Woodchester Park House

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SO 80 SW 2/346

NYMPSFIELD TINKLEY LANE Woodchester Park House

(Formerly listed as WOODCHESTER PARK The Cottage)

II

Small house, considerably enlarged at two dates. C17 or C18; altered and enlarged 1862 by Benjamin Bucknall for William Leigh; further addition c1873. Random rubble and coursed, squared limestone, part roughcast rendered; ashlar chimneys; stone and Welsh slate roofs. Two-storey with attic; lower two-storey range at west end. High Victorian Gothic style.

North front: main part of house to left, two full parapet gables with kneelers and finials. Right gable to projecting two-storey with attic porch; moulded Tudor arched doorway, upper floor mullioned and transomed casement and attic cross window; quatrefoil gable vent; diagonal offset corner buttresses. Two eaves-mounted chimneys to west side, both with diagonal-set shafts and moulded caps. Full gable to left with large rectangular single-storey bay window with hipped coped top and Tudor arched mullioned and transomed casement; single-window fenestration above in roughcast rendered part of elevation. Projecting chimney to left above. C20 fire escape stairs. Lower range attached to west end with gabled cross wing and game house.

South side: two parapet gables to main part with mullioned or mullioned and transomed casement fenestration, two-storey canted bay window to right gable; quatrefoil gable vents. Off-centre projecting stair tower with hipped roof and tall mullioned and transomed stairlight with Tudor arched heads; two-storey flat-roofed section with coped parapet to right, both these features part of second enlargement, partly obscuring central full gable with three diagonal shafts to chimney. Two-storey rectangular bay window with mullioned and transomed windows and crenellated parapet set at 45? on south east corner. Lower part to left with two half gables. Cross wing at west end.

Interior: many contemporary features; various stone fireplaces, one with monograms of Leigh family. Bold rere-arches to all bay windows. Many panelled doors and other fittings.

Originally a small cottage, considerably enlarged as temporary residence for William Leigh while building The Mansion (q.v. Woodchester CP). Further enlarged by Leigh's son once he abandoned further construction work on The Mansion after Leigh's death in 1873.

(D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SO8116001231