Hunsdon House To East Of Parish Church

Hunsdon House to East of Parish Church

A country house of the greatest historical importance, incorporating fragmentary remains of one of the most significant medieval residences in the county. The building represents successive phases of alteration and reconstruction spanning nearly four centuries.

The original structure was a mid-15th century moated brick tower house built by Sir William Oldhall. William of Worcester recorded in 1478 that it contained a great tower of 100 feet height. The house was substantially altered between 1527 and 1534 for Henry VIII, when it became a royal residence with extensive parks for hunting, forming the centre of the honour of Hunsdon from 1532. It remained associated with all the Tudor monarchs from Henry VIII until Elizabeth I granted it to her cousin Sir Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon in 1558–59. The Carey family altered and extended the building to the west during the first half of the 17th century.

Josias Nicolson demolished the western parts around 1745 and filled in the moat around 1788. Between 1805 and 1811, Nicolson Calvert raised the building, extensively rebuilt it, replanned it with the main entrance at the east, and recast it in castellated form. Further interior remodelling, window alterations, and the addition of an elaborate cast iron verandah on the south side took place around 1861 under James Wylie.

The present structure is a large rectangular red brick block of three storeys with cellars, featuring two parallel hipped slate roofs concealed behind an embattled parapet and large pointed diagonal buttresses at each corner. A projecting three-storey east porch formerly had similar buttresses. A square brick stair-turret projects in the angle on the north side and rises above the parapet. The building is accompanied by a two-storey service wing extending westward overlooking a walled yard, a two-storey crenellated northwest gate house, and an octagonal two-storey southwest tower.

The exterior has been extensively refaced, but at the western end and on the north wall return up to a rectangular bay, the old brickwork is visible beneath tuck-pointed red mortar, revealing characteristic medieval features: a broad stone string at first-floor level, diapering in black headers above it, tall stone arrow-slits often positioned at the angle of buttress and wall, and small square stone windows, now mostly blocked. The arrow-slits feature ogee-cusped expansions at top, bottom, and half-height. Later brick copies of these arrow-slits appear elsewhere around the building. The top storey and parapet above a hollow moulded string course are later additions. The present windows, mostly of the 19th century, have plaster surrounds and two-light or three-light moulded wooden mullioned and transomed frames.

The cellars beneath the eastern parts are of particular interest, notably one with a lofty pointed arched brick vault measuring 48 feet 6 inches by 18 feet 6 inches, running north-south with a doorway into the base of an octagonal garderobe shaft. Brick masses elsewhere presumably supported the original 100-foot great tower recorded by William of Worcester.

The ground floor rooms contain fine Classical interiors of the later 19th century with moulded plaster ceilings, cornices, friezes, and moulded woodwork, accompanied by marble fire surrounds. A heavy triple-arched two-storey screen of marbled columns with astylar caps gives onto the stairwell. The dining room chimneypiece is dated 1882. A lintel built into the garden gateway to the west is inscribed 'HH 1593'.

The octagonal southwest tower contains a summerhouse on its south side with pointed arched openings.

The house forms a picturesque historic group with the adjacent parish church. The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments has recently traced its architectural history in detail.