both projects he used the then fashionable, and prolific, architect John 

Buonarotti Papworth (1775-1847). 25 

Papworth was also a writer and artist and one of the small group of architects that 

formed what was to become the Royal Institute of British Architects - the RIBA; he 

was interested in so many different things that friends called him a 'second 

Michelangelo' and persuaded him to add the rather pretentious middle name 

Buonarotti in 1815. 26 

The diminutive church of the Holy Trinity to the north-west of the house was built in 

the late-medieval style and consisted of a nave, porch and pinnacled east tower; initial 

plans were drawn up by Papworth in 1828 and the building, mainly built of stuccoed 

brickwork, was virtually finished by 1832. 27 The township of Denford was 

reconstituted as a parish in the following year, with the lord of the manor - George 

Cherry - as patron. 

Pap worth's work on the house included alterations and additions to the offices as well 

as some changes to the main part of the house; the drawings that survive in the RIBA 

archive relate to two phases of work, 1827-8 and 1832-8, and they include plans of 

various parts of the house and notes on changes to the entablature. Hopper heads to 

downpipes with the Cherry crest and the date 1832 survive on both main fronts of the 

building. 

On one drawing, related to the Drawing Room, there is a note to the effect that 'the 

drawing of the cornice will be given to Mr Grace* ?* That could have been Frederick 

Crace (1779-1859) or perhaps his son, John, members of a family of high class 

decorators and minor architects in the 19 th century. 29 Other rooms referred to include 

a Servants' Hall and a Bath & Dressing Room. 

Cherry also developed the house's gardens and the surrounding parkland and in 1831 

it was sufficiently well established to warrant a brief description in the Gardener's 

Magazine. 'Denford Place' [sic.] was described then as 'A small, well-kept place, the 

kitchen-garden well enclosed" with a park that 'has been much improved 1 by tree 

planting. 30 

24 for the descent of Charlotte, see Burke, J, 1836, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the 

Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.1, 593 

25 McHardy, G, 1977 (ed.), Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British 

Architects: Office of J B Papworth, 7; 86-7 

26 Colvin, op. cit.,731 

" McHardy, op. cit., 7; the church was demolished in the 1950's, the ruins surviving in the wood. 

McHardy, op. cit., 86 

see e.g. Megan, A, 1990, The Graces: Royal Decorators 1768-1899 

30 

Anon, -mum, 1831, isji, Gardener's (jaraener'sMagazine Vol.Vll, Vol.VII, 136 

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Richard K Motriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark 

P1.3: Ruins of Papworth's Holy Trinity church, built for George Cherry near the house 

P1.4: Cherry coat of arms on the Stable Block to the north-east of the house. 

This seems to be a marital coat, with the Cherry arms on the left impaling the 

complex quartering of coats of arms of the Drake-Garrard family of Lamer Park, 

Hertfordshire to the right. The distinctive Cherry crest is used on several hopper 

heads on the main house, all dated 1832. 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, 

Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park, Kintbury, Berkshire 

The site of the present Denford Park (then still 'House') is shown on Thomas Moule's 

map of Berkshire, first published in 1830, though the scale means that it is shown 

only as a small square set in parkland. 31 

A slightly more detailed map of 1844 clearly shows the evolving parkland, the walled 

garden and stables - as well as the outline of the mansion and its outbuildings and the 

new church. 

After he died in 1848, Cherry was succeeded by his eldest son, George Charles 

Cherry, who also served as Sheriff of Berkshire (in 1871) and who, in 1873, owned 

nearly 770 acres of land in the county. 32 For many years George Cherry lived at 

Denford with his widowed mother, Charlotte, and his two unmarried younger sisters, 

Louise and Rachel. 

George Charles Cherry is variously described as a 'landed proprietor' and a 'barrister 

not in practice' in the census returns and, in 1881, as a JP. The family lived in some 

style at Denford and had a large number of servants. For example, in 1871 there was 

a butler, footman, cook, ladies' maid, two housemaids, two laundry maids, a kitchen 

maid, a coachman and a groom. 

When George died, unmarried, in 1887, Denford went to his brother, Major-General 

Apsley Cherry; Apsley Cherry was then 54 years old and had an interesting military 

career, serving with the 90 th Light Infantry during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-60, the 

relief of Lucknow in the Gaika War of 1878, and the Battle of Ulundi during the Zulu 

Warofl879. 33 

In March 1885 he had married Evelyn Sharpin of Bedford who was 25 years his 

junior; their first child, Apsley junior, was born a year later and would be followed by 

two daughters, Ida and Elsie. 

Major-General Cherry retired from the Army in 1887 and at the time of the 1891 

census was living at what was then called Denford Park with his wife and three young 

children, his still unmarried sister Rachel (who had probably never left), and several 

servants - a butler, housekeeper, lady's maid, nursemaid, two housemaids, a kitchen 

maid and a laundry maid. 

In the following year, 1892, he inherited Lamer Park, near Wheathampstead in 

Hertfordshire, from his mother, Charlotte's, side of the family, adding the second part 

of her maternal surname, Drake-Garrard, and the coat of arms of that family, to his 

own. 34 

31 Moule, T, 1990, The County Maps of Old England, 23; this is a modern reprint and assemblage of 

maps originally published in 1830 in The English Counties Delineated 

32 HMSO, 1875, Return of Owners of Land, 1873; Vol. I, Berkshire, 4 

33 Kelly's, 1892, Handbook to the Titled, Landed & Official Classes, 250 

34 Pottle, M, 2004, 'Garrard, Apsley George Bennet Cherry- (1886-1959)', DNB, Vol.21, 511; also, 

the change of name was listed in the London Gazette 

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Fig.4: Detail of Denford Park estate from the late-19 th century Ordnance Survey plan, 

showing relationship between house, church, stables and walled gardens, etc. 

Tw m- 

^ 

• ' • - --*-* «.^ * ~ •"*•*.*•* I : ^ ** *.** »* 

Fig.5: Detail from Ordnance Survey map of circa 1910 of the house. 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 OEA


k 

The family then leased Denford and moved to Lamer Park. Apsley died in 1907 to be 

succeeded by the only son out of his six children, Apsley Benet Cherry-Garrard 

(1886-1959) who subsequently went to the Antarctic on Captain Scott's ill-fated 

expedition. 35 

At the time of the 1901 Census the house (again listed as Denford House) seems to 

have been untenanted; living there were Joseph Wickes, a 72 year-old described as a 

caretaker, and his wife, Mary, as well as two young sisters, Lucy and Rachel Crocker, 

both listed as laundry maids. 

In the local Directory for 1903 Denford House was described as 'a mansion of the 

Classic style', owned by the Cherry-Garrards of Lamer Park but occupied by George 

Banks Rennie. 36 George Banks Rennie died in December 1908; his death certificate 

gives Hungerford as the official place of death, so presumably he had died whilst still 

at Denford. 

By 1915 the tenant was Captain Edward Henry Bridgman Sawbridge, who was still 

there at the start of the 1920's. 37 However, in 1924 Mrs Bertha Sawbridge was the 

3 occupant, presumably his widow, and by that time the owner was listed as Mrs 

Cherry-Garrard. 38 

_ 

3, The Denford Estate was put up for sale in May 1924; Bertha Sawbridge's lease on the 

house expired on the 24 1 June. It included the mansion house, stabling, the gardens, 

the North and Bath Road lodges and several other cottages, nearly 19 acres in all. The 

-, rest of the estate was leased to others. The comprehensive sales particulars provide a 

good description of the house and grounds at the time of the sale and help to identify 

the room names and, to an extent, fittings. 39 

i 

At the end of the 1930's the house was owned by Laurence Rivers Dunne, MC, but in 

1939 was described as 'presently unoccupied". ° By early that year the house, now 

again described as Denford Park, had been bought by Thomas Harrison Hughes and a 

major refurbishment and extension of the property began which, judging from the 

number of hopper heads with the initials 'THH' and the date 1939, was finished quite 

rapidly. 41 

Hughes (1881-1958) was the son of a wealthy Liverpool shipping magnate and 

philanthropist, John William Hughes; he was a partner in the family shipping firm of 

', Thomas and James Harrison Ltd. and also served on the Suez Canal Board from 1920, 

becoming its Vice President in 1932. 42 Hughes also founded two chairs in 

; Engineering at Liverpool University in memory of his father in 1920. 43 

35 ibid 

36 Kelly's, 1903, Post Office Directory, Berkshire, 64 



39 Berkshire Record Office, D/EX 984/8 


41 One set of plans were passed by Hungerford Rural District Council on the 19* February 1939 

42 Black, A & C (pub.), 1961, Who Was Who Vol. V, 1951-60, 557-8 

43 University of Liverpool, http://sca.lib.liv.ac.uk/collections/highlights/h0412magi.html 

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The architect chosen for the work on his new house was George Philip Banyard 

FRIBA (1880-1948) of 4a Market Street, Cambridge. 44 Little is known about his 

work; he warrants the briefest of entries in the standard RIBA Directory of British 

architects (though admittedly that is only really concerned with works up to 1914) but 

is also not mentioned in the relevant first edition 'Pevsner' for Cambridgeshire. 

During the Second World War Thomas Hughes was Director of the Liner Division for 

the War Transport Office and perhaps partly because of that work was created a 

Baronet in 1942, using for the motto on his new coat of arms the appropriately 

patriotic words 'Pro Deo Et Putrid 1 " 46 

It is perhaps a little ironic that, had the remodelling of the house taken place after he 

became Sir Thomas, he would have been able to more fully emulate George Cherry 

and have his own crest - a ship's wheel - as well as the date on the hopper heads of 

the new work. 

r God and country. 

P1.5: Harrison-Hughes coat of arms after Thomas was created a baronet. 

However, like William Hallett over a century beforehand, Hughes did not stay at 

Denford for long despite the works that he had undertaken there and appears to have 

left shortly after the war. It is not clear why this was so, especially as the site seems 

to have been perfect for the interests listed in his entry in Who's Who - farming, 

orchids, fishing and shooting. 47 

The death of his first wife, Mary Bradley, in 1949 may have had an impact, as 

perhaps did the fact that their only child, a daughter, would have grown up and left 

home. In addition, during the post-war period the acute shortage of building materials 

for repair and the cost of various taxes could make large country house ownership an 

onerous matter. 

44 Brodie, A, Felstead, A, Franklin, J, Pinfield, L & Oldfield, J, 2001, Directory of British Architects 

1834-1914, Vol.1, 106 

45 Pevsner, N, 1954, The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire 

46 Hankinson, C F J, 1956, Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companiage, 455 

47 Black, A & C (pub.), 1961, Who Was Who Vol. V, 1951-60,557-8 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark, Kintburv, Berkshire 

Sir Thomas Hughes moved to Eddington House, a mile or so the north east of 

Denford Park, and also had a town house at 12 Hyde Park Gardens in London; he 

remarried in 1952 and died six years later. 48 

S 

_ 9 

By the end of the 1940's Denford Park had been sold to the Convent of the Holy 

Sepulchre in Chelmsford; initially converted into a convent, by November 1949 the 

organisation were planning to convert it into a boarding school - though the plans 

were not passed by the local authority until 1952. The architects used for the 

conversion, alterations and extension additions required were a local practise in 

Hungerford, Sutton, Griffin & Sweetnam. 

The new school was also relatively short-lived for in 1967 the site was bought by the 

Norland College, a residential establishment for the training of 'nannies'; in the next 

35 years the college also made further alterations and extensive additions to the site 

before changing needs led to its removal to Bath at the start of the 21 st century and the 

sale of Denford Park in 2002. 

P1.6: The mosaic commemorating the centenary of Norland College, 

inserted into the earlier stone paving of the portico. 

I 

i 

1 

J 

48 Hankinson, op. cit., 455; Black, A & C, op. cit., 558 

w 

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1 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, BromJow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire SYS OEA


rr 

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3. The Main Buildings 

Denford Park consists of many different built components, though most of these are 

post-war educational buildings and ancillary structures of limited architectural or 

historical significance. 

The house is still the focal point of the site, but can be broken down into several 

components. These have been identified alphabetically for the purpose of this report, 

though the names given to each are not of any historic authenticity but chosen for 

clarity. 

These components are as follows: 

• Building A: The Main House 

• Building B1: The West Wing 

,.ra • Building B2: The East Wing 

• Building C: The Service Range 

• Building D: The North-East Range 

• Building E: The South-East Range 

• Building F: The Brick Range 

.""3 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlcnv House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park. Kintburv, Berkshire 

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Fig.6: Temporary Building ID diagram (do not scale). 

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RichardKMorrissA Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY50EA


3.1 Building A: The Original House 

a 

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The historic core of the early-19 th century house is readily identifiable despite the later 

extensions and is of surprisingly modest proportions. It is two storeys high though the 

upper floor is not as tall as the ground floor, and the higher status of the ground-floor 

is exaggerated in the external design by deliberately placing the plain 'first-floor' 

band course at the sill level of the first-floor windows. 

It is really just three broad bays wide, and was evidently five, narrower, bays deep. In 

each of the main elevations, to north and south, the central bay has three openings on 

the ground floor - windows on the bowed south front and a doorway flanked by 

windows in the recessed north front. The original side elevations are now butted 

against by later wings, though the west elevation was originally all external. 

