Williamstrip Park

COLN ST ALDWYNS WILLIAMSTRIP PARK SP 1405-1505 12/159 Williamstrip Park 23.1.52 GV II Large country house. c1700; extensive 1791 alterations by John Soane for Michael Hicks Beach. Some alterations of 1834 including west portico. Alterations and enlargement 1865 by David Brandon for M.E. Hicks Beach. Ashlar limestone; ashlar chimmneys; Welsh slate roof. Large square central stairhall plan; 3-storey with cellar. West front: 9-window fenestration, all sashes; plate glass to ground floor, 12-pane to middle foor, 6 and 9-pane to upper floor. Outer 3 sashes in shallow bows, central 3 below small pediment. Alternating chamfered quoins. Plain floor level bands; plain parapet with ball finials; hipped roof. Short 2-storey wing projects to left with 2-window 12-pane sash fenestration, plain bands continued from main elevation. South front: 7-window fenestration, all sashes as before. Two canted single-storey bay windows with oval openwork parapet decoration are part of Brandon's alterations. East front: probably contains more c1700 fabric than others, this indicated by contemporary quoin strips to corners and central break forward. Fenestration 2:3:2. Central doorway with glazed door and flat cornice hood on scrolled brackets. Emphasized central middle floor sash with moulded architraves. Upper floor Diocletian window below central pediment. Plain floor level bands and parapet with ball finials. Original parapet line is visible above upper floor level band; this line has been repeated in the other later elevations. Interiors: most features appear to date from the 1865 alterations, Soane's library having been removed in 1946. Central square stair hall with open well staircase having 2 barleysugar balusters per tread. Room in south east corner has fine late C18 fireplace with carved figures depicted playing musical instruments. 1865 curved garden screen wall to south attached at south west corner has oval openwork top. A north wing, part of 1865 alterations, was demolished in 1946. Fountain pools (q.v.) to south, game house (q.v) to north. (Illustrated in standard county histories; Sir Robert Atkyns, The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire, 1712; Samuel Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire, 1779; J. and H.S. Storer, Delineations of Gloucestershire, 1825-7. A.R.J. Jurica, 'Coln St Aldwyns' in V.C.H. Glos. vii, 1981, pp 44-45; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SP1553005440