Description

ALDBURY STOCKS ROAD
SP 91 SE
(West side)
5/24 Stocks House
21.5.73
GV II

Country house, now a country club. 1773 rebuilt on new site for
Arnold Duncombe, enlarged in late C18 to double depth with 2 rear (N)
wings, late C19 3-storeys NW service wing and other alterations in early
C20 for Mrs Humphrey Ward the novelist (family occupied house
1892-1922). A girl's school up to 1972. Stuccoed brick with moulded
architectural features and steep hipped tiled roofs with parapets.
Originally facing S, the plan is the principal evidence for the
development of the house. Phase 1 had 2 large S rooms flanking an
entrance hall leading to a rear stair hall, with a 3rd room (?library)
on its W side with a N projecting chimney. Phase 2 added a small room on
N of library. Phase 3 added a room set back at the E end (now the
entrance lobby approached from E). Phase 4 added a second rear wing on
E, and Phase 5 added a new dining room and billiard room for the
Humphrey Wards with bay window to drawing room and 3 storeys NW wing.
The old front porch was then removed and the free-standing staircase is
of the early C20. 2 storeys and attics, with 6 windows and 3 dormers to
each main front. Stringcourse, cornice and parapets. Sash windows with
6/6 panes. Ivy covered NE block with 2 similar sash windows on each of 3
floors. Each front has a projecting central feature, one with a bay
window with 3 windows to each floor, and on S a tripartite window with
pediment over and a bow window below. Sir Walter Scott is said to have
stayed at the house and to have based the name Ivanhoe on the nearby
village of Ivinghoe. Frequent visitors to Mrs Humphrey Ward were her
relations of the Trevelyan, Arnold and Huxley families.
(RCHM Typescript: Pevsner (1977) 65: Davis (1980) No 3).

Listing NGR: SP9623013354

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Stocks House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7618187

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

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)