It is mainly faced in crisply ashlared Bath stone, an oolitic limestone that would have 

T, presumably been brought to the area along the then newly opened Kennet & Avon 

Canal, possibly from the important quarries at Coombe Down just to the south of the 

centre of Bath. 

•a 

m 

On the north, or entrance, front, there is evidence of a different stone used in the 

rustication of the entrance composition and the masonry of the portico; it is a whiter 

and harder stone, possibly from Portland. 

The walls rise from a very plain plinth and apart from the band course referred to 

above are quite plain. The fairly simple entablature is a little unusual in that the lower 

'box-like' section of cornice is of Bath stone but the solid parapet above is a slightly 

different shade and texture - a discoloured pale grey which could also be Portland. 

1 

J 

3.1.1 The Exterior 

The principal elevation is the north-facing entrance front, dominated by the projecting 

semi-circular portico which, as outlined above, seems to be mainly of Portland stone, 

or a stone of similar colour and properties. 

J 

3.1.1.01 The North, or Entrance, Front 

The entrance is recessed from the rest of the elevation and the roof of the portico is 

taken back into the recess to cover the approach to it. The entrance itself is a tripartite 

composition consisting of three semi-circular arch headed openings set in rusticated 

masonry - the doorway flanked by tall windows. 

- 

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"* 

> 

Richard K Marriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark, Kintburv. Berkshin 

. "* 

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•.•1 

P1.7: The front, or north, elevation of the Main House (Building A) 

, 

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P1.8: The south elevation, or garden front, of the Mai 

-20- 

RichardK Morris* & Associate*. Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlo* House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

"SI 


n 

The rusticated stone is a white and tightly grained stone, either Portland or similar, but 

the imposts of the arches, the panels beneath the windows, and the plain entablature 

above are of the yellower Bath stone. There are rather uncomfortable junctions at 

either end of the composition where it meets the return walls flanking the recess. This 

is partly because the plinth of those walls is slightly lower than the plinth of the 

entrance composition, and the entablature ends abruptly at each end. 

More significantly, the end sections of rustication are much attenuated and do not 

bond into the masonry of the flanking walls. On the left-hand (east) side the junction 

is partly obscured by a down-pipe. On the right-hand side there is a fragment at the 

foot of the junction of a narrow angled slip of stone that once continued up to the 

ceiling to 'soften' the junction. 

Both of the hopper heads of the down-pipes in the angles between the central and 

projecting sections of the main elevation have the Cherry family's demi-lion crest and 

the date 1832, 

-, 

P1.9: One of the several 1832 hopper heads with the Cherry crest. 

This particular one was re-set on one of the later college buildings. 

The double doors are of three verged panels and set under a semi-circular fanlight 

which matches the heads of the slightly smaller windows to each side. The windows 

have large panes and thin astragals. Above the roof, there is a single window in the 

recessed centre, a thin-barred sash three panes wide and high, in a simple stone frame. 

This is the standard design of the original first-floor windows on both main elevations. 

To either side of the recessed section there are single bays which have very tall sashes, 

with sills only just above ground level, on the ground floor and much shorter ones at 

first-floor level above them. To the outwards side of both of the upper windows a 

narrower sash has been inserted. 

-21- 



Although this work was carefully carried out and the sashes designed to match the 

character of the earlier ones, the manner in which the symmetry of the elevation was 

compromised, the lack of any architrave, and the clearly less-weathered lintels all 

point to these windows being inserted - and that is confirmed by the internal evidence 

(see below). 

3.1.1.02 The South, or Garden, Front 

The south front of the main house is a dignified composition with a projecting central 

full-height bow. Although built of the same stone, and topped by the same design of 

entablature, the relationship between the bow and the single-bay flanking sections is 

not as simple as it would first appear. 

The tripartite bow is articulated by shallow and quite plain pilasters; the band course 

of the flanking sections stops at the first of these on each side. In each bay there is a 

tall sash on the ground floor and a lower one above. The ground-floor sashes have 

plain recessed panels beneath their low sills and are set in simply moulded architraves. 

They match the ground-floor windows to either side. 

However, the three first-floor windows in the bow are different than those in the 

flanking wings. They are three panes across but four panes high and thus proper 

balanced sashes. 

Beneath their sills are simple recessed panels above a thin string or lintel course 

interrupted by the pilasters which is more or less at the true first-floor level within. At 

the angles between the projection and the main flanking walls are more hopper heads 

with the Cherry crest and the date 1832. 

3.1.1.03 The West Elevation 

The west elevation was originally external, though, since the construction of the West 

Wing in 1939, only the southern third is so now. That section is of two bays, and the 

ground and first-floor windows match those on the main elevations - though the 

northern first-floor window is blind and may have been so originally. 

The disposition of these windows and the evidence of the internal arrangements 

suggest that this elevation would have been of five bays in all - and that is supported 

by photographs of this end of the house included in the 1924 sales particulars. 

At the northern end there is a slight set-back remaining, deliberately left to indicate 

the original extent of the house on this side prior to the construction of the adjacent 

wing. 

-22- 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromiow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPgrk. Kintburv. Berkshire 

Sir: 

"T 

3.1.1.04 The East Elevation 

The east elevation was always different to the west elevation because of the position 

of the service wings. The present East Wing probably replaced most of the nearest 

part of the service wing of the house, but even so the position of the existing windows 

in the short section of this wall that is still external shows that it would not have 

matched the west elevation. 

There are single window openings at ground and first-floor levels on the return from 

the south, or garden, front. These are set significantly further away from the south 

front than the answering windows on the west return (see above). 

There are no indications in the masonry that they have been reset in their present 

positions. This is further evidence that a service wing on this side of the house was 

part of the original layout. 

Off 

In this elevation the ground-floor window has been replaced by a French window hi 

the same aperture, extended down to the floor. The original architrave survives and 

«, was copied in the new section beneath the original sill. 

3.1.2 The Roof 

The roof is hidden behind the low parapet; it could not be examined internally at the 

time of the survey but is assumed to be more or less primary apart from where 

alterations have been needed to accommodate the later wings to either side. 

It is essentially a quadrangular hipped structure with low pitched piles covered in slate 

around a central axial valley; the bowed projection of the garden front is covered by 

an independent facetted dome, probably covered in lead sheet that breaks into the 

southern pile of the roof structure. 

There are four symmetrically dispersed ridge stacks, of Bath stone, rising from the 

two cross-walls, one to each pile of the building. These have moulded plinths and 

projecting cornices. Those on the south side are slightly longer than those to the north. 

3.13 The Interior 

Apart from the portico, the interior is divided, structurally, into six compartments 

formed by two parallel cross-walls and a cranked spine wall. All of the other 

partitions are either later or'less substantial. The house is of two grand storeys with 

no indication of any cellarage under this section, or of any useable attic space within 

thereof space. 

-23- 



3.13.01 The Portico 

The floor of the portico is reached up low steps with moulded nosings around the 

outer perimeter and is mainly covered with stone slabs, possibly of York stone. 

Added in the centre of this is a modern mosaic commemorating the centenary of 

Norland College in 1992. The ceiling has been renewed in a form of fibreboard - 

probably in the mid-ZO* century - and the large lamp is therefore reset. 

3.1.3.02 The Ground Floor 

The Entrance Hall 

The front doors from the portico lead directly into the Entrance Hall. This was 

latterly the Reception area for the College and is a well-proportioned space, virtually 

square in plan. 

It has a well-polished stone floor of very large and relatively crisp slabs that is not 

necessarily primary and quite probably a later replacement of the original floor. It 

could have been re-laid as recently as the late-1930's 

The room has a tall moulded timber skirting board and a fairly small but well-crafted 

plaster cornice-cum-ceiling frame enriched with egg-and-dart and beaded motifs. The 

plastered walls and ceiling are both quite plain. 

On the north side of the hall the entrance doorway and flanking windows have rather 

attenuated architraves. The windows have fairly plain panelled shutters and originally 

had full-height reveals. Inserted radiator covers, presumably of the mid-20 th century, 

now form window seats. 

Opposite the entrance, double doors in a simple but elegant timber surround lead into 

what was latterly known as Lecture Room 1 - but probably designed as the Saloon. 

The doors are faced with high quality hardwood veneer - probably mahogany - with 

panels that have a slightly raised field within a beaded verge. 

On the east side of the Hall there are two tall arch-headed openings with simply 

beaded surrounds. One leads into the corridor that leads into the East Wing (Building 

B2). The other contains a doorway with full architrave leading into the former Study 

Centre. The veneered door and its door case are similar in character to the double 

door into the Saloon, but the opening is slightly narrower and the door has a central 

bead to suggest it too is a double door. 

', 

On the west side of the Hall there are also two arch-headed openings, virtually 

identical in detail - one leading into the Stair Hall and the other into the corridor 

through the West Wing (Building Bl). As the latter passageway is assumed to have 

been created as part of the 1939 changes - there being no need for such a passage 

until the construction of the West Wing, the opening leading into it is presumably of 

that date as well. 

-24- 


DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkxh 

PI. 10: The Hall, looking west towards the Stair Hall, main entrance to right 

PI. 11: The Hall, looking south-east 

h door to Saloon on the right. 

-25- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, 

Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA


The Saloon or Drawing Room 

The principal ground-floor room occupies the centre of the southern pile and projects 

into the bow on the south, or garden front. Latterly it was known simply as 'Lecture 

Room No.l' on the college's fire prevention plans and as 'Room No.l 

Administration' on a door plate. In the Sales Particulars of 1924 it is described as the 

'Charming Drawing Room'; it may originally have been the Saloon but on 

Papworth's drawings of the 1830's it is described as the Drawing Room. 

The room is lit by the three windows in the projecting bow, which have fairly simple 

architraves with pedestals and equally simple shutters. These originally had fullheight 

reveals but low radiator covers have been inserted into them, probably hi the 

mid-ZO* century. 

The bow is echoed in the apsidal north end of the room, evidently boxed out in 

studwork and plaster from the structural spine wall. At this end the central doorway 

into the room is flanked by arch-headed cupboards with glazed doors. 

The doors are of fine quality, veneered inside and out, and curved to the profile of the 

apse. The lower opening doors have applied moulded panel surrounds with quadrant 

cut corners and rosettes in the angles; the astragals of the opening upper glazed 

sections are thin and finely crafted. In between is an entablature with carefully 

crafted fluted frieze. 

However, it is possible that the doors are secondary. The moulded skirting board of 

the room runs into the recesses, which seems unlikely to have been the case if they 

were originally designed to have doors and more likely if they were simply meant to 

be recesses. The doors probably relate to some of the Papworth drawings (see above). 

I 

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The present cornice of the room respects its present footprint and apsidal ends. It is a 

rather over-elaborate composition that also forms a ceiling frame and has what 

appears to be a very thin architrave of bead-and-reel moulding, a broader frieze of 

lotus leaf, and a broader moulded cornice enriched with applied rosettes. 

The otherwise flat ceiling is divided into three compartments - the middle section and 

the two apsidal ends - by frames of more bead-and-reel mouldings. This work is also 

comparable to the Papworth drawings. 

The floor of the room is of oak but largely hidden by modern carpet. In the west side 

of the room is a remarkably Spartan marble chimneypiece of early-19 th century form, 

with panelled surround, rosettes in the angles between jambs and lintel, and a primary 

mantle shelf. 

Almost opposite the fireplace is a doorway hi the east wall leading into the adjacent 

Dining Room. This has a simply moulded frame and a high quality veneered door 

with central bead. There is a slight oddity in the relationship between the pedestals of 

the door case and the taller skirting board. 

-26- 



PI.12: The Saloon or Drawing room, looking north to the Entrance Hall. 

PL 13: Detail of the Saloon cornice. Compare this with the Papworth drawing (xxxx) 

-27- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Brontlow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA


The Dining Room 

The room to the east of the Saloon on the south front was almost certainly the original 

Dining room and is listed as such on the 1924 Sales Particulars. Latterly is has been 

known as the Study Centre. 

—. 

The room has a boarded floor, but of narrow floorboards, probably of mid-20 

century date. It retains a moulded skirting board and has a moulded dado rail - both 

of which could be original - but there is no surviving cornice and the ceiling is quite 

flat. 

The doorway from the Saloon is one of two in this room's long west wall, the other, at 

the north end, leading off the Entrance Hall. Both have matching pedestalled door 

cases, panelled reveals, and veneered doors with central bead; both doors have 

evidence of change to their escutcheons but retain what seems to be some of the 

original door furniture. 

A third doorway and door in the east wall, opposite the northern one in the west wall, 

appears to be of the same date and design but may not necessarily be in situ. It now 

leads into the East Wing (Building B2). 

The room is lit by two windows, one in the south front and another - actually a 

French window - in the east return. The south window has a pedestalled architrave 

and simply panelled shutters. 

The French window has a clumsier reveal probably remodelled when an original 

window was converted - probably as recently as the 1939 alterations. Cuts on either 

side in the skirting board and dado rail indicate that this alteration is later in date than 

they are. 

