Description

PISHIOBURY DRIVE
1.
5253
(East End)
6.6.52 Pishiobury Park Mansion
and attached offices
(formerly listed as
_ Pishiobury Park and
outbuildings) and garden
TL 480 134:6/29 walls with Norman gateway
II* GV
2.
Probably 1580-90 for Sir Walter Mildmay. Brick courtyard house, altered
internally and possibly refaced for Sir Thomas Hewitt in 1662. Remodelled
after fire by James Wyatt 1782-3 in Gothic Revival style for Jeremiah
Milles: Offices C18/C19. Much interior detail renewed probably c.1904
(dated rainwater head). Red brick with stucco details and slate roof
behind crenellated parapet. C16/C17 brickwork survives in faces of
projecting corners. Elsewhere,fine jointed Flemish bond brickwork of
c.1783. A square house of 2 1/2 storeys with symmetrical 5 window fronts to
W (entrance), N and E. Offices and walled garden attached on S with 2
courtyards of outbuildings and walled kitchen garden extending to S. The
W front follows the arrangement in an engraving of c.1700 in Chauncy, with
projecting end bays inset from the angles. The Gd floor sash windows have
4 centred arched heads, those in the end bays under a coved, rubbed brick
arch, and all topped by moulded stucco labels. 1st floor and attic sash
windows have stucco hood moulds. Central porch stuccoed and crenellated
has 4 centred arch and door. Door flanked by lancets. N front has broad
outer bays divided by pilasters from 3 window centre. Windows as W front
but Gd floor outer windows have side lancets under same arch, like front
door. E (garden) front has same fenestration but 3 central bays have
crenellated pediment. Interior of entrance hall has late C16 small
panelled scratch moulded oak panelling. Elizabethan square courtyard
roofed over as high central stair hall. Circular skylight in coved
ceiling. Upper part of hall has cornice and continuous unenclosed frieze,
probably late C18, of stucco medallions, oval and rectangular alternately,
with husk swags. Cantilevered stair in 2 flights along S and E walls rises
to 1st floor gallery. Stair retains Wyatt's wrought iron balustrade with
honeysuckle medallions. Lower part of hall remodelled in early C20 with
neo-classical frieze and exotic very fine late C18 carved marble fire
surround with dancing nymphs at sides and a central cupid. Central E room
most important interior with full height late C16 mitred oak panelling
(said by RCHM (1911) to be from N room of W front). Larger panels between
windows probably c.1662. Late C16 chimneypiece is the most important
internal feature. Stone fire surround with Ionic pilasters and medallioned
frieze, framed by oak fluted Ionic pilasters on pedestals, supporting a
strapwork ovolo cornice. Above is a triple arched overmantle with fluted
Corinthian colonnettes supporting consoles, frieze and cornice. Main room
on N front Gd floor is late C18, the walls divided into large panels by
raised reeded mouldings with paterae at the corners. Marble fireplace
carved with musical instruments. N room of W front lacks C16 oak panelled
dado noted by RCHM (1911) but retains fine late C16 stone fire surround
carved with grotesque animals and acanthus foliage and Elizabethan scratch
moulded oak door. Round headed arch to servants' stair has similar
moulding to porch, so stair may be by Wyatt. Adjoining the house on the S
are the usual offices grouped round a small court or light well. On the W
of this is a high single storey kitchen lit by a central C18 window flanked
by sunk panels. The lower part of the kitchen W wall is in C17 brick. On
the SW is a late C18 brick octagonal food store with slate roof and
octagonal louvre. On the E of the court a c.1783, 2 window block with
rubbed brick arches, extended upward and altered internally probably in
C19. It is joined to house by a diagonal 1 window bay where the former
sash window with rubbed brick arch has been replaced by a French window.
Adjoining the SE corner of the house is the walled garden showing 3 periods
of brickwork about equal in height, being late C16, mid C17 and late C18.
On the N side,entrance is by the Norman Gateway, a stucco Norman Revival
gateway, presumably mid C19, with shafts and scalloped capitals, chevron
and diapered arches, and Celtic interlace tympanum. Grounds, lake and
planting said to be by Capability Brown. An historic brick Elizabethan
courtyard house retaining some fine interior features remodelled by Wyatt.
The crenellated exterior presents an attractive combination of brick and
stucco. A small number of opening shapes and moulding profiles have been
deployed in a way both varied and unified. It shows the restrained early
phase of Wyatt's Gothic work, as well as C18 Gothic Revival at its best.
(RCHM (1911) 203-4: Pevsner 2nd Rev Ed(1977) 271: RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL4808213412

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554262

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living