Boat House At East End Of Lake Approximately 300 Metres South Of Sarsden House

SARSDEN SP22SE 7/191 Boat house at E end of lake approx. 300m S of Sarsden House

• II

Boat house. Circa 1796 by Humphry Repton for John Langston. Boulder-faced sub-structure with wood superstructure and rubble projection to rear; stone slate roofs. Built in the form of a classical temple. Sub-structure has round-headed arch with voussoirs. 'Temple' above in the style of a distyle in antis portico of the Doric order with applied bark decoration to columns and antae; the columns wrapped round with diagonally placed iron bands. Round-headed arches to left and right with wood imposts and 'keystones'. Wooden bench to back with applied bark decoration above. Humphry Repton, who created the lake by which the boat house stands, presented a Red Book for improvements to Sarsden (including the lake) to John Langston in March 1796. From drawings in the RIBA drawings collection it appears that he originally intended the boat house to be of stone with Ionic columns but presumably this design was quickly substituted as there is no evidence to suggest that a stone boat house was ever built. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, pp752-3; Nigel Temple: 'Sarsden Oxfordshire'; Journal of Garden History: Vol.6, No.2 (1986), pp89-111 (esp.pp99-101); RIBA drawings collection: Cat., p.116 (31)) [2641]

Listing NGR: SP2918722705