I 

The room did have a fireplace on the west wall, and this was described as being 

having a 'Carved Marble Mantlepiece' in the 1924 Sales Particulars. It has since 

been removed and the recess used as a low cupboard. 

For some reason, both of the opposing northern doors are set into a shallow projection 

from the main wall line. These are, nevertheless, respected by the skirting board and 

the dado rail. 

One possibility may be that these doorways were originally on either side of a 

passageway leading from the Entrance Hall into the predecessor of the present East 

Wing and that at a later date the wall between this and the then smaller, but better 

balanced, Dining Room, Was removed and a replacement corridor created to the north. 

However, judging from the dimensions in the 1924 Sales Particulars, if such a change 

did indeed take place, it had already done so. 

-28- 



PI. 14: The former Dining Room looking north; note odd projections around the doors. 

PI. 15: Detail of door furniture - and evidence of change. 

-29- 


pr 

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The Rose Room, part of the former Library 


To the west of the Saloon, but not connected with it, is the room recently known as 

the Rose Room. It is reached off a corridor connecting the Entrance Hall and the 

West Wing (Building Bl). The corridor was clearly carved out of the once larger 

Library as part of the 1939 changes by building a fairly thin partition wall parallel to 

the main spine wall that formerly separated the room from the Stair Hall. 

The remaining section of the room is reached through a doorway through that new 

wall - though the door is a veneered mahogonay one of some antiquity virtually 

identical to those leading into the Dining Room (see above). The room is lit by a 

single window in the south wall and two in the west wall; these have full-height 

reveals with pedestalled architraves and simple panelled shutters - though enriched 

with beading. 

The room has a boarded floor, a skirting board and a dado rail interrupted by the 

window architraves. The plaster cornice, with its floral frieze, respects the present 

parameters of the room, but the northern run along the wall of the inserted corridor 

1 ^ has to have been carefully reset - and probably came from the original north wall of 

the room. 

L:-.- 

L »-- 

There are indications of the original fireplace towards the northern end of the eastern 

wall but no, unfortunately, sign of the 'White Marble Mantlepiece of Adam design' 

mentioned in the 1924 Sales Particulars. There is now a plain framed recess where 

this used to be. 

The same Sales Particulars also state that the original Library had two doorways - one 

L - evidently off the Entrance Hall, the other leading into the adjacent Drawing Room - 

i.e. the Saloon. Given the position of the two fireplaces in the wall between these 

rooms it is unclear where such a doorway could have been. 

The West Corridor 

The west corridor was created in 1939 when the northern part of the former Library 

was partitioned off from the rest to enable separate access from the Entrance Hall into 

the new West Wing. 

Once created, it was carefully detailed to fit into the house - with a stone floor, 

moulded timber skirting board and enriched plaster cornice similar to those in the Hall 

and a reset door into the remaining part of the Library. 

At the west end of the corridor is the doorway in to the main ground-floor room of the 

" r ,, West Wing, presumably in the position of an original window opening. In the north 

wall, there is an inserted opening protected by a balustrade looking into the adjacent 

Stair Hall. This was presumably added when the corridor was created to provide 

»_,, 

borrowed light from the Stair Hall into what would otherwise be a very dark space. 

r: 

r 

-30- 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkshi 

PI. 16: The former Library, latterly Rose Room, looking south-east. 

-- 

PI. 17: The west corridor of 1939, looking west, with borrowed light to right. 

-31- 


DenfordPark, Kintbury. Berkshire 

The Stair Hall 

The Stair Hall is a grand space to the west of the Entrance Hall and accessed through 

an arch-headed opening off it. The floor is of stone slabs, but smaller and a little less 

pristine than those in the Hall; it is possible that they are earlier and that they could 

even be primary. 

Around the space is a tall timber skirting board, and there is a full height window 

reveal in the north wall with proper architrave and a low window seat; the window 

shutters are similar to those in the former Library, having beaded moulds in the 

panelling. 

The cantilevered stone stairs rise along the south, west and north walls to end at a 

partly cantilevered landing along the east wall at first-floor level. The stairs are 

spacious and the 'goings' generous despite the use of several 'kites' at the changes in 

direction. 

The hand rail is of timber, possibly a hardwood, and the balustrade is of thin scantling 

iron profusely decorated. There is clear disturbance in the leaded fixings of the 

balustrade uprights to the stone treads. 

The character of the balustrade is also a little unusual for Wyattville and perhaps, 

even for Papworth, so it may well be a later replacement - perhaps as recently as 1939. 

Significantly, it is matched in the inserted borrowed light opening in the south wall to 

the adjacent corridor. 

The Closet 

A well-crafted and probably primary doorway off the north end of the west wall of the 

Stair Hall has a six-panelled plain painted door leading into a small WC. This is 

separated from the rest of what was evidently a single space by a modern partition 

wall. 

The rest of the original space is now access off the main room in the West Whig and 

contains a store on the ground floor with timber steps leading up to a library or 

shelved store on a mezzanine above -- all presumably part of the late-1930's 

alterations. 

The original room is presumably the WC and closet mentioned in the 1924 Sales 

Particulars and it may have always had that function since the house was initially built 

- though then a specific Water Closet in a house would have been the sign of a fairly 

high status dwelling. 

-32- 


Denford Park. Kintburv, Berkshire 

PI. 18: The Stair Hall seen through the inserted opening in its south wall. 

f. 

L__ 

-33- 


DenfordPark, Kintburv. Berkshire 

The East Corridor 

One of the arch-headed openings off the Entrance Hall leads into the East Corridor, 

which provides a link between it and the later East Wing (Building B2). The evidence 

suggests that this is a primary corridor and that originally it would have provided 

access to the narrower predecessor of the East Wing. 

The corridor has the same type of smooth stone-flagged floor and moulded timber 

skirting boards as the Entrance Hall but a much simpler moulded plaster cornice. 

There are good quality pedestalled doorcases to openings at the end of the corridor 

and midway along it - the later leading into the former Study. 

The Study 

The Study is a relatively small room at the south-western corner of the Main House. 

It is reached through a doorway off the East Corridor which contains a high quality 

veneered six panelled door with central bead; the mouldings are slightly enriched on 

the room side of the door. 

The room is lit by a window in the north wall with a full-height reveal; the window 

shutters are fairly plain but enriched with beaded moulding. There is a simply 

moulded skirting board around the room but no dado; the plaster cornice is plaster and 

flattish, enriched with beading. 

The chimneypiece, tiled fireplace, and the flanking bookcases with their adjustable 

shelving appear to date to the first-half of the 20 th century so could belong to the late- 

1930's changes to the house. 

3.1.3.03 The First Floor 

The Stair Landing 

The stair landing consists of two partly cantilevered out landings, one at the chad of 

the main stairs along the east side of the Stair Hall and the other at right-angles to it 

along the south side of this space - with a slight projecting section at its western end 

respected by the balustrade. 

This upper section of the Stair Hall is lit by a window in the north wall with a sloped 

sill, attenuated fluted architrave of Regency style and false shutters. It has a moulded 

plaster cornice with broad dentils, each of which has a patera cut into its soffit. There 

is also a low and fairly plain skirting board along the landings. 

At the south end of the main landing and the west end of the secondary landing there 

are arch-headed openings leading through the adjacent walls. The opening off the 

secondary landing leads into a short corridor connecting this main part of the house 

with the later West Wing (Building Bl). 

-34- 


Denford Park. Kintburv 

PL 19: The first-floor stair landing, looking south 

P1.20: The South-Western Chamber looking south-west. 

-35- 

I 



The West First-Floor Corridor 

It seems likely that this opening off the stairs, therefore, is a 1930's remodelling of 

what may have been a simpler opening - possibly just a standard doorway with 

contemporary doorcase leading into the adjacent First Floor Closet. 

The corridor has a stone floor and fluted cornice, with pedestalled doorcases off it. 

However, as the western end of this space did not exist until the construction of the 

West Wing in 1939, these details are at least, in part, replicas. 

The First-Floor Closet (Sick Bay Room 1) 

This space next to the main Stair Hall is now accessed off the short corridor link to 

the West Wing but probably once incorporated the adjacent section of that corridor. 

The door off the corridor is four-panelled with beaded panels in a simple pedestalled 

frame, presumably reset. 

The room is lit by an inserted window in the north wall but was presumably lit 

originally by one or more in the west wall. The room has a fluted cornice, the 

southern section at least presumably a copy of circa 1939. 

It is assumed that when first created, the full length of this space formed a Water 

Closet on the first-floor, matching that assumed to have existed on the floor below - 

both reached from the adjacent Stair Hall. However, by the time of the 1924 sale it 

was a narrow bedroom with two windows in the west wall. 

The West Lobby 

At the western end of the main First-floor Corridor is a small lobby area linking it 

with the Main Stairs. This small space has a reeded plaster cornice-cum-ceiling frame 

that seems to be original and a tall plain skirting board. 

There are arch-headed openings with simple beaded mouldings on two sides leading 

to the stair landing and the corridor. On the other two sides are doorways leading into 

the South-West Chamber and the smaller Store or Closet created by partitioning off 

the northern section of that room. 

The southern doorway appears to be the original entrance to the South-West Chamber 

and has a full reeded architrave with pedestals and angle blocks at the top corners of 

the frame; the door is four panelled with moulded verges to the flat panels. The 

doorway in the west wall has a similar door but the door surround is much plainer. 

-36- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlcrw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


The South-West Chamber 

The South-West Chamber (latterly known as the 'Creative Room') was originally a 

larger space but its northern section has been carved off from the rest to create a small 

closet or store accessed off the adjacent Lobby (see above). This seems to have 

occurred by the time of the 1924 sale as the narrower space is described as a dressing 

room. 

The fact that the partition is inserted is quite obvious by its relatively flimsy 

construction, by the fact that the reeded cornice of the main room continues 

unchecked past the partition and to its original north wall, and by an obvious junction 

in the present north wall of the room between the original wall adjacent to the 

doorway and the partition. 

The door case of the entrance off the lobby is plainer on the room side than it is to the 

lobby, simply but elegantly moulded and with pedestals; it matches a second doorway 

at the southern end of the east wall, formerly leading into the adjacent South Chamber 

but now into a cupboard formed in the blocked off recess of the opening. 

The present room is lit by a window in the south wall and one at the southern end of 

the west wall. These both have full-height reveals with architraves that match those of 

the two doorways. The bottom parts of the reveals have been infilled with radiator 

boxes. The windows have simple panelled shutters. 

The room has a tall and possibly primary moulded skirting, presumably reset along 

the inserted north wall. The floorboards, however, look to be later. In the board 

pattern is a trimmed hearth indicating the position of the fireplace on the east wall of 

which there are no other visible indications. 

The West Store 

It is obvious that the West Store was created by partitioning off the northern part of 

the South-West Chamber in the fairly recent past. It is an unlit space with remains of 

modern shelving and sink units but retains the northern part of the original reeded 

cornice of the room. Latterly a laundry, it is accessed off the adjacent lobby. 

The First Floor Corridor 

The First Floor Corridor is a broad axial link from the Lobby off the Main Stairs at 

the western end through the whole width of the Main House, linking into the corridor 

within the East Wing (Building B2). In the central section of the building the 

structural spine wall is on the south side of this corridor, whilst in the eastern portion 

it is on the north side. In both sections the other wall is substantially thinner and 

possibly of plastered studwork. 

-37- 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark Kintburv. Berkshi 

P1.21: The First-Floor Corridor, looking west. 

P1.22: The bowed south front of the South Chamber 

-38- 


DenfyrdPark, Kintburv, Berkshire 

It has a boarded floor with simply moulded skirting board and is divided into two 

sections by the eastern cross-wall. Each compartment has its own reeded cornicecum-ceiling 

frame. Through the two cross wall are arch-headed openings with 

beaded chamfers, and there is a virtually identical opening through the original east 

wall of this part of the house. 

The Ante-Room 

The Ante-Room leads off the First-Floor Corridor and provides access to the South 

Chamber and its Dressing Room - thus forming part of a suite of three rooms that was 

probably the original main bedroom suite. The Ante-Room has a reeded cornice-cumceiling 

frame, flat plaster ceiling and a tall moulded skirting board. 

The door off the corridor has a reeded architrave but no door - although there is a 

rebate in the door-frame to show that one did exist. The door case on the Ante-Room 

side is plain, lacking pedestals; there are identical door cases on the south and east 

sides of this space, each with four-panelled doors that have beaded verges to their 

panels. 

The South Chamber 

The former South Chamber is the largest and grandest of the first-floor rooms, lit by 

three windows in its projecting bowed south front. It was latterly the Board Room. 

These originally had full-height reveals with plain-ish architraves - enriched in 

comparison with similar ones in the house by an additional torus mould. 

The architraves do not have pedestals, however. Beneath the window sills the revals 

are panelled and there are simply matching shutters as well. The outer pair of 

windows have radiator boxes inserted into the base of the reveals. 

The doorcase of the doorway leading into the room is of similar design to the window 

architraves. There is evidence of a blocked doorcase in the centre of the west wall 

leading into the recess visible on the opposite side of the wall (see above). There is 

also some evidence for a blocked doorway in the north wall that would have led 

directly into the presumed former Dressing Room (see below). 

