The Temple

The Temple, also known as the Fishing Temple, is a garden building dating from around 1800, designed by Henry Holland for Samuel Whitbread II as part of the remodelling of Southill Park. It features light mottled brick construction, with ashlar and stucco elements, and slate roofs. The structure is a small rectangular Tuscan temple, flanked by screen walls to the west and east, with a small cottage attached to the west end. The temple is located on the north side of the lake, north of and in view of Southill Park house.

On the north elevation, the temple has a tetrastyle pedimented port-cochere, with four pilasters on the cella wall and double doors in the central bay. It is flanked by round-headed archways, with the screen walls featuring blind arcading in matching proportions. The screen walls end in round-headed carriage arches aligned with the porte-cochere. The south elevation also has a tetrastyle pedimented portico with four pilasters on the cella wall, and French windows in each of the three bays, with plain screen walls.

A single-storey L-plan cottage projects from the left-hand wall of the temple. This cottage is rather plain and features cast iron lattice casements. Inside the temple, the original plasterwork includes Corinthian pilasters and an ornate ceiling. The temple once housed two marble statues.