Worcester Lodge To Badminton Park, With Flanking Quadrant Walls And Terminal Pavilions

Worcester Lodge to Badminton Park, built in 1746, was designed by William Kent as an entrance lodge with an upper dining room. It is constructed of ashlar with a vermiculated rusticated base and lead roofs, featuring a moulded stone dentil cornice.

The main block is four storeys high, dominated by a large central groin vaulted archway, flanked by smaller, single-storey square wings with pyramid roofs. The lower two storeys are rusticated with plat bands and an ashlar plinth, incorporating dropped keystones to flanking round-headed niches with blind recesses above. A projecting, pedimented section has a large round-headed window extending through the two upper storeys, with a stone balustraded balcony above the round-headed arch. The pediment displays the Beaufort arms. Blind niches and recesses flank the main window, with 15-pane sash windows set back on each side, and a blind attic recess above. The facade mirrors itself on the south side.

The east and west sides feature a central arched recess with a full-length 18-pane window leading to a similar smaller balcony, accompanied by repeating flanking niches and recesses. A central saucer dome sits atop a near-octagonal drum, with small stone stacks on each flank, and a hipped roof on each side.

Inside the archway, flanking recesses house large arched recesses, each with a six-panel door and a blind doorway. The east side includes a vestibule with a steep wooden stair; the central partition divides the treads to accommodate different heights for each foot. A cantilevered moulded stone stair with a wrought iron balustrade leads to the upper room on the west side, which boasts a very fine plastered ceiling by Kent depicting the four seasons, and fluted pilasters flanking the large windows. An overmantel, believed to be imported, is complemented by a gilt-framed convex mirror above, designed by Kent with a radiating sunburst pattern.

The flanking wings have ball finials to each corner of the pyramid roof base and are similarly rusticated to the main block, with large, plain triple keystones to the round-headed windows on the north and south sides.

Quadrant walls extend to each side, divided into ten bays marked on the inner face by plain piers with shallow pyramidal caps. A partially blind archway with a raised pediment forms a central feature. Octagonal end pavilions are constructed in ashlar with a vermiculated plinth and a shallow slate roof topped with a ball finial. Arched recesses on alternating faces are blind except for a radial glazed fanlight, with access from the rear. The lodge originally stood within a tree-lined setting; it now stands alone at the end of the Three Mile Ride from Badminton House, bordering the main road to Tetbury.