At the south end of the west and east walls the simple fluted cornice-cum-ceiling 

frame dies out in the start of the curve of the projecting bow. The ceiling is flat with 

no indications of a former ceiling rose. The skirting board is tall and simply moulded. 

In the east side of the room is a projecting chimney breast, and whilst there is no 

longer any fireplace, its hearth remains in the floor structure. 

The room has a simple boarded floor, the boards being butt-jointed. Some have been 

lifted and show that there was lath-and-plaster pugging beneath the boards. There are 

clear indications of subsidence in the floor and the north wall - on which a small and 

rather alarming note warns that 'Heavy furniture must not be placed in the centre of 

this room or along the wall'. 

-39- 



The Dressing Room 

The former Dressing room is the third of the three-room suite and is accessed now off 

the Ante-Room but probably once had a direct access into the adjacent South 

Chamber. 

It retains its original door case from the Ante-Room and a tall moulded skirting board. 

It has no other features of note and lacks a cornice; the floor is covered in modern 

linoleum and the walls are plain; recently it was used as a craft room. 

The North Chamber 

The North Chamber (B/R 10) occupies the centre of the north front on the first floor 

and is thus above the Entrance Hall. It is reached through a doorway that has a fully 

fluted architrave on the corridor side but a much simpler one within; the door is of 

four panels with the same beaded verges as contemporary doors at this level. The 

door furniture seems to be of the 1930's and is fireproofed on the room side. 

There is a second, blocked, doorway in the east wall, leading into the former North- 

East Chamber; the panelled recess is visible and the four-panel door is simply nailed 

shut. 

The room is lit by the central window above the portico. This has a full height reveal 

and simply moulded architrave, but the lower section has been infilled by a radiator 

box. The window retains it plainish shutters. 

There is a tall skirting board around the room as well as fluted plaster cornice-cumceiling 

frame around the flat ceiling. The boarded floor is presently covered with 

modern linoleum. There are no obvious indications to suggest it had a fireplace. 

The North-East Chamber 

Evidently the North-East Chamber (B/R 11) was originally a larger space until the 

eastern section was partitioned off to create the present narrow space - probably in the 

late-1930's. The tall skirting board and the fluted plaster cornice both continued 

through and past the partition; a modern skirting has been planted on it. 

It is reached through a doorway with fully fluted architrave on the corridor side but a 

much simpler one within - though pedestalled, unlike those in the North Chamber; the 

door is of four panels with the same beaded verges as contemporary doors at this level 

and is fireproofed on the room side. There is a second doorway, with the door nailed 

shut, in the west wall. 

The room is lit by the window hi the north wall, which has a full-height reveal with 

similar architrave to the doorways - though a window seat has been inserted into it. 

The shutters are fairly plain but probably original. The hearth of its former fireplace 

is sited towards the northern end of the west wall. 

-40- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Sromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


P1.23: The North-East Chamber, looking north; the right-hand wall is inserted. 

P1.24: The South-East Chamber, looking south-west. 

-41- 


Denford Park, Kintbury. Berkshire 

The North-Eastern Kitchen 

The small room created by partitioning off the east end of the North-East Chamber is 

reached by an inserted doorway off the corridor and lit by an inserted window in the 

north elevation. It appears to have been created as part of the 1939 works. The 

section of the original fluted plaster cornice survives in situ. 

The South-East Chamber 

The doorway leading into the South-East Chamber, latterly Lecture Room 2, has the 

same early-19 th century style reeded architrave on the corridor side as the other 

original doorways but unlike them is also reeded on the inside as well. It contains the 

standard pattern of four-panel door. 

In the 1924 Sales Particulars this room is described as a Double Bedroom, 22ft by 20 

ft, but also had 'a bed recess 10ft. 3in. x6ft.\ The room is lit by windows in the south 

and east walls and their full-height reveals also have reeded architraves to match the 

doorcase. Both have plain shutters, and radiator boxes inserted into the reveals. 

Around the room there is a tall skirting board and a reeded plaster cornice, both 

possibly original. The fireplace position was in a projecting stack towards the 

southern end of the west wall, but there is now no fireplace. 

The floorboards are simply butted together but there was lath-and-plaster pugging 

beneath. Some boards have been lifted and evidently the main cross-beam supporting 

the floor at the northern end of the room runs roughly west-east but is clearly and 

deliberately at a slight diagonal angle to the building's footprint. 

Secondary beams are tenoned into the sides of this main beam and the common joists 

supporting the floorboards seem to be lodged on top of those rather than being 

tenoned into their flanks. 

J 

-42- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA 

1

DenfordPark. Kintbury, Berkshire 

3.2 Buildings Bl: The West Wing 

The West and East Wings (Buildings Bl and B2) are known to have been added to the 

sides of the original Main House (Building A) as part of the re-ordering of Denford 

Park at the end of the 1930's. The West Wing (Bl) was simply added onto the former 

west elevation of the original house, whilst the East Wing replaced an earlier, 

narrower, link between the house and the Servants' Wing (Building C). 


The wing is faced with virtually identical Bath stone ashlar to the Main House, 

although the inner leaf is of brick. The external detailing was deliberately designed to 

match the existing work - including the later parapet that had been added to the 

original design shortly after it was built (see below). 

3.2.1.01 The North Elevation 

The north elevation is set back slightly from the Main House but is of the same height 

and the existing plinth, band course and parapet were continued along it. It is a three 

bay composition, though the middle ground-floor window is blind and there is a 

plaque instead of a window above it at first-floor level. 

The heights of the flanking sash windows and the detailing of their surrounds match 

those of the Main House. However, whilst the height of the central blind window 

matches those to either side, its frame is narrower and 'eared'. The area it frames 

consists of a single verged panel. Above, at first-floor level, is a stone plaque with 

apsidal edges bearing the initials THH and the date 1939. 

Rising from the roof line above the central bay is a chimney stack designed to match 

those of the Main House - and the reason why there are no windows; the flues for the 

stack are within the wall. 

3.2.1.02 The South Elevation 

Like the north elevation, the south elevation is set back from the Main House but in 

this case quite considerably so as the wing is much narrower. Again the elevation is 

of the same height and the existing plinth, band course and parapet were continued 

along it. 

It is also a three bay composition, but one in which all of the windows are true 

windows. These sashes, and the detailing of their surrounds match, those on the south 

front of the adjacent Main House. 

-43- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 OEA

DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkshirt 

P1.25: The north front of the West Wing (Building Bl) 

P1.26: The south elevation of the West Wing (Building Bl) 

-44- 




The west elevation of the West Wing is no longer external as the later college 

extensions butt unceremoniously up against it. Despite this, the fabric of the elevation 

is substantially intact though mostly covered by later decorative surfaces. 

Originally it was designed as a two bay elevation but with a projecting single storey 

bow of three bays on the ground floor. This survives in the present building and 

forms the apsidal west end to the maul ground-floor room. 

The outer face of the bow is visible in the adjacent extensions. It is faced in ashlar 

and the main mouldings are continued onto it. Between the sashes, which match the 

existing windows of the Main House, there are plain pilasters that echo those of the 

bow on its garden front. 

The bow has a flat leaded roof hidden behind a plain parapet. Above this, at firstfloor 

level, there were to be a pair of windows, the reveals of which can be identified 

internally. 


Behind the parapets, the roof is slated and hipped and appears, from ground-level, to 

match the pitch and general profiles of the original roof piles on the Main House. 

However, the hips and slopes rise to a broad lead flat and it is a single pile roof 

supported on steel trusses. 

3.2.3 The Interior 


The ground floor of the wing is entirely occupied by one single grand space, latterly 

used as the Students' Common Room. It is reached through the corridor created in 

the Main House leading from the Entrance Hall. 

The doorway has a varnished wood architrave of traditional form but contains an 

elegant but quite radically different type of varnished door - solid except for a tall, 

narrow, glazed section; it is typical of the 1930's moderne style. Curiously, although 

the doorway is matched by one to the north, leading into the mazzanine closet area 

created within the adjacent section of the Main House (see above), the door in that 

opening does not have the distinctive glazed section. 

The rest of the detailing of the room is more traditional. It is well lit - having three 

windows in the south side, two in the north and three hi the bow on the west end. 

Apart from the southern window in the bow, which has been converted into a door, 

the rest of the windows have tall reveals with varnished wood surrounds and panels 

and contain sash windows. At their base are built-in radiator covers. 

-45- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA 

1


P1.27: The ground-floor bow of the West Wing survives despite later accretions. 

P1.28: The interior of the ground-floor room in the West Wing, looking west. 

-46- 


Denford Park, Kintburv, Berkshire 

The room has a low varnished skirting board but no cornice. In the middle of the 

north wall is a projecting chimney breast and a simply moulded chimneypiece. The 

plain walls have occasional slightly projecting vertical 'pilasters' which relate to the 

access to internal vertical piping. 

The carpeted floor is of timber boards supported on timber joists - but they, in turn, 

are supported on a sub-structure of concrete beneath which is a substantial void 

containing the services. 


The Passage 

The first floor consists of a series of rooms on either side of an axial corridor from the 

landing of the stairs within the Main House. The first part of this within the Main 

House was probably created when the West Wing was built - and detailed to appear 

of one date even though it is continued into the new build. The central section is top 

lit and corniced and belongs to that same phase of work, but the western end of the 

passage is of relatively recent date. 

The North-East Room 

The North-East Room, latterly Sick Bay No.3, is one of the original spaces in this 

wing, accessed off the central section of the corridor. It has a plainly moulded door 

surround and four panelled door and is lit by a window in the north wall with a full 

height reveal - though with a radiator box at its foot. 

Both doorcase and window architrave to the room have pedestals. The sash is of 

varnished wood and hung on chains. The shutters, like those in the other rooms at this 

level and in the East Wing (Building B2) are virtually identical to the original shutters 

in the Main House but are clever replicas; instead of flush rear faces and surface 

mounted hinges they have panelled backs and indented hinges. 

The room has a crisp fluted plaster cornice, also copying existing examples in the 

Main House, and a moulded timber skirting board. In the north-western corner of the 

room is an angled stack but the fireplace is now a plastered recess. 

The South-East Room 

The South-East Room, formerly Sick Bay No.2, has detailing similar to the North- 

East Room, but there is no radiator in the window reveal; instead, the base of the 

reveal has a pair of narrow rectangular panels. In the north wall there is a shallow 

recess, the purpose of which is not known. 

-47- 



The South Room 

The small South Room is now occupied by WCs; it was original accessed off the 

corridor by a door further to the east than the present one. That has been converted 

into a cupboard and the present doorway is very plain and evidently inserted. 

The room has a standard pattern window with splayed reveals that lacks a radiator or 

radiator cover and is similar to that in the adjacent South-East Room. Whilst the 

room has a timber skirting board it lacks a cornice. 

The North-West and South-West Rooms 

The present North-West and South-West rooms were evidently once part of one large 

single room until the corridor was continued westwards and separated them. The line 

of the fluted cornice around the original stubby 'L-shaped' room is quite clear. The 

room was presumably heated by an angle stack in the north-eastern corner which has 

been removed. 

This would have been a very large room, lit by two windows in the west wall as well 

as single windows in the north and south walls. The western windows have been 

blocked but their positions are obvious; in between, a doorway was inserted to link 

the corridor with the modern extension to the west. The other two windows are still 

in use and have the same general detailing as the others on this level. 

3.3 Building B2: The East Wing 

The West and East Wings (Buildings Bl and B2) are known to have been added to the 

sides of the original Main House (Building A) as part of the re-ordering of Denford 

Park at the end of the 1930's. 

Whilst the West Wing was built on open ground against the west wall of the original 

house, the East Wing seems to have replaced an earlier link block connecting the 

Main House and the Service Wing. This may account for the slight difference in 

length between the two wings but not the more substantial difference in width. 


Because of the adjacent buildings to either side, only the north and south walls of the 

wing are external. These are faced with virtually identical Bath stone ashlar to the 

Main House, although the inner leaf is of brick. 

The external detailing was deliberately designed to match the existing work - 

including the later parapet that had been added to the original design shortly after it 

was built (see below). Both elevations have hopper heads with the initials THH and 

the date 1939. 

-48- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromiaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


P1.29: The north elevation of the East Wing, flanked between the Main House 

(Building A), right, and the Service Wing to the left. 

P1.30: The south elevation of the East Wing. 

-49- 



3.3.1.01 The North Front 

The north front is of three bays but not quite symmetrical; like the north front of the 

West Wing it is set back slightly from the entrance front of the earlier Main House. 

The main running detailing - plinth, band course and entablature - of the earlier 

building are continued along this elevation and the detailing and scale of the window 

openings is also virtually identical. 

Although it is a three bay composition and symmetrical at first-floor level — where 

there are three sash windows copying those of the earlier work - the elevation is not 

quite symmetrical. 

At ground-floor level there is a central tall window set in a door-high architrave or 

aedicule topped by a segmental pediment; beneath the sill of the sash window is a 

stone panel. 

