Description

SU 26 SW,
4/66

GREAT BEDWYN,
Tottenham House

(formerly listed as Tottenham House, Hawtreys School)

22.08.66

I

Great house, now boys preparatory school. 1825, by Thomas Cundy II
for Charles Brudenell Bruce, Marquess of Ailesbury. Ashlar
limestone. Slate roofs. Two-storey, semi-basement and attic
storey to centre block. Giant tetrastyle Ionic portico up 10
steps. Five-bay centre block and 3 window bay linking blocks to 3
x 3 bay wings with gable stacks. Attached half Tuscan column
quadrant arms to 1 x 5 bay terminal pavilions, all with roof
balustrade. Main block and linking blocks have 6-pane casement
windows, triangular pediments and apron balustrade. Cornice above
second storey. Quadrant arms altered 1870, niches between columns
and central arch with freestanding lion cresting. Rear elevation
of main block similar but portico with paired Ionic columns.

INTERIOR: Entrance hall with paired Ionic pilasters and dentil
cornice. End bracketed fireplaces and garlanded panel over with
marble figure and child. Ailesbury motto FULMUS. Doors to main
stair hall, 3 storeys high under roof light. Flying stair and
galleries with cast iron balustrade and mahogany wreathed and
carved rail. To right, the Grey Parlour, c1720-30 by Lord
Burlington. Chaste, with marble fireplace and wood overmantel.
Doors with pulvinated frieze and dentilled cornice. Two pairs oak
doors between rooms. Dining Hall of 4 bays. Marble chimneypiece.
Heavy moulded plaster ceiling with star centre. Billiard Room, now
library, with very rich ceiling, baroque chimneypiece and parquet
floor. Marble Room in right wing. Paired Corinthian pilasters in
mottled grey marble on background of yellow marble. Grisaille
trompe l'oeil panels. Marble fireplace and parquet floor. Rear of
right quadrant wing is former conservatory, cast iron columns and
barrel vaulted roof by Richard and Jones. Heating plant by Henry
Stothart. Tottenham House was built on the site of 2 earlier
houses, first, of 1573-5 probably erected with advice of Sir John
Thynne, and second a brick mansion by Richard Boyle, Lord
Burlington, for his brother in law, Charles Bruce, part of which
house is incorporated in the present building. Venetian windows
flanking the portico recall Burlington's scheme drawn by Flitcroft,
a direct reference to Jones's Wilton. Grounds landscaped by
Launcelot Brown, 1764 for Lord Bruce, some prospects surviving.

(References: Wittkower, R., Palladio and English Palladianism,1983
119f and plan and elevations 118 and 119. Landscape: Stroud, D.
Capability Brown; Hyams, E. Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton
1971, 229.)

Listing NGR: SU2498563926

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Tottenham House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q12071291

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback