North East Block Of Bloomsbury Stud, Formerly Sheep Shearing House In Park Farm Complex

The North East Block of Bloomsbury Stud, formerly known as the Sheep Shearing House in the Park Farm Complex, is a Grade II listed building. This former sheep shearing house was part of Park Farm, a model farm designed in 1795 and completed in 1797 by Robert Salmon, who was the resident architect and 'mechanist' for the estate of Francis, the 5th Duke of Bedford. The building was reworked around 1826 by William Root.

Constructed from mottled brick with slate roofs, the single-storey principal block is long and rectangular, with its main elevation facing west. It features a projecting block and a walled yard at the rear, showcasing a rustic Neo-classical style. The west elevation is symmetrical, highlighted by a central projecting pediment supported by four freestanding Tuscan columns, which form a broad portico. This portico shelters a central four-light window, a panelled door with glazed top panels to the left, and a two-light window to the right, which replaces another doorway. The pediment also contains a round-arched window. Each flanking wing has three two-light windows with semi-circular ends. The windows are 20th-century replacements with plain glazing bars, while the earlier windows featured ornamental geometric glazing bars. The building has brick ridge stacks on the left-hand wing and the pediment block, along with deep eaves and verges that have moulded timber cornices.

The 5th Duke was notably interested in estate management and agricultural advancements, and Park Farm was intended to showcase new agricultural technology. The sheep shearing house can be seen in its original form in George Garrard's depiction of the annual Woburn Sheep Shearing, painted in 1804 and engraved in 1811. Plans and elevations of the "present and proposed" Sheep Shearing House, signed by William Root and dated August 1826, are held at the Bedfordshire Record Office.