Hardwicke Court

SO 71 SE HARDWICKE BRISTOL ROAD (west side) 4/69 Hardwicke Court

10.1.55

GV II* Large country house. 1817-19; by Sir Robert Smirke for T.J. Lloyd- Baker. Limestone ashlar; brick service wings; Welsh slate roof. Central staircase plan; central 3-storey block; 2-storey side wings. Front: windows 2:1:2 with central square single-storey porch having plain paired pilasters and narrow side sashes; plain unmoulded window openings; tall 15-pane (3 x 5) ground floor sashes; 12-pane to middle storey 6-pane to top floor; plain band at first floor level; moulded cornices above, that to top floor with plain blocking course above; low pitched roof, parapet-gabled at ends; moulded caps to ashlar chimney stacks. Flanking 2-storey side wings project forwards with single-window fenestration; large tripartite sash in segmental headed opening to ground floor with smaller square-headed tripartite sash above; hipped parapet roof. South end: paired 15-pane sashes to side wing in central break forward; 2 blocked openings above. North end: 3 blocked openings to each floor. Back: service block projects from front range; ground floor in ashlar limestone with segmental arched scattered fenestration; upper floors are addition in brick with cambered arched sashes; further single-storey service wing projects to south-west. Plain Neo-classical interior: hall lit from porch through arched inner glazed screen with open well staircase on axis with central hall; Neo-classical marble fireplaces to each principal room. Stands in landscaped park with terracing to east of house enclosing fountain pool (q.v.). Straight canal to south on axis of former house. Built as replacement for Trye family manor house of C16 and C17. (Article in County Life, 5th July 1978; C.R. Elrington, 'Hardwicke' in V.C.H. Glos.x, 1972 pp. 178- 188; and D.Verey, Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1976.)

Listing NGR: SO7878611712