Description

KINGSTON LISLE
SU38NW
6/92 Kingston Lisle House
10/11/52 (Formerly listed as Kingstone
Lisle Park)

GV II*

Country House. Datestone found above rear door of central block, G(eorge)
H(yde) 1677: new front added c.1720, side wings added c.1812, garden front re-
modelled c.1825. Rendered walling; stone slate roof, Welsh slate to part of
central block roof; rendered stacks. Double-pile central block with later side
wings. Central block is 2-storey and attic, 7-window range, pediment over
central 3 bays. Original central and arched doorway with Gibbs surround filled
by early C19 sash; keyblocks to semi-circular arches over ground floor, early
C19 sashes and tall first floor sash over door, the keystone of which touches
the cornice of the pediment; keyblocks to first floor sashes; 3 stone bands at
storey level and below and beneath parapet with corner urns; keyed lunette to
tympanum, antifixae to parapet corners. Side wings: 2-storey, 3-window range of
sashes, ground floor ones having keystones and imposts to semi-circular heads;
porch of c.1960 to right side of left wing to panelled double-leaf doors.
Moulded wood cornice. Hipped roof to centre block, ridge stacks to side wings,
all have moulded caps. Garden front of c.1825 has 2:3:2 window range of
tripartite sashes, each with brackets to floating cornice over; three C20
French windows to right side. 3-bay side walls: left side wall has semi-
circular bay window with 3 sashes to each floor. Projection at angle between
rear of side wing and left wall of central block has semi-circular arch over
large 10-pane window lighting central passage in house; blind alcove with
statue of putto playing flute; modillioned cornice. Interior: bolection-moulded
panelling to ground and first floor rear right rooms; the centre front room,
formerly the hall, retains Rococo plasterwork on the ceiling. Otherwise all
interior dates to c.1825-30. All original doors and fittings survive; all
fireplaces except those in centre rear room, room in left wing and first floor
room to rear right were brought from London c,1950. Imposing entrance passage
to left with fluted Doric pilasters carried to a coffered tunnel vault which
ends in a large lighted bay: this has grouped fluted Doric pilasters carried to
a vault with unusual fans in the corners. A large passage to the right proceeds
through various features to the staircase: the first section has 6-panelled
doors set in blind arches, caryatids supported by a projecting cornice, and the
same fans in the corners of the ceiling: the next space is entered through an
arch articulated by Doric columns and pilasters with caryatids grouped on the
cornice: next an oblong groin vault and then at the end of the range a half-
vault with fans. Open-well staircase with two flights boldly flying over the
hall: wrought-iron balusters with S-scrolls. Late C20 loggia to rear right with
reset datestone of 1677. To the right a covered passage supported by columns
connects the service area of the house to a passage running through the early
C19 servants' hall: mostly built in Flemish bond brick; Welsh slate roof; brick
stack. 2 Diocletion windows with limestone keys and imposts to left wall, semi-
circular one-storey bay window to rear; moulded wood cornice; hipped roof,
lateral stack. Wall, of brick one side and stone the other, attached to rear
right of house, is carried over semi-circular arch with iron gate to right;
small early C19 block with two Diocletion windows attached to rear wall. Also
to front left of servants' hall is a brick wall carried to the garden: semi-
circular arch over iron fan and gate to left. Very little is known of the
architectural history of this house. It is certain that the side wings were
built by the Lechlade builders Richard Pace and Son and commissioned by the
then owner of Kingston Lisle House, Edwin Martin-Atkins (1778-1825) Binney has
suggested that Atkins, rather than Basevi or Cockerell, was the architect of
the house. (Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects,
1600-1840, 1978, p.605; Marcus Binney, "Kingston Lisle Park, Berkshire",
Country Life, June 17, 1971, pp 1524-1527; The Buildings of England, Berkshire,
pp 161-2.)

Listing NGR: SU3264587500

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17549898

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)