Description

1214/0/10005
18-DEC-01

WHITE WALTHAM
CHERRY GARDEN LANE
Littlewick Green
(West,off)
Woolley Hall

II

Also Known As: Woolley Hall, BATH ROAD, Littlewick Green

Country House, now corporate headquarters. 1780s, greatly expanded and refitted 1891. Garden terrace and pergola walk 1914, by Thomas Mawson. Gault brick with stone west entrance extension; slate and lead roofs. Irregular plan.
EXTERIOR: original C18 house visible as a 3 by 5 bay structure in 3 storeys of which the north elevation is most complete. North elevation is 5-window range of 1/1 horned sashes. Windows all with stone architraves, those to the lower 2 floors also with consoles under the upper string courses. Sill courses to all windows. Modillion eaves cornice and central 3-bay pediment.
West elevation with similar detailing to the C18 part, the 3 windows to each of the upper 2 floors arranged eccentrically. 2 stacks visible. Single-storey stone-built reception hall of 1891 abuts the original ground floor, with a semi-circular portico to the main entrance supported on 6 Roman Doric columns. Cornice with carved festoons and lions' heads in the metopes, set under a string course and blind balustraded parapet. Central pedimented keystone with the date 1891. Canted bay window to the south and a single 6/6 unhorned sash to the north, replacing a blind window in 1940. The parapet continues round this section and returns into the north elevation where there is a single French window. 2-storey extension abuts south side of C18 block, with irregular fenestration of 1/1 horned sashes and hipped roofs; 4 stacks.
East elevation of C18 block with 3 windows arranged eccentrically and with similar details to the west and north sides, except for the stone neo-Jacobean mullioned and transomed windows to the ground floor. 2-storey bow window added 1891, with similar details. 4-window range in 2 storeys to the south including a single-storey canted bay window and a square bay in the angle with the south-east block.
4-window range south elevation of 2 storeys, each window with a moulded architrave. 1961 office extension abuts at the west end. Plain parapet and hipped roof.
South-east block of 2 storeys; 2-window bays to the shorter north and south elevations and 4 to the south.
INTERIOR: entrance hall with large-framed panelling and dado rail to south and west sides and around the east doorway. This doorway and that to the south and west is double-hung and glazed with 10 panels to each leaf. Doorcases with floral jamb carvings and cornice with pairs of cherubs resting on cusp of twin festoons. Moulded and carved cornices. Plaster ceiling with deep moulded ribs with continuous floral motifs, repeated to the base of the circular ribbed central dome.
Staircase hall to the east: open-well staircase with closed moulded string, square newel posts (the lower one with a volute) topped with finials in the form of vases of flowers and moulded handrails. Plaster ceiling composed of rectilinear ribs defining squares. Timber chimneypiece. Domed oval roof light.
Boardroom to the south (former drawing room): small-framed neo-Jacobean panelling with engaged pilasters carved with strapwork. Frieze with palmettes. Neo-Jacobean plaster ceiling of shallow ribs forming interlocking squares, circles and semi-circles. Stone chimneypiece with carving of Romulus and Remus in the frieze.
Room immediately north of the boardroom: large-framed plaster panelling in Adam style and a palmette frieze.
Former chapel (facing the west elevation): deeply coffered plaster ceiling with coving to all 4 sides. Sanctuary area to the south with more delicate but similar ceiling plasterwork.
Room north of chapel is an ante-room to the next room north: large-framed plaster panelling in Adam style, plaster ceiling with lightly coffered ground from which ribs define Greek crosses with chamfered ends to the arms.
Secondary staircase with turned newels and balusters and an open string. Further ground-floor rooms with wall panelling of 1891.
First floor staircase landing with 2-bay arcade on north side below a glazed screen upper wall marking circulation for secondary bedrooms on upper floor. First floor rooms divided into 2 principal chambers with dressing rooms and other bedrooms, all plainly decorated, except for two with plaster wall panelling and cornices. Second-floor bedrooms all plain.
GARDEN TERRACE: by Thomas Mawson, 1914, fronting the north and east elevations and with a stone balustrade of turned balusters between square piers and supporting a moulded balustrade. Piers with finials in form of vases of flowers.
PERGOLA: by Thomas Mawson, 1914, runs east from south front of south-east wing and cuts north at a square open summerhouse. Main run consists of 11 Roman Doric columns supporting a timber entablature and faced by 11 pilasters on the rear wall. North run of 2 similar columns. Pavement of rectangular panels of bricks laid in alternating bands continues from the garden terrace.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26669026

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)