Ornamental Garden Seat Approximately 300 Metres East Of Chinese Dairy

The ornamental garden seat, located approximately 300 meters east of the Chinese Dairy in Woburn Park, was built in 1811. This structure is the first work of Jeffry Wyatt, who later became known as Sir Jeffry Wyatville, commissioned by John, the 6th Duke of Bedford. Designed in the Gothick style, the seat features a sham plaque on the ceiling that references "H.B. 1145," which likely pertains to the founding of Woburn Abbey by Hugh de Bolebec in 1145.

The garden seat is constructed from painted timber and topped with a slate roof, featuring a semi-octagonal plan and a half-pyramidal roof. It stands on a stone-paved base and has plain plank exteriors. Inside, the seat is adorned with applied moulded timber decoration. The walls showcase a blind pointed-arched arcade supported by slender columns with cusping. A slatted bench encircles the interior, supported by moulded brackets. The ceiling is decorated with cusped panels and a foliate boss at the apex. The front elevation includes imitation buttresses and moulded piers topped with finials at the outer angles, along with moulded pierced bargeboards that mimic cusping.