The Bury

The Bury is a large house, now a health centre, with origins in the late 16th century. The main range was rebuilt in the mid 17th century, extended in the late 17th century by J. Fotherley, altered in the 18th century, and restored in the late 19th century by J.S. Gilliatt. It is constructed of timber frame, red brick, and roughcast, with tiled roofs. Originally a double-ended hall house, it features a parlour wing to the north and a service wing to the south. The hall range was rebuilt and the parlour wing cut back in the mid 17th century, with a long wing added later in the 17th century to form the present L-shaped building.

The house has a loosely symmetrical, ten-bay garden elevation, all on one plane, with central and outer gables, each over two windows. Ground floor entrances are centrally located, on the left end of the main range, and on the right wing, all with glazed doors and cambered heads. Pseudo-Venetian tripartite sashes flank the central bay, and a blocked opening on the right of the main range has been replaced with a 12-pane sash. First-floor sashes flank the central bays with pseudo-Venetian tripartite details; the sash to the right is blind. Outer bays on the main range are tripartite with centrally raised ogee heads. A coped parapet links the gables, and octagonal lights are set in the gables. The house has 19th-century ridge stacks, including a large stack with three diagonal shafts in the central valley of the two-span roof to the left of the centre. A left return features two large external 17th-century stacks with brick diapering, offsets, and paired diagonally set shafts that have been rebuilt. Attached to the right is a one-bay, two-storey outshut with a hipped roof and an upper lunette window. Blocked openings and a massive external stack, rising to two heads, each with paired diagonally set shafts, are present on the right return, along with leaded pane casements.

The rear right extends to a long wing with a 19th-century rebuilt six-bay loggia featuring tall round arches and an upper timber balcony. The rear roof is hipped, with blocked openings and a plat band. The inner or entrance elevation has six bays, with gables at the centre and right end. A 19th-century door is situated in the second bay from the right, above which is a three-light stained glass window with ogee-headed leaded panes. A ground floor canted bay is to the right, with cambered heads to the sashes. To the left, below the central gable, is a two-storey canted bay with six and eight-light timber mullion and transom casements with ogee-headed leaded panes, and diamond lights in the gables. The rear wing has scattered casements and two extruded stacks with paired diagonally set shafts.

The interior features reused 17th-century handrails and newel posts on the staircase, 17th-century fireplaces with four-centred moulded heads and jambs, panelling, and a clasped purlin roof. The Bury served as the Manor House of Rickmansworth until 1741.