To the west, or right, of this is a proper doorway with simpler architrave containing a 

glazed double door under a rectangular fanlight; this leads into a lobby. At the left 

hand end of the elevation is a window opening set into an architrave similar in outline 

to the central window but lacking the pediment. However, instead of containing a 

standard sash window it contains two narrow sashes, separated by a plain timber 

mullion. 

3.3.1.02 The South Front 

Because the East Wing is substantial wider than the West Wing it south front is set 

back slightly less from the south front of the Main House. This elevation is a moe 

symmetrical composition than its north elevation and is also of three bays, its 

detailing mainly copying that of the Main House. 

The main exception is that, whilst the ground-floor window architraves are full height, 

the sills of their sashes are set higher and as a result the panels of masonry beneath 

them are taller than those in the corresponding windows of the Main House and the 

West Wing. 


The roof is slated and hidden behind the parapets. It consists of a pair of parallel 

shallow-pitched piles, hipped at their eastern ends and running into the adjacent pile 

of the roof of the Main House on the other. A tall ashlared chimney rises from the 

valley, a little to the west of centre. The 1939 plans indicate that the roof was 

supported on RSJs. 

] 

] 

] 

-50- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park Kintbury. Berkshire 


The internal divisions are fairly similar on both floor levels, with rooms accessed off a 

central axial corridor linking the Main House with the Service Wing. The only 

substantive difference is a cranked entrance from the Main House into the first-floor 

corridor, caused by the disposition of the doorway access from the earlier building. 


The Ground-floor Corridor 

The Ground-floor Corridor is reached from the Main House through what may have 

been the original access into the earlier link block in this position. The present 

corridor is separated into two distinct parts by a doorway in a cross wall. 

The door is a six-panelled one, probably veneered, with a central beading; it may have 

been rest in this position. This may have been the new 'green baize door' between the 

polite parts of the house and the service quarters following the late-1930's changes; it 

could even be the original door, removed from its original position in the east wall of 

the house (where the doorway into this corridor is now open) and reset where it is 

now. 

To the west of that door the floor of the corridor is of good quality polished stone, has 

a tall skirting board, simply coved cornice, and pedestalled doorcases. Beyond the 

doorway, the eastern section has what appears to be a composite floor and no cornice 

- but it does retain a skirting board and pedestalled doorcases. 

Because the corridor is central it is rather dark. The western end does have some light 

filtering in from the open doorway into the Main House. The doorway in its north 

wall at the west end to the Lobby has a large semi-circular fanlight to provide more 

borrowed light. The eastern section has a small amount of borrowed light from a 

glazed internal oval window set high in the north wall just to the east of the doorway. 

The Lobby 

The Lobby at the west end of the wing provides a link between the doorway in the 

north wall and the corridor - and, hi turn, to the main part of the house. It is a fairly 

narrow space with double glazed doors at the north end and a painted six-panel door 

under the fanlight at the other. 

The room is fairly plain, with a simple skirting board, coved ceiling and plain walls 

and ceiling; the cupboards along the east wall are fairly modern but the recessed 

radiator position in the west wall could be primary. It is labelled the Entrance Hall on 

a plan of June 1939. 

-51- 


DenfordPark. Kintbury. Berkshire 

The Accounts & WCs 

To the east of the Lobby the other two rooms north of the corridor were clearly 

originally one and the wall between them is of studwork or plasterboard. The original 

room had a skirting board and a stone floor. The section to the west of the inserted 

partition was latterly the Accounts Office and the section to the east, divided into WC 

cubicles. 

The eastern doorway from the corridor, to the east of the central dividing doorway, 

has a pedestalled door frame; the other doorway is quite plain. Both are inserted. The 

original access was from the adjacent Lobby and is shown on one of the 1939 plans. 

At that time the room was a Cloakroom - evidently for the family and guests. 

On a 1949 plan proposals were made to adjust the facilities for the school children 

and the original access was to be blocked, replaced by the present eastern doorway; 

this probably re-used the original door frame and door. The other doorway became 

necessary when the room was divided in the later 20 th century. 

Originally the room was lit by two windows in the north wall. The eastern one 

consists of a pair of narrow single-pane wide sashes in the same opening separated by 

a mullion. 

However, the character of the sashes is the same as the full one in the centre; this is 

explained by the 1939 plan which shows that there were to be two WC cubicles at the 

east end, the partition between which bisected the window opening. 

The oval window set high in the south wall of the Accounts section would have been 

more efficient as a borrowed light window to the corridor before the partition was 

built. 

General Office or Gun Room 

The larger room to the south of the corridor at this level was latterly used as the 

college's General Office. It has a doorway to the South-East Room of the Main 

House which was latterly nailed shut and used as a cupboard, but the door is veneered 

and probably of the early-19 th century in date, matching others within the building. 

There are indications that the original door furniture has seen at least one change in its 

history. 

In contrast, the doorway off the corridor contains a very similar door but this is not 

veneered but varnished; nevertheless it is a very good replica of the earlier door - 

perhaps of the late-1930's work. It is also of slightly different construction and the 

door furniture has never been altered. 

The room is lit by two sash windows in the south wall with full-height reveals, but 

these have been altered slightly - especially the western one which has lost much of 

its original architrave. 

] 

1 

-52- 


DenfordPark, Kintbury, Berkshire 

The room has a tall skirting board, similar in style to those in the earlier Main House, 

and a much simpler coved plaster cornice; that is interrupted by a boxed north-south 

ceiling beam. 

The east wall seems to be inserted. This theory is supported by one of the 1939 plans 

which shows the two rooms as a single 'L-shaped' space labelled the Gun Room. 

This also shows that the westernmost extremity was separated off from the rest and 

used as a Flower Room with its own access off the corridor. The east wall of that 

room bisected the western window in the south wall, which might account for the 

changes made to it - if the Flower Room was indeed built. 

Office Annexe 

To the east of the former General Office is a smaller room between the south wall and 

the Service Stairs to the north (see below). There is now no access between it and the 

main General Office. Instead it is accessed from a doorway in the adjacent Service 

Wing (Building C). 

The door has no frame and is a simple painted four panel design. The sash window in 

the south wall, however, is the same as those lighting the General Office and has a full 

pedestalled architrave. 

There is a tall moulded skirting board and an array of cupboards in the west wall. The 

coved cornice is on three sides but not on the west side where it seems to die into the 

west wall. This could help support the idea that this wall was inserted into the 

original larger Gun Room (see above). 

The Service Stairs 

The Service Stairs lie between the east end of the Corridor and the Office Annexe and 

rise from basement to first-floor level. The lower section is of brick, down to the 

cellar, whilst then upper portion is a neat well stair with a variant on stick balusters 

and square-sectioned newels - not dissimilar to a simplified version of 18 th century 

Chinoiserie. It has a curved top skirting board. 


The First-Floor Corridor 

The First-floor Corridor is directly above the Ground-floor Corridor but the access 

into it from the Main House is slightly more complex. The First-Floor Corridor in the 

Main House is set slightly to the south of the line of the corridor in the East Wing. As 

a result, a small lobby area was needed at the junction of the two, giving the corridor 

an elongated 'L-shaped' footprint. 

-53- 



Access through the wall of the Main House is through a broad opening with an arched 

head that may just have been the original access to the earlier link block that the East 

Wing replaced; there is no other position for a doorway given the disposition of the 

rooms in the original building. 

The corridor has a plainly moulded skirting board and a fluted plaster cornice. The 

door cases off it are mainly simply moulded with pedestal bases and contain fourpanelled 

painted doors. 

; 

Towards the east end of the corridor is a flight of full width steps, as the floor level in 

the eastern section is considerably lower than the rest. The ceiling, however, remains 

at the same height. The lower level is more on a par with the first-floor level in the 

adjacent Service Wing. At the top of the east wall of the corridor is a steel-framed 

'Crittal-type' window. 

The Registry, or Former Dressing Room 

The Registry is the south-western room at this level in the East Wing, accessed from 

the western lobby end of the Corridor. There are additional doorways in the west and 

east walls. The room is lit by two sash windows in the south wall with full-height 

reveals in simple architraves and shutters of the late-1930's style but echoing the 

originals in the Main House. 

The room has a simply moulded skirting board but no cornice; the floor boards are 

quite thin and machine sawn, typical of the mid-20 century. Towards the western 

end of the north wall is the former fireplace but this no longer has a grate. 

On one of the 1939 plans this is shown as being the proposed Dressing Room to the 

South-East Chamber in the adjacent Main House. 

The Registry Annexe, or Former Bathroom 

To the east of the Registry and to the south of the Service Stairs is a small room 

reached through the former. It is lit by a standard sash window in the south wall and 

has a very simple skirting board. The north wall seems to be of plasterboard or stud 

but may simply be the result of boarding out. On one of the 1939 plans this is shown 

as a bathroom. 

The Cupboard, or Former WC 

Immediately to the east of the Service Stair at this level there is room for a small 

closet between it and the east wall. This is accessed off the adjacent corridor and lit 

by a steel-framed 'Crittal-type' window set high in the east wall, above the roof of the 

adjacent Service Wing. It has a low skirting board, no cornice and some shelving. It 

was latterly a broom cupboard of some sort but may have once been a WC - and is 

shown as such on one of the 1939 plans. 

-54- 



The Bathroom 

The westernmost of the three rooms to the north of the corridor at this level was 

latterly a bathroom. It is lit by a window hi the north wall, original to this phase; the 

reveal has been altered beneath the sill and the shutters have been nailed shut. It has a 

low skirt but no cornice. 

The east wall is possibly inserted and the room may have formed part of a larger 

primary space with the adjacent Laundry. However, this is not supported by the 

evidence of one of the 1939 plans which shows it to have been a bathroom serving 

the adjacent North-East Chamber in the Main House with no access off the corridor. 

The Laundry, or House Maids' Closet 

The former Laundry is the central room to the north of the corridor but was probably 

originally the eastern part of a larger room. The doorway into it appears to be inserted 

and would have been needed once the partition wall was built across the original 

space. 

The room retains its original window and reveal but has been altered - and the walls 

are mostly tiled. On the 1939 plan, however, this is a separate room labelled the 

'H.M.C.' and the doorway off the corridor is shown. It contained sinks, sluices and 

cupboards. 

The WCs, or Former Servants' Bathroom 

At the eastern end of the north side of the range are four WC cubicles hi a room 

accessed from the lower level of the adjacent Corridor. That doorway has a 

pedestalled architrave and four panel door probably contemporary with the 

construction of the wing. 

Because of the much lower floor level within the room, but the need to retain the 

external symmetry of the elevation, the window in the north wall is at the same height 

as the others - which means that there is a much taller gap between its sill and the 

floor. Nevertheless the window was still given a full height reveal which then 

required much taller panels beneath the sill. On one of the 1939 plans this is shown as 

a bathroom, reached off the corridor. As it is clearly within the service area of the 

house it was presumably for the use of the servants, rather than guests. 

3.3.3.03 The Cellar 

Beneath the northern half of the wing there are cellars, accessed from the Service 

Stairs. The western part of these has an axial brick vault with brick setlasses and the 

stone footings of the east wall of the Main House are visible. The eastern section has 

a flat ceiling and a tile and concrete floor. It is just possible that the western section is 

older - perhaps a remnant of the earlier link range that this wing replaced. 

-55- 



3.4 Building C: The Service Wing 

The Service Wing is a virtually square building to the east of the East Wing but 

clearly predating it. The evidence suggests that it was probably part of the original 

house, linked to the Main House by a link range on the site of the present East Wing. 


Because of the relationship of the building with those adjacent to it, only the north 

elevation is fully external. Much of the west elevation is obscured by the East Whig 

(Building B2), and the east elevation by the Service Extension (Building D) - which 

also projects southwards and obscured the easternmost portion of the south elevation. 

The range is faced in crisp Bath stone ashlar and there is a plain plinth and a firstfloor 

band course, as well as a fairly tall but plain solid parapet hiding the base of the 

roof. 

Photographic evidence shows that this parapet was only added at a much later date; 

the roof has overhanging eaves on the photographs in the 1924 Sales Particulars and it 

seems likely that the parapet was added as part of the late-1930's work. 


The north elevation probably began as a symmetrical composition but its ground-floor 

level was subsequently altered. The masonry at that level appears to have been re-set 

and the joints between the ashlared blocks are cruder than those on the upper part of 

the elevation. 

At first-floor level the elevation is of two bays and the two sashes have plain 

surrounds - their sills being the first-floor band course and their heads immediately 

beneath the band course at the base of the parapet. At ground floor level the 

fenestration is not symmetrical. Towards the right-hand, or west, side is a large 

opening beneath a plain shallow segmental head. This contains a pair of French 

windows flanked by full-height additional windows of uncertain date. 

To the left-hand is a pair of sashes set into plain openings with segmental heads that 

have no relationship to the first-floor window above. Next to them at the end of the 

elevation is a later lean-to roof covering a low doorway in the wall reached down 

steps from within. 


The south elevation is partly obscured by the southern projection of the South-East 

Range (Building E) which butts against its eastern third. Whilst the ashlar joints are 

fairly crisp and the stone clearly weathered, there are still indications in the plan form 

that the elevation has been subject to some subtle and well-wrought alterations. 

