Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20/05/2020

SU 88 SW
1820/8/144

MEDMENHAM
(DANESFIELD)
HENLEY ROAD
Danesfield House

09-AUG-1977

II*
Mansion, now offices. Dated 1899-1901. By F.H. Romaine Walker for Mr. Robert Hudson, soap manufacturer, of Bache Hall, Cheshire. Dressed chalk, plain tile roofs, brick chimneys with groups of richly patterned shafts, lead rainwater heads with pierced geometric ornament. In Tudor style.

Approximately E plan with central porch to state rooms in south wing, former banqueting room and gatehouse in west wing, and east wing fronting former stable courtyard. 1950s wing attached to south west. Battlemented parapets, stone mullion and transom windows with leaded lights. West wing has gatehouse tower with moulded four-centred arch and fan vault, battlemented oriel window, clock, and corner turrets. Remainder of wing is of one tall storey with one bay window to left and four to right. Two-storey gabled bays and 1950s wing project to right.

Entrance courtyard has two-storey porch to centre of south range and hall with three tall bay windows to right. Simpler gatehouse to stable courtyard in east wing. Stable ranges altered to offices c.1980, retaining Tuscan colonnade and spiral wooden staircase with conical tiled roof in north west corner. South front has five, three-storey bays to centre, flanked by four-storey projecting towers and two-storey outer bays. Centre bays have ground floor loggia with four-centred moulded arches on Tuscan columns, articulated into bay rhythm two:seven:two by piers with shell niches. Pierced parapet with cusped ornament. Bay windows to upper storeys and outer bays. Towers have stepped parapets, corner finials and three-storey battlemented bay windows.

Interior is Jacobean, with some rooms remodelled 1920s in late C18 style. Great Hall has Jacobean panelling with pilasters, screen with arched double doors, minstrels' gallery, and splendid hammerbeam roof with traceried spandrels and righly carved pendants. Roof is dated H 1901 over gallery. Circa 1940 stone fireplace in French medieval style. Below gallery is entrance lobby with panelling and carved overmantel to four-centred stone fireplace. Panelled passage with ribbed plaster pendants to ceiling. Panelled Jacobean boardroom with internal porch, richly carved wooden overmantel and columns to fireplace, ribbed ceiling, and plaster frieze with copies of heraldic motifs dated ANM 1677. Adjacent dining room with marble fireplace in Adam style. South west room has delicate plaster ceiling in late C18 style, and late C18 white marble fireplace with low relief carvings of musical instruments. Grand banqueting room decorated 1920s with Ionic pilasters, plaster frieze with scrolls and trophies, grey marble fireplace, and large arched mirrors. Fine Jacobean staircase has rusticated newel posts and pierced balustrading with foliage scrolls, beasts and heraldry. Triple arcade to landing. C17 and C18 style panelling in upper rooms, original ornamental tiles retained in some bathrooms.

Listing NGR: SU8163084394

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Danesfield House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5215892

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy