Oakley House is a Grade II* listed building in the Bedford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 7 May 1952. A Georgian House. 3 related planning applications.
Oakley House
- WRENN ID
- haunted-ledge-russet
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Bedford
- Constituency
- North Bedfordshire MP: Richard Fuller (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 7 May 1952
- Type
- House
- Period
- Georgian
- Address
- Oakley House, the Drive, Church Lane, MK43 7ST
- OS grid reference
- TL 004 532
- Coordinates
- 52.16821, -0.53254
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Oakley House is a hunting box designed by Henry Holland around 1795. It is constructed from coursed limestone rubble that is partly colourwashed, and it features slate roofs. The main block of the house is five window bays long and two bays deep, standing two storeys high with attics. The hipped roof has three hipped dormers on the south elevation and two on both the east and west elevations.
On the south elevation, the first floor has five sash windows with glazing bars, which are mirrored on the ground floor. The west elevation includes a ground floor bay on the left with a balcony and a French window above, along with a sash window on the right for each floor. The east elevation is similar but features a continuous decorated balcony. There is a verandah on the ground floor that wraps around the west, south, and east sides.
The north entrance front has two two-storey projecting wings that create a courtyard. This elevation of the main block has two gabled dormers flanking a pediment. In front of this is a two-storey block with a gabled slate roof. The first floor has three sash windows with glazing bars; the central window is a three-light design with a timber surround and cornice. The ground floor has two sash windows flanking a 19th-century entrance porch, which has a lead canopy supported by four slender columns. The doorway is flanked by single light windows featuring geometric tracery. The two projecting wings are colourwashed and also have slate roofs.
Inside, the hall features doorways imported from Fineshade Abbey, and there are grisaille painted panels over the drawing room doors.
Local climate
Oakley House sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 50% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2008
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings