Tottenham House

SU 26 SW, 4/66

GREAT BEDWYN, Tottenham House

(formerly listed as Tottenham House, Hawtreys School)

22.08.66

I

Great house, now boys preparatory school. 1825, by Thomas Cundy II for Charles Brudenell Bruce, Marquess of Ailesbury. Ashlar limestone. Slate roofs. Two-storey, semi-basement and attic storey to centre block. Giant tetrastyle Ionic portico up 10 steps. Five-bay centre block and 3 window bay linking blocks to 3 x 3 bay wings with gable stacks. Attached half Tuscan column quadrant arms to 1 x 5 bay terminal pavilions, all with roof balustrade. Main block and linking blocks have 6-pane casement windows, triangular pediments and apron balustrade. Cornice above second storey. Quadrant arms altered 1870, niches between columns and central arch with freestanding lion cresting. Rear elevation of main block similar but portico with paired Ionic columns.

INTERIOR: Entrance hall with paired Ionic pilasters and dentil cornice. End bracketed fireplaces and garlanded panel over with marble figure and child. Ailesbury motto FULMUS. Doors to main stair hall, 3 storeys high under roof light. Flying stair and galleries with cast iron balustrade and mahogany wreathed and carved rail. To right, the Grey Parlour, c1720-30 by Lord Burlington. Chaste, with marble fireplace and wood overmantel. Doors with pulvinated frieze and dentilled cornice. Two pairs oak doors between rooms. Dining Hall of 4 bays. Marble chimneypiece. Heavy moulded plaster ceiling with star centre. Billiard Room, now library, with very rich ceiling, baroque chimneypiece and parquet floor. Marble Room in right wing. Paired Corinthian pilasters in mottled grey marble on background of yellow marble. Grisaille trompe l'oeil panels. Marble fireplace and parquet floor. Rear of right quadrant wing is former conservatory, cast iron columns and barrel vaulted roof by Richard and Jones. Heating plant by Henry Stothart. Tottenham House was built on the site of 2 earlier houses, first, of 1573-5 probably erected with advice of Sir John Thynne, and second a brick mansion by Richard Boyle, Lord Burlington, for his brother in law, Charles Bruce, part of which house is incorporated in the present building. Venetian windows flanking the portico recall Burlington's scheme drawn by Flitcroft, a direct reference to Jones's Wilton. Grounds landscaped by Launcelot Brown, 1764 for Lord Bruce, some prospects surviving.

(References: Wittkower, R., Palladio and English Palladianism,1983 119f and plan and elevations 118 and 119. Landscape: Stroud, D. Capability Brown; Hyams, E. Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton 1971, 229.)

Listing NGR: SU2498563926