-56- 



P1.31: The north elevation of the Service Wing; note disturbed ground-floor masonry. 

P1.32: South elevations of Service Range (C), left, and South-East Range (E), right. 

-57- 



The exposed section of the elevation is of two bays, but there is also room for 

doorways at the eastern end leading into the South-East Range. Although the 

evidence suggests that the masonry of this elevation courses in with that of the South- 

East Range, this seems to contradict the documentary evidence of the Papworth 

drawings. The windows are recessed sashes in plain surrounds. The ground-floor 

windows have thin stone sills. 


Although mostly obscured by the later East Wing (Building B2), the northernmost 

part of the west elevation of this range is still external, with a probably primary 

window on the first-floor and a remodelled one below. 


The roof could not be examined in detail but seems to now be contiguous with that of 

the South-East Extension. It consists of two parallel shallow pitched hips joined at 

the west side by a third pile; the southern pile joins the western pile of the South-East 

Range. This could be the result of the major remodelling of this area by Papworth in 

thelate-1830's. 


Whilst many of the details, fixtures and fittings of the interior have been quite 

radically altered over the years, and particularly in the later 20 th century, the basic 

layout appears to have remained intact. 


The ground floor layout consists of two rooms on either side of an axial passageway 

that continues the line of the corridor in the East Wing (Building B2) to the west 

through the end of the South-East Range to the east and so to a doorway in the rear 

yard. As the corridor is set to the south of the centreline of the building, the rooms to 

the north of it are significantly wider than those to the south. 

The Service Corridor 

The ground-floor corridor has a floor of composite with a central path of stone flags, 

all probably dating from the mid-20 th century - probably the 1939 changes. There is a 

simple skirting board but no cornice; the doorways have simply moulded architraves 

and six panelled doors, some with glazed upper panels to allow borrowed light into 

the corridor. At the end of the corridor there are steps down to a doorway in the east 

wall. 

-58- 



The Housekeeper's Room or Former Kitchen 

The western room to the north of the corridor was latterly the Housekeeper's Room. 

It is lit by the large French door composition in the north elevation and has, in 

addition, a window in the west wall as well. 

As well as the door from the corridor there is another at the south end of the east wall 

into the adjacent room, the Bursar's Room. The four-panelled door is fairly modern 

but the door frame could be much older. 

The room has a fairly modern parquet floor and a plain skirting board but no cornice. 

Its main feature is a large fireplace in the projecting stack on the east side, though this 

has lost its hearth. The size of the former fireplace suggests that this may have once 

been the kitchen of the early-19 th century house. 

The Bursar's Room 

The other room to the north of the corridor was latterly the Bursar's Room, reached 

through a modern glazed door set into a glazed partititon. In the north-eastern corner 

is a set of boxed steps leading down into the North-East Range (Building D); these are 

evidently inserted and may be the reason why the two windows in the north wall were 

re-positioned. 

The decoration of the room is quite plain and much modernised. It is spanned by a 

boxed axial beam. In the east wall is an odd opening that leads into a low mezzanine 

storage area set within the linking section between the North-East and South-East 

ranges. It was probably a primary window opening before those extensions were 

made. 

South-West 

Office 

The South-West Office is reached through a partly glazed six-panelled door off the 

corridor. It is a primary space and lit by a window in the south wall. Externally this 

appears to be a simple standard proportion sash but internally there are broad recesses 

to either side of it; the shutters are of the late-1930's style but of 'gate' type rather 

than folding. 

The room has a boarded floor, a plain skirting board, but no cornice. Projecting from 

the east wall is a stack but the fireplace has been infilled; to either side of the sack are 

built-in cupboards in moulded frames of uncertain, but quite early, date. 

South-East 

Office 

The South-East Office was latterly the NVQ Office and occupies the rest of the space 

to the south of the corridor; it was once almost a mirror image of the South-West 

Office. It is reached off the corridor through a plainish framed doorway with 

-59- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


remodelled six-panelled door and lit by a window at the west end of the south wall 

presumably reset in that position when the South-East Range was built. The window 

has splayed reveals and no shutters. To the east of that window an inserted doorway 

with a flush four-panelled door leads into that later extension. 

The room has a modern parquet floor and plain skirting board but no cornice. Its 

former fireplace was in the projecting stack on the west side but this has also been 

removed and blocked. The smaller projection on the east side seems to be the boxing 

of a small service lift. 


The disposition of the first-floor rooms in this range is probably original and was 

probably matched originally by that on the ground floor. As on the ground floor there 

is an axial passageway set a little to the south of centre with two rooms on either side 

of it. 

The First-Floor Corridor 

At the west end of the corridor there are two steps down from the adjacent corridor in 

the East Wing through an arch-headed opening. At the east end the corridor is 

continued through the original east wall. 

The floor is of boards butted together, the skirt is quite plain, and the plaster covingcum-ceiling 

frame is of a type used in three of the four rooms at this level but not 

elsewhere within the complex. The architraves of the doorways at this level are 

similar to those on the floor below but lack pedestals. 

The North-West Room 

3 

] 

The floor level of the North-West Room, which is above what may have been the 

original Kitchen, is much higher than that of the corridor and there is a short flight of 

four steps up to its doorway. The panels on the reveals of the opening respect the 

ascent of the steps so these are probably primary, as is the door frame; however, the 

four-panelled door could be of early-20 1 century date. 

The room is lit by sash windows in the north and west walls and because of the need 

to preserve the external symmetry of the north elevation, and the height of the floor 

level, their sills are only just above the floorboards. For this reason the base of the 

windows is protected by safety bars. 

The reveals and the shutters of the windows are of early-19 th century form similar to 

those used in the windows of the Main House (Building A), as opposed to the good 

copies used in the West and East wings of 1939 (Buildings Bl and B2). 

-60- 


DenfordPark Kintburv. Berkshire 

The floorboards are fairly broad deals and the skirting board is quite tall. In the east 

wall is a projecting stack and the site of the former fireplace. To the north of the stack 

is a blocked doorway to the adjacent room, with panelled reveal. 

The North-East Room 

To the east of the South-West Room is the North-West Room, but its floor level is at 

the same level as that of the corridor. As a result, the blocked doorway between the 

two rooms needs a flight of steps to link the two spaces. 

It is lit by windows in the north and east walls, both set in a full-height reveal with 

early-19 th century detailing and shutters; for some reason the surround of the eastern 

reveal also has pedestals. That window is at the south end of the east wall and now 

looks out into a narrow space between the North-East and South-East ranges. 

The simply moulded doorway from the corridor has a four-panelled door with beaded 

verges to the panels. In the east wall are two further doorways. The southern one has 

a pedestalled door frame, a four-panelled door identical to that off the corridor, and a 

panelled reveal. The other one appears to be a modern insert with steps up to the 

threshold. 

The room has a boarded floor, tall plain skirting board, and a plaster cornice identical 

to that in the corridor. 

The South-West Rooms 

The two rooms to the south of the corridor at this level may once have been virtual 

mirror images of each other in the same manner as the two rooms beneath them may 

have been. 

The South-West Room seems to have retained its original layout. It has a tall skirting 

board, a picture rail, and the same type of cornice as in the corridor. It is lit by a 

primary sash window in the south wall with early-19 th century detailing and shutters 

set in a full-height reveal. In the east wall is the projecting stack but the fireplace had 

been blocked. 

The South-East Room 

The original layout of the South-East Room probably had to be changed when the 

South-East Range (Building E) was added; this led to changes in the position of its 

south window and the blocking of its east window. 

A doorway was inserted in the south wall into the new range and a second doorway 

was later added in the east wall as well. Projecting from the east wall is the boxing of 

the service lift. 

-61- 


DenfordPark. Kintbury. Berkshire 

It has a tall skirting board, a picture rail, and the same type of cornice as in the 

corridor. It is lit by the relocated window in the south wall - which probably retained 

its original early-19 th century detailing and shutters set in a fall-height reveal. In the 

west wall is the projecting stack but the fireplace had been blocked. 

3.5 Building D: The North-East Range 

The North-East Range was added onto the north-eastern corner of the earlier Service 

Range (Building C) and fortunately both its architect and date are known — because 

one of the working drawings for it survive in the RIBA's Papworth collection and is 

dated 1838. However, the building has been radically altered since it was first built, 

especially internally. 


Several later buildings butt against the exterior of this range making assessment a 

little trickier, and this includes a low single storey section around the west and north 

sides. 

The building is rectangular in plan and originally of two storeys - the bottom one of 

which was virtually an undercroft because of the manner in which it relates to the rest 

of the house. At a much later date, probably in the 1930's or even later, the roof has 

been rebuilt as a Mansard to accommodate a full attic storey. 

On the exposed sections of the north and west elevations the building is faced in Bath 

stone ashlar but on those elevations to the rear yard, the walls are of rendered 

brickwork. 

However, the ground-floor sections of the north and west elevations are partially 

hidden by a low single-storey extension forming a corridor access around the building. 

These walls seem to be of painted lined stucco but could not be examined in depth 

prior to the closure of the building due to asbestos issues. If they are indeed of 

stuccoed brick it is possible that the upper portions of these walls have been refaced in 

Bath stone. 


The west elevation is of two bays and has band courses at first-floor level and just 

below the eaves. The first-floor band course is considerably lower than that on the 

adjacent Service Wing, which is also higher than the band course beneath the eaves of 

this range. Towards the north end of the ground floor is a doorway with a cambered 

flat-arched head picked out in the stucco lining or possibly the masonry. 

-62- 



P1.33: The North-East Range (Building D) viewed from the north-west. 

P1.34: The east elevation of the North-East Range (D). 

-63- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYSOEA

3 

* Denford Park, Kintburv. Berkshire 


The north elevation is only partially visible because of the ground floor extension; it 

has a doorway at this level towards the west end. At first-floor level there are two 

apparently primary window openings. 


i 

The east elevation is of white-painted brick but largely obscured by later buildings. 

There are doorways at ground-floor level including a double doorway into the boiler 

room and two primary sashed windows in the less altered first-floor level. 


I 

i 

1 

1 

1 

The south elevation is partly obscured by later buildings and partly facing into a small 

yard area; it is of brick and much altered. 

3.5.1.05 The South 'Tower' 

Possibly contemporary with, and attached to, the south-western corner of the range is 

a two storey narrow tower or closet block, faced in stone. The details of this had not 

been ascertained by the time the asbestos issue was raised. 


The present roof is of spacious Mansard tyoe pierced by tall windows. This is a 

modern alteration, probably of the later-20' century. At the north-eastern corner of 

the building is a remarkably tall, Bath stone faced chimney stack - probably of circa 

1939. 


Because of issues of asbestos contamination the interior of the range was only 

partially and cursorily examined during the survey. The ground floor or basement in 

the eastern part has an unusual ceiling that is also the structure of the floor above. It 

consists of brick jack-arches supported on inverted 'T-section' cast-iron beams that in 

trim have intermediate support off cast-iron columns. This sections contains the 

present boiler room. 

The first floor seems to have been considerably altered by the addition of partitions 

and a staircase to sub-divide the original four rooms and corridor at this level. It was 

latterly used as a staff flat. The new attic structure consists of a series of more rooms 

linked by a corridor. 

-64- 


- '*•;::;.. • 

- ; Denford Park, Kintbury, Berkshire 

3.6 Building E: The South-East Range 

* The South-East Range is a basically square two-storey structure but it clasps the 

south-eastern angle of the Service Range (Building C). Although the coursing of the 

masonry on the west wall seems to bond into that of the south wall of that other 

building, this seems to be a later structure. 

3 

] 

] 

] 


The building is faced in Bath stone ashlar and on the south and west sides, designed to 

continue the detailing and scale of the Service Wing (Building C). The walls are 

topped by a plain but secondary parapet. Only two of the elevations are still external. 


This elevation seems to have originally been of two widely spaced bays - as the firstfloor 

level, with its two primary sash windows, still is. At ground floor level the 

original eastern window seems to have been replaced by a pair of such windows, 

confusing the symmetry. 


The west return from the south elevation is of two bays. There is a probably inserted 

doorway in the northern bay on the ground floor but the other three windows are all 

blind. 


The north elevation is quite short because of the relationship between this range and 

the Service Range and was probably originally of one bay with windows on each floor 

level and doorways close to the west end for access. 


j 

The layout of the building and the length of this elevation would suggest that it was 

originally of four bays - as shown in the Papworth proposal drawings held in the 

RIBA. It is now hidden by the mid-20 th century Chapel Range. 


The roof is hipped and slated and runs into that of the Service Range. The plain 

parapet that hides the base of the roof probably dates from 1939. 

1 

-65- 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park Kintburv, Berkshire 


The ground floor is presently divided into two spaces with an access corridor. The 

larger, eastern, space was latterly the Staff Room and is lit by a pair of windows in the 

south wall. It is probably the result of amalgamating one or more original spaces. 

The smaller room in the south-western corner was latterly an Office, lit by a window 

in the south wall and accessed by a doorway in the west wall to the outside. None of 

these spaces retain much in the way of original fixtures or fittings. 

