Description

TQ 2499 POTTERS BAR WROTHAM PARK
Barnet

12/230 Wrotham Park and
20.5.49 Stable Block
(Formerly listed under General)
GV II*

Country House. 1754 for Admiral John Byng by Isaac Ware. Stuccoed and
wings raised 1810-16. c.1854 wings extended, colonnade and portico added
to E for General Sir John Byng,first Earl of Strafford,by Henry Clutton.
Gutted by fire in 1883, rebuilt with full attic storey. 1938 colonnades
to E closed. Brick, cement rendered, stone dressings, slate roofs.
Palladian villa expanded into a house of parade by addition of wings
terminating in pavilions. 2 storeys with basement and attic to centre.
Garden or W front: 1:3:1 centre with 3 bay links to semi-octagonal
pavilions, links slightly set back. 2 storey tetrastyle detached
Roman Ionic portico with attached columns behind. Pediment with
Neptune and attendant sea nymphs in tympanum. Curved 2 armed staircase
sweeps up to piano nobile entrance which has 3 French windows with
pulvinated friezes and cornices to architraves, a segmental pediment on
scrolled brackets to centre. Flanking portico on piano nobile 2 C19
canted bays retaining original Venetian window arrangement. Continuous
smooth rusticated basement with round headed openings to central 3 bays.
Continuous string course over piano nobile. Pulvinated frieze and mutule
cornice below central block attic. Balustraded parapet to centre and
link blocks. Central piano nobile windows on pavilions have architraves
with pulvinated friezes and cornices and balusters beneath. Cupolas over
pavilions. Architraves and glazing bar sashes to all openings. 3 hipped
roofs to centre block. 1 to each link. Cross axial stacks in valleys.
Entrance or E front: similar fenestration and arrangement of bays.
Sunken basement with short flight of steps to entrance on piano nobile.
C19 1 storey tetrastyle Ionic porch. Pediment in attic with empty shield
and Arms. Flanking Venetian windows of 1754 with Ionic columns and
balusters beneath, all in relieving arches. Balustraded parapet has Byng
family arms to centre with 3 ball finials. Closed Ionic colonnades to
piano nobile on link blocks nearly flush with central front wall. Second
floor of links set well back. Pavilions extended with square fronts
projecting forward of centre: aedicular windows to left with segmental
pediments and relieving arches, rectangular bay to right. Pedimental
gables with intertwined S's of first Earl of Strafford. Rusticated
basement continues only on pavilions. Balustraded forecourt wall sweeps
out in quadrants from entrance steps. S return bowed out to full height.
N return has secondary entrance and link to stable block. Interior:
entirely remodelled after 1883, only vaulting in basements of wings
survives from 1754 build. Original plan largely retained. Imperial stair
to S of centre. Stable block: early C19. Stock brick, slate roof. Half
circle with extended arms. Pediment on 2 Doric columns projects forward
over triple carriage entrance at head of circle. Clock in tympanum. On
ridge a bellcote with weather vane. Flanking quadrants: 6
round-headed bays to each side with 4 lunette windows in relieving
arches an entrance and a sash. 2 opposed pediments, that to right over a
vaulted entrance with iron gates, that to left over double carriage
doors. 3 further bays to each side. Low service court additions of 1854
by Henry Clutton with link to house, glazing bar sashes throughout.
Landscaped park extending in all directions, laid out by Samuel Lapidge
in 1765 with advice from Capability Brown. C19 terraced lawn against W
front within which see urns, benches and statues (q.q.v.). Victorian
garden to NW within which see the Orangery (q.v.). (Country Life 9 and
16/11/1918: Pevsner 1977: RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TQ2479099155

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wrotham Park at Wikipedia
• Wrotham Park official website
• Wikidata Q8038699

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.

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