Toddington Manor

TODDINGTON - SP 03 SW 3/157 Toddington Manor 4.7.60 GV I Large country house. 1819-'35 by and for C. Hanbury-Tracy; some later alterations. Ashlar masonry: roofing material not clear. Three quadrangles linked diagonally, house proper round 3 sides of one, with cloister inside, 2 and 2 1/2 storeys; remaining quadrangles kitchen and stabling, single storey. Facade facing church: moulded plinth throughout. On left, 2-storey canted bay, flanked by octagonal turrets with blind arcading, 3-light window with Perpendicular tracery and flat head to each floor, blind quatrefoils below, moulded string above. Blind arcading to crenellated parapet over, turrets carried up to end in crocketed finials. To left, side of semi-octagonal bay, blind tracery on first part, single-light window on angle with blind tracery below to both floors, crenellated parapet as canted bay. To right of canted bay five 2-light windows with arched heads and hoodmoulds. Moulded string course, five 2-light mullion and transom windows, flat heads, Perpendicular tracery to upper lights, hoodmoulds. Moulded string course, crenellated parapet in 4 bays, with gabled pinnacles between each. To right canted bay with octagonal turrets as on left. Slightly set back beyond paired arched openings, 2- light reticulated tracery on left, boarded door on right with similar tracery over as fanlight. Blind tracery and moulded string above, lancet window with hoodmould either side of statue in niche, projecting head over. Blind arcading, string courses, crenellated parapet. Chapel wing projecting to right, square-set corner buttresses, blind arcading to face, gabled offsets: blind arcading to ground floor, with 2-light window, ogee head and hoodmould, moulded string, 6-light window with 2 king mullions, hoodmould. Openwork crenellations above string follow slope of roof, corner and centre crocketed finials. Single-storey kitchen wing to right. Set back, partly to left of right canted bay, square tower with corner pinnacles. A very important Gothic-revival building, detailing largely derived from Perpendicular work at Oxford: thought to have influenced design of Highclere and the Houses of Parliament. Interior not accessible, nor close access possible to exterior. For interior and entrance front see C. Hussey. Forms group with terrace walls and church (q.v.). (J. Britton, Graphic Description of Toddington, 1840; C. Hussey, English Country Houses -late Georgian, 1800-1840, 1958; D. Verey, Gloucestershire, The Vale and The Forest of Dean, 1970)

Listing NGR: SP0364233292