The layout at first-floor level seems to be more intact and consists of two rooms and a 

bathroom with a corridor leading into them. However, the larger, eastern, room and 

the bathroom seem to have been carved out of two equally sized rooms, probably in 

the later-20 th century. The south-western room seems to be original. 

3.7 Building F: The Brick Range 

The Brick Range is a two storey block aligned north-south set parallel to the east wall 

of the South-East Range (Building E) but originally separate to it. The gap between 

the two ranges was infilled around 1950 by the Chapel Block (Building G). 


The range is built of painted hand-made brick The lower part of the eastern elevation 

is obscured by a later flat-roofed extension. At first-floor level there are four 

windows - three with segmental heads and one with a flat head. The segmental 

headed windows are assumed to be the original ones; the outer ones of these have 

Yorkshire sashes and the middle one is narrower and has no such sash. 

The north gable is of two bays with flat-headed windows - two, with Yorkshire 

sashes, on the first floor and one, with a balanced sash, on the ground floor. At the 

east, or left hand end, of the elevation is the doorway. The south gable has a tripartite 

arrangement of flat-headed windows at first-floor level - a wide central sash flanked 

by narrower windows. A clumsy bow has been added to the ground-floor and has 

three large sashes aping those of the bow of the Main House (Building A). 


The building has a hipped roof with overhanging and racketted eaves. It seems to be 

primary. 


The interior has been radically altered to accommodate the main kitchen on the 

ground floor and a staff flat on the first floor, leaving few original features visible. 

-66- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlov/ House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park. Kinthurv Berkshi 

P1.35: The Brick Range (F) from the south-east, with the Chapel Range (G) beyond 

3 

3 

3 

P1.36: The Brick Range (Building F) from the north-east. 

-67- 



4. The Main Buildings: Discussion & Phasing 

4.1 Phase One: The Wyattville Villa, Circa 1815 

The historical evidence indicates that there was no dwelling on the site of Denford 

House prior to it being chosen by William Hallett for a new house to replace the older 

one close to the Kennett in the valley. It is possible that one of the reasons for 

choosing a new site was the opening of the Kennet & Avon Canal and the possibility 

of less privacy that could result, but equally it may simply have been a wish for a 

more fashionably isolated and secluded site with views, set in a larger parkscape. 

There seems to be no doubt that the new house was designed by the fashionable 

architect, then still simply Jeffrey Wyatt. An account of the Windsor work - 

Illustrations of Windsor Castle by the late Sir Jeffry Wyatville RA - was published by 

one of his former assistants, Henry Ashton in 1841; in it he included a list of his 

former mentor's works and this includes Denford house for William Hallett circa 

1815. 

The new house was not large and in many ways was more akin to a villa than a 

country house. Such houses, though considerably varied in size and status, had 

become quite common in the higher echelons of Georgian society and it is likely that 

Denford alternated as a residence with Hallett's town house in London. 

The style chosen was neo-classical but probably not quite as severe as it later became; 

the building was faced in Bath stone ashlar, almost certainly brought along the newly 

opened canal. It seems originally to have consisted of the Main House (Building A) 

and the Service Wing (Building C) to the east, the two being connected by a narrower 

link block that was subsequently replaced by the present East Wing (Building B2) in 

1939. 

The Main House was taller than the service wings, emphasising its pre-eminence in 

the complex. Although the layout was fashionably asymmetric, the main body of the 

house was not. 

It was virtually square in plan and of two piles and two storeys. Structurally divided 

into three main bays by lateral cross walls, the middle bay was 'pushed' southwards 

slightly - resulting in a recessed entrance on the north front and a projecting 

centrepiece on the garden front to the south. 

The portico and the composition of the entrance itself seem to be of a different design 

than the rest of the primary structure and include a different type of stone, possibly 

Portland. There are also some structural anomalies between the entrance and the 

flanking masonry (see above). It is thus possible that this was the result of a later 

alteration, but the documentary evidence is lacking. 

If changes were made it is likely that they were part of the alterations to Denford 

known to have been undertaken in the 1830's by Papworth. These also included 

changes to the main bow-fronted room on the ground floor and it is just possible that 

he added that bow as well - but probably not. 

-68- 



P1.37: Inkwash of Denford House 'before alterations' - possibly circa 1830. 

P1.38: Papworth drawing of the garden front and proposed new parapet. 

-69- 


Denford Park. Kintbury, Berkshire 

i 

Both Wyattville and Papworth designed buildings in many different styles and both 

designed ones with similar bows. For example, Wyattville remodelled Woolley Park, 

Brightwalton, Berkshire in 1799; the cement rendered main facade sports a big bow 

with attached Tuscan columns. 49 Thirty years later, Papworth added a large bow 

window to Little Grove, Barnet, in 1828. 50 

However, on balance, it seems more likely that the bow was part of the original 

design, based mainly on the evidence of the internal layout. The internal divisions 

reflect the present footprint of the house, as do, perhaps more importantly, the 

positions of the fireplaces. Thus, the main saloon with bowed front would have been 

a very much less significant space if the bow was not original, as would the main 

bedroom above; in both cases, the present fireplaces are roughly central to the rooms 

they serve - inclusive of the bowed projections. 

More support for the bowed garden front being primary is an undated inkwash of 

'Denford House before alterations'. This shows the bowed front in place but there 

has been discussion as to the date of the illustration. 

Papworth is known to have made changes to the parapet of the Main House. Prior to 

that time there seems only to have been a cornice and the roof had overhanging eaves 

in the Italianate manner. 

On the ink-wash view of the garden front the roof over both the main part of the 

house and the services are shown to have overhanging eaves; the Main House is also 

shown to have had a cornice beneath the eaves. 

The quality of the drawing suggests that it would have been unlikely for the artist not 

to have shown the existing parapet if it had been in place. The sketch seems to be of a 

broad-19 th century style and as a result, the alterations in question are unlikely to have 

been those of 1939. 5 Indeed, photographs of 1924 show that the parapet was already 

in place by that time. 

On balance, therefore, it is suggested that this illustration shows the house more or 

less as built to Wyattville's design in 1815 - and that the bow front is part of his 

design and that the house originally had overhanging eaves. The style was therefore 

less strictly neo-classical than a typically and rather stiffly English variant on the 

Italianate villa. 

The internal layout of the main part of the house seems to have been fairly 

straightforward and there are no indications that it has been altered significantly in 

plan. 

The design of the entrance is open to debate considering that it may have been 

remodelled. If the present arrangement and portico do indeed belong to the 1830's 

alterations, it is likely that the front door was protected in some way - perhaps by a 

49 Pevsner, N, 1988, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, 102 

'° Worsley, G (ed.), 1991, Architectural Drawings of the Regency Period, 94-5 

'' The title of the ink-wash is Denford House; by 1939 it was known as Denford Park 

-70- 

Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


simple loggia infilling the gap between the projecting 'wings' to each side of the 

recess. He designed something similar at Wooley Park, for example. 

Within the central part of the building was the Entrance Hall and, to the south of that, 

the main reception room with the bowed front - the Saloon or Drawing Room. To 

either side of the Saloon were other reception rooms; the eastern one, being nearest to 

the services and the kitchens, was probably the Dining Room and the other a Parlour. 

To the west of the Hall was the main Stair Hall with a small .Closet off it To the East 

of the Hall a passage led to the services and between it and the north front was a 

smaller room, perhaps the Study. 

At first-floor level there was a second Closet off the Stair Landing, above the one on 

the ground-floor. A small lobby off the landing linked it to the main axial first-floor 

corridor. At this level much of the decoration appears to be primary, including the 

typical Regency period fluted door cases and cornices. 

The main bedroom suite - of bedchamber, dressing room and anteroom - occupied 

the central section south of the corridor, the bedroom having the three windows in the 

bowed front. To the west and east of this were large bedrooms; the south-western one 

seems to have had a dressing room inserted into it but the evidence may be misleading; 

the south-eastern one had, according to the 1924 sales details, a bed alcove - a 

curiously old-fashioned feature for the early-19 th century, and certainly seems to have 

lacked a dressing room. There was a fourth bedroom in the north-eastern corner. 

To the east of the main body of the house the service areas, whilst physically attached 

were architecturally articulated by being lower and plainer. The mam Service Range 

was also set away from the Main House and linked to it by a fairly narrow link block. 

These ranges also had roofs with overhanging eaves. 

The link block is shown in plan on the detailed Ordnance Survey maps. Its south wall 

roughly bisected the eastern elevation of the Main Block whilst it north wall was a 

little to the south of the north wall of the replacement East Wing (Building B2). 

The link block is shown on the mid-19 th century ink wash and on photographs of 1924 

- but is largely hidden by foliage. Its roof is shown as being lower than that of the 

present surviving Service Range by 1924 but was probably originally at the same 

level; the roof of the Service Range was probably raised by Papworth in the 1830's 

(see below). 

The eastern end of the link block is shown on one of Papworth plans. This shows it to 

have had a central passageway in line with the present one in the East Wing and 

Service Range on the ground floor with small rooms to either side. This would have 

been accessed by the short passage off the Entrance Hall. 

If there was a passage on the same alignment at first-floor level, that would have been 

on the same line as the present passage too - and have required the same 'baffle' 

entrance at the west end from the house; this could suggest that the walls, or at least 

-71- 


Denford Park Kintburv, Berkshire 

the footings, of the passageway were retained when the rest of the block was 

demolished. 

The basic configuration of the original Service Range also seems to have survived, 

and consisted of an axial passage at each level with two rooms to the north and two to 

the south. It seems likely that these rooms were originally each lit by single windows 

in the side elevations. The eastern rooms may have had additional windows - open or 

blind - in the east gable wall and there would also have been room for additional 

windows in the western rooms to either side of the narrower link block. 

The large ground-floor room in the north-western corner has a higher ceiling than the 

others and a large fireplace; it seems highly likely that this was the original Kitchen. 

The equally larger but lower room to the north-east may have been the Servants' Hall 

or a store, whilst the two smaller rooms to the south of the corridor could have been 

used by the Housekeeper and Butler. The rooms on the first-floor were presumably 

used as bedrooms or the living rooms of the important servants. 

Whilst there must have been some additional storage spaces in a sub-basement 

beneath the Service Wing and perhaps in additional buildings close by, and whilst 

there was ample stabling set in the grounds to the north-east, it is clear that this was 

not a very large house. 

It had, in effect, only three sizeable reception rooms, a study, and four good quality 

bedrooms in the main body of the house. Given the quality of the architecture and the 

size of the grounds, this is more evidence that Denford House was built more in the 

villa tradition than as a country house. This is also reflected in the landscape that was 

to be developed around it. 

4.2 Phase Two: The Papworth Changes of the 1830's 

Soon after Denford was bought by George Cherry in 1822 it is evident that he decided 

to develop it as a main family home rather than as a villa retreat. It also became the 

centrepiece of a large and developing estate that was to be both aesthetically pleasing 

and agriculturally profitable and perhaps the new church, despite its small size, that he 

had built close to the house and the new parish he endowed were symbols of this 

subtle change in the aspirations of the new owner. 

Papworth had been engaged on plans for that church as early as 1828 and in the same 

year was producing proposals for alterations and additions to the house. The main 

external alteration to the Main House was the addition of a parapet to replace the 

overhanging eaves; the original cornice was partly cut-back and re-used in the 

remodelling. This work required the addition of a new rainwater gutter behind the 

parapet and new down-pipes - all bearing the Cherry crest and the date 1832 on their 

hopper heads. 

He may also have been responsible for the addition of a portico, possibly replacing an 

original loggia, and the present entrance composition - but the documentary evidence 

is lacking and the archaeological evidence is fairly strong but not conclusive. 

-72- 

Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlaw, Shropshire, SYS OEA

Denford Park, Kintbury. Berkshire 

Internally, he evidently undertook the redecoration of some of the ground floor rooms, 

especially the Saloon which he fitted with as new cornice, possibly designed by the 

Graces; he may have added the apsidal north end of the room to match the southern 

bow. The upper floor seems to have been relatively untouched. 

The main changes were in the services. This may have been a direct result of the 

change of use of Denford from a villa to a family home and the resultant need for 

additional service accommodation. 

The series of surviving plans in the RIBA library show that several schemes were 

developed and not all were started. The roof of the existing Service Range was raised, 

though it retained its overhanging eaves; this allowed for higher ceilings in the firstfloor 

rooms. 

The first major addition seems to have been the North-East Range (Building D), the 

plans for which are dated January 1828. This was built onto the north-eastern corner 

of the Service Range and was composite double-pile building with a partly jackarched 

first-floor structure. 

It was to contain mainly storage on the ground floor, apart from, oddly, a 'Bath and 

Dressing Room' in the south-western corner - subsequently changed in another plan 

to be the new Servants' Hall. 

There was also to be a tool store and WC accessed externally. The first floor 

contained four chambers. A new single-storey link range was also added on the east 

side of the Service Range. A note on the drawing ordered that 'all the fittings & 

finishings... to be as the existing offices'. 

