Briggens House Hotel And Attached Upper Terrace And Tank At West,Along A Drive,300 Metres South Of The Lodge

TL 41SW 2/26

HUNSDON, HARLOW ROAD (A414) (South Side), Briggens House Hotel (formerly listed as Briggens) and attached Upper Terrace and Tank at W, along a drive, 300 metres S. of the Lodge

24.1.67

G.V. II

Country House, now an hotel. Circa 1719 by the mason Christopher Cass (1678-1734) (Gunnis (1968) 88) for Robert Chester, a director of South Sea Company: 2-bay N and S blocks and 2nd floor added for Thomas Blackmore probably c1770 (name and date on stable bell): N end and W side extensions in 1899: alterations 1908 for H C Gibbs (RCHM Typescript). Former country house on hilltop site facing W in a landscaped park probably designed by Bridgeman. Grey brick with stone dressings, hipped slate roof, Portland stone upper terrace on S end overlooking a tank of York stone. 3 storeys above basement, 7 windows front. 3-window central portion breaks forward. Stone bands at each floor level and blocking course to stone cornice. 2-window, 2 storeys and mansard side wings rebuilt in C19, project and are linked by a single storey stone screen with 6 casement windows flanking door with open pediment. 3-window block on S end with upper terrace in Portland stone attached facing S. Balustrade of low square piers with stone rails between supported on stone balls. E front has large full height 3-window central bow and basement storey clad in stone. Recessed sash windows generally. A drawing exists for a chimneypiece for Briggens by James Thornhill dated 1720 but the interior is completely C19. A large C18 country house with later additions, in a prominent position on a hilltop. Part of an immediate group of outbuildings and part of a wider landscape composition. (VCH (1912) 325-6: Gibbs (1915) 23-6: Pevsner (1977) 343: HLHS (1979) 38: RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL4139211201