Holwood Mansion

Holwood Mansion is a large detached house dating from 1825, built on a site previously occupied by a house belonging to William Pitt the Younger. The house was designed by Decimus Burton for John Ward and was later occupied by Lord Cranworth, who served as Lord Chancellor. The house is two storeys high and has 13 windows facing its main front. It is constructed of white brick on a stone base, incorporating a stone string course cornice and parapet.

The north-west entrance front features a central, projecting three-window section with a recessed porch. The porch is supported by two fluted stone Greek Doric columns, with windows on either side and flanked by pilasters, topped by a stone entablature with a pediment. Flanking this central section are one-storey pavilions, each featuring three round-headed windows and a pediment. A nine-window service wing extends to the north-east.

The south-east garden front is dominated by a central bow supported by four freestanding, fluted Ionic columns and two Doric pilasters, which stand on a plinth of six semi-circular steps, rising the full height of the house and surmounted by a stone entablature. The three-window bays at each end of this front are recessed, with the ground floor featuring two fluted Doric columns and two pilasters. A very large cedar tree, likely dating back to Pitt’s time, stands to the south-east of the house.