Barley Wood And Memorial Urns

Barley Wood is a detached house used as offices, originally dating from 1801-2. It was extended in 1900 by Ernest George, and again in 1933 by Chester H. Jones. Two memorial urns were erected in 1802 and 1805. The house is built of render, with plain tile roofs, and has an L-shaped plan encompassing two storeys and attics, with several canted bays. The windows are mostly small-paned casements with gabled bargeboarded dormers to the roof. The east entrance front has a gabled, part-glazed porch with half timbering and cusped bargeboards. A round-arched conservatory sits on openwork piers to the east and south fronts. Rendered stacks are present.

On the south terrace stand two memorial urns. One commemorates the philosopher John Locke and the other Bishop Beilby Porteus. The Locke urn, given to Hannah More by Mrs. Montagu in 1789, was moved to Barley Wood in 1802. It is constructed of limestone, featuring a square plinth with a moulded base and cap, a neo-classical urn with a fluted neck and guilloche frieze. The Porteus urn, of limestone and erected in 1805 by Hannah More, also has a square plinth with a moulded base and cap, but with a bulbous urn. The original cottage orne, subsumed by later rebuilding, was built for the social reformer and authoress Hannah More after her move from nearby Cowslip Green.