Hempsted House

Hempsted House is a brick and stone building, originally a rectory, dating from 1671, with significant alterations in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was built for Sir John Scudamore, Viscount Scudamore. The original cruciform plan has been extended, with a long wing added in the early 19th century. The front facade is largely rendered in roughcast with a cross-gable and dormers, set against a chamfered ashlar plinth. The renewed mid-18th century doorway is in Gothic style, featuring a stone doorcase with an ogee arch, decorative strapwork, an ogee fanlight, and a six-panel door inscribed with the date 1671 and a couplet praising Viscount Scudamore and referencing his predecessor, John Gregory. An early 19th-century bay window is set into the right-hand bay; it has scalloped bargeboards and a timber mullion and transom window. Stone-framed mullion windows with transoms are found on the ground and first floors, while shorter mullion windows are set into the cross gable and dormers. A two-storey canted bay at the rear has sash windows with 3x4 panes set within rubbed brick arches. The interior is believed to have been largely refitted in the early 19th century. John, Viscount Scudamore, a friend of Archbishop Laud, built the house for his wife as part of his endowment of the Rectory of Hempsted.