The other major addition to the services was the South-East Range (Building E); there 

are plans in the RIBA collection to show that the design evolved over some time and 

that originally it was to contain a bathroom and, in a lower ground floor or basement, 

the dairy. However, the plan still identifiable in the present range is dated 1838. 

It was a stubby 'L-shaped' plan clasping the south-eastern corner of the Service 

Range and containing a series of rooms and stores at each floor level. Like the North- 

East Range it was originally given a double pile hipped roof with overhanging eaves 

and, on the important elevations, was faced in Bath stone ashlar. Unlike the North- 

East Range this was of the same height as the raised Service Wing. 

4.3 Phase Three: The Late-19 th to Early-20 th Century 

Further additions were made to the east of the main service offices in the second half 

of the 19 th century, though details of these are rather sketchy and most were 

demolished when the educational buildings were erected from the late-1940's 

onwards. The major survival is the somewhat non-descript Brick Range (Building F). 

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Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromtow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA


By the time the estate was sold in 1924 the house was a large one; there were then six 

principal bedrooms and two dressing rooms in the Main House, nine further bedrooms 

in the adjacent link block and Service Range, as well as seven further servant 

bedrooms. The house by this time was equipped with central heating, electric light 

and a telephone. 

4.4 Phase Four: 1939 

As soon as Thomas Harrison Hughes bought Denford Park he set about radically 

extending it and clearly had the resources to achieve that very quickly and, fortunately 

for him, immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War and all the 

inevitable shortages of building materials and builders that it caused. 

His architect, George Baynard, added large but not quite identical wings on either side 

of the original core of the house. The West Wing was built against the existing west 

elevation of the house whilst the East Wing replaced the earlier link between it and 

the Service Wing. 

Both wings were well crafted and faced with virtually identical Bath stone ashlar and 

detailed to match the original build. Each was three bays wide and superficially 

seemed to be symmetrical extensions of the Main House. However, the East Wing 

was slightly shorter, but slightly wider, than the West Wing. The West Wing 

terminated in a ground-floor bow detailed to match the central bow of the garden front 

of Wyattville's original design. 

Internally, the West Wing provided a large single reception room on the ground floor 

- the largest in the house - with bedroom, dressing room and bath room on the floor 

above. The East Wing contained a new entrance and lobby as well as a large 

Cloakroom and Gun Room on the ground floor, with bedrooms above; it also 

contained a new service stair, possibly replacing an earlier one, and had cellars 

beneath. 

Changes to the original Main House probably included the remodelling of the stair 

balustrade as well as the creation of a new corridor link through the north end of the 

south-western reception room to the West Wing. The flooring in the main hall and 

corridors was probably also renewed at this time. 

Further changes were made to the buildings in the service area, where the original 

overhanging eaves were replaced, on the principal elevations, by plain parapets to 

match those of the Main House and the two new wings. 

Aesthetically, the two new wings were very well crafted and quite well proportioned 

and, internally, some of the replica doors and windows were carefully designed to 

match much earlier work. However, the creation of these two tall wings, coupled 

with the addition of parapets to the service ranges, unbalanced the original 

asymmetrical hierarchy of the house. 

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4.5 Phase Five: The Later 20 th Century 

Whatever the slight aesthetic issues related to the changes undertaken before the 

Second World War, the changes taken since the house became an educational 

establishment have been completely unsympathetic in both scale and design and have 

developed on a very ad hoc and distinctly utilitarian basis. 

Considering the change of use of Denford Park from a high status country house to an 

educational facility with very different requirements and, presumably, financial 

constraints in terms of new build and maintenance issues, this is perhaps not 

surprising. Perhaps the demolition of Papworth's tiny parish church close to the 

house was, especially as it seems to have been demolished around 1959-60 when 

Denford Park was still a convent school. 

Changes to the interior of the Main House and the two Wings have been relatively 

limited to institutional decorating schemes, occasional stud partitions and the addition 

of shelving, new WC's, etc. Changes to the former service offices have been also 

relatively low key. 

The various extensions, to both east and west, are of varied scale and date but are at 

best of mediocre architectural quality and at worse, quite awful. Little or no thought 

seems to have been given to the positioning of the new buildings in relation to the 

historic structures on the site. 

None of the new buildings even attempt to match the materials, scale, design, or 

balance of the earlier buildings, none contribute anything positive to the setting of the 

listed building, all adversely impact on its setting, and none will be missed when they 

are demolished. 

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5. Estate Buildings 

5.1 The Stable Court 

The former Stable Court to the north-east of the house have been converted to other 

uses. These are probably the Stables and Coach Houses mentioned in the estate 

survey of 1822 prior to the sale of Denford by William Hallett - despite the Cherry 

coat of arms carried on its pediment. 

5.1.1 Description 

The Stables are fairly utilitarian in design, being built of the local browny-red brick - 

with mainly 'glazed' grey headers - laid to a mainly Flemish bond. The walls are 

topped in part with dentilled eaves and original openings had rubbed brick arched or 

flat arched heads. 

The eastern range was presumably the coach house and is, and presumably was, 

symmetrical under a hipped roof. Facing the courtyard, on the west side, is a raised 

pediment set into which is Cherry coat of arms, carved onto a square section of 

sandstone. 

This seems to be a marital coat, with the Cherry arms on the left impaling the 

complex quartering of coats of arms of the Drake-Garrard of Lamer Park, 

Hertfordshire to the right. The arms are presumably those of George Cherry and his 

wife, Charlotte - dating the plaque to before George's death in 1848. 

Beneath the pediment are two renewed windows at first-floor level. Beneath that was 

a set of four wide openings set within a steel frame, probably an early-20 th century 

replacement of the original coach house doorways - perhaps associated with the 

conversion of the building to garages. 

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These openings have, in turn, been infilled with later brickwork and door and window 

openings, probably dating from the laterÔ* century. The rear elevation is much 

altered and obscured, with four sashes at first-floor level. 

To either side of the main part of the coach house are narrow link walls to the 

flanking stable blocks, with arch-headed doorways at ground-floor level; later 

building has been added to the rear of these originally free-standing walls, flat roofed 

behind their plain parapets. 

Both of the side ranges have been radically altered; both have hipped and slated roofs. 

The southern one still has indications of its original window and doorway openings - 

in the form of their rubbed red brick flat-arched heads even where they have been 

blocked. 

There are also two round pitching holes at first-floor level with rubbed brick roundel 

frames. The central first-floor window opening, subsequently remodelled, has a 

keystone. 

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DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkshin 

P1.39: The Stable Court from the west. 

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P1.40: The rear elevation of the Stable Court. 

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The west gable end is overgrown in ivy but seems to retain at least one primary 

doorway on the ground floor and two windows at first-floor level. An inaccessible 

window to the left of the doorway could also be primary. A series of new window 

openings have been punched into the south elevation. 

The north range has been more radically altered and retains few of its original 

openings or features. A series of unsympathetic square-headed window openings and 

doorways have been inserted in the fairly recent past. 

Internally, the whole complex has been subdivided into residential accommodation 

and little of the original fixtures and fittings appear to have survived below the roof 

structures. 

Attached to the outer walls of the complex are a series of additions and extensions 

dating from the early-19 th century onwards. These are mostly brick-built and slate 

roofed. 

5.1.2 Discussion 

These are probably the original stables and coach houses built for William Hallett 

when the house was built around 1815; whether or not Jeffrey Wyattville had any 

hand in their design is not known. 

As built, the east range seems to have been the coach house and probably had 

accommodation on the first floor for estate servants - presumably the coachman or 

stable hands. The two flanking ranges would have been the main stabling, with the 

accommodation for the horses on the ground floor and feed storage above. 

At a later date the coach houses may have been converted into garages for the new 

motor car - ] perhaps early in the 20 century as garages are mentioned hi the 1924 

sales details. 

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Subsequently, in the second half of the 20 th century the whole complex was converted 

into residential accommodation, presumably associated with the school and then 

college. 

Whilst the basic layout and form of the original stable court survives, the individual 

elements have been disfigured externally by inappropriately detailed inserted modern 

openings, and the interiors have been radically altered due to its change of use from 

stabling to residential. 

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F" DenfordPark, Kintbury, Berkshire 

5.2 The Estate Yard 


To the north of the Stable Court is a second courtyard of more utilitarian single-storey 

buildings, mainly built of brick and with hipped and slated roofs but with no obvious 

attempt at a balanced or architectural grouping. 

Unlike the buildings around the Stable Court, these have been relatively unaltered 

since they were first built. They retain a series of large strap hung doors to the yard 

and internally have tall spaces open to the roof structures. The buildings seem to have 

been used only for ad hoc storage for many years. 


These buildings seem to have been associated with the maintenance of the estate and 

possibly the demesne farm and could date to the early-19 th century. They include 

what may be stabling and cowhouse as well as waggon and implement stores. The 

estate farm is mentioned in the 1822 estate survey and this courtyard may have been 

its original core. 

P1.41: The Estate Yard, looking east. 

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5.3 The Walled Garden 


The walled garden, to the south and east of the Stable Court, is very large and mainly 

surrounded by a tall wall of hand-made browny-red brick, pilastered in some sections 

and plain in others. In some sections there is a flat stone coping, ramped at the 

entrance in the north side. Most of the gateways into the garden, however, appear to 

be inserted. 


It is not clear when the walled garden was laid out; it is not mentioned specifically in 

the 1822 estate details but could have been built by that date. It was certainly built by 

the time the 1844 estate map was surveyed. 

Maps, and photographs in the 1924 Sales Particulars, show that the garden was 

extensive and productive but remarkably devoid of large numbers of glasshouses - the 

only major one being next to the Gardener's Cottage at the western end of the 

enclosure. 

P1.42: The Walled Garden, looking west; the Gardener's Cottage is in the background 

(centre) and the southern range of the Stable Court can be seen on the right. 

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5.4 The Gardener's Cottage 


On the western boundary of the Walled Garden is the former Gardener's Cottage, 

known now as the 'Spanish Flat'. This is a rectangular two-storey brick range under a 

hipped and slated roof. Although the basic primary carcass has survived it has been 

considerably altered. 

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The walls are topped by a plain eaves course and the slated roof has a coped gable at 

the west end, facing the drive to the main house, and a hipped roof to the east; rising a 

little in from the west gable is a tall chimney. 

In the east gable there is a square headed window at first-floor level and an inserted 

double doorway below. The situation at the east end is similar but the doorway on the 

ground floor with its segmental head is primary. 

The side elevations are much altered, with later extensions, mainly single-storey, 

added onto the north side. All of the windows on the south side are inserted and fairly 

recent. The lime-wash of this wall reflects the fact that a large glasshouse was built 

up against this side of the building. Low down is an arch-headed opening associated 

with that glasshouse phase. 


This building seems to have been built to give a small residential apartment on the 

first floor with storage below. Its position in relation to the adjacent Walled Garden 

logically suggests that it was designed to be the home of the Head Gardener with 

appropriate storage beneath. 

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A building is shown in this position on the 1844 estate map and it is likely that it was 

built at the same time as the Walled Garden. A large glasshouse is shown butting 

against its south wall on later-19 th century Ordnance Survey plans and given the fact 

that there were no original window openings in this elevation, it seems that this would 

have been contemporary with the building. 

Subsequently, the residential accommodation on the first floor has been upgraded and 

extended and made better lit by the insertion of windows in the south-facing side wall. 

The ground floor is still largely given over to storage. 

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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlaw House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

P1.43: The west end of the former Gardener's Cottage 

P1.44: The former Gardener's Cottage from the south-east 

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RichardKMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Sromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA

DenfordPark Kintbury, Berkshire 

6. The Modern Buildings 

A large amounts of modern educational buildings have been built within the grounds, 

either as separate structures, groups of structures, or attached to the main buildings. 

None of these warrant any special attention as all are of fairly mediocre architectural 

quality. The only one of any interest, albeit still quite limited, is the Chapel Range 

(Building G), a large two storey block added between the east elevation of the South- 

East Range (Building E) and the Brick Range (Building F). 

It is built of brick but painted on the rear elevations and stuccoed - rather badly - on 

those visible on the main front of the house. The stuccoed sections are enriched with 

band courses, mirroring those on the older buildings. 

The main south gable has a plain pediment and a tall arch-headed window - to the 

former chapel. At ground floor level there are two tall sashes. There are three further 

sashes on the eastern return wall. On this elevation the band courses stop shy of the 

north end and the character of the wall changes to something more of the mid-20 th 

century. There is a broad opening on the ground floor with a tall three-light window 

above and, at the north-eastern corner, a slim flat-topped bell turret on the flank of 

which is the shadow of a Patriarchal Cross. The roof is steel-framed and fairly 

ephemeral. 

This range was clearly built to be the refectory on the ground floor with a chapel 

above and is shown on the proposal plans by the convent of 1949, passed in 1952 - 

which is probably the date of this range. Its upper floor has since been altered. 

P1.45: The north end of the east side of the Chapel Range (Building G), 

with later mediocre extensions in the foreground. 

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DenfordPark Kintburv. Berkshire 

P1.46: Typical non-descript modern educational buildings, probably of the 1970's, to 

the west of the main buildings. 

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Denford Park, Kintbury - Hungerford Virtual Museum

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