Description

SO 8405
5/67

STROUD
STRATFORD ROAD (north side)
Stratford Park

1/5/51

GV
II

House, since 1936 in local authority ownership. Built in the late C17 for the Gardiner family, with initials G.G. (Giles Gardiner) and date 1674 inscribed on lintel to rear. Remodelled and extended to front (south) in c1780s, probably by Anthony Keck for Nathaniel Winchcombe; top (third) storey removed in 1892. Built of squared and coursed limestone, with ashlar fronts to south and east; parapetted slate roof with ashlar stacks.

PLAN: C17 house extended to front (south) to make double-depth plan with central stairhall.

EXTERIOR: two storeys, with bracketted cornice and plat band to C18 east and south elevations. Four-bay south front with parapet (remodelled 1890s) swept up to ashlar stacks, 6/6-pane sashes in square-headed architraves, and blocked windows flanking entrance (remodelled 1892) with Ionic porch and 1890s doorway and architrave. Five-bay east elevation with pedimented central bay: similar first-floor sashes, the tall ground-floor sashes having large four-pane bottom sashes. Venetian window with Corinthian capitals to first floor of central bay, above wide tripartite window articulated by Ionic capitals and with half-glazed door to right of 6/9-pane sashes. West elevation has late C17 stone-mullioned windows, some with leaded lights and with a variety of chamfers, ovolo and cavetto mouldings; lintel with initials and date above doorway with late C17 cyma-moulded architrave and late C18 six-panelled door. Similar two-light windows to rear (north) elevation, including projection now with flat roof.

INTERIOR: (rooms are described in relation to front or south elevation). Front hall and ground-floor room to left remodelled in 1890s, the latter with panelled dado and fireplace. Principal ground-floor rooms had fireplaces replaced in 1890s, but some late C18 fireplaces with neo-classical enrichment have survived, notably in first-floor rooms. Ground-floor room to rear right has retained late C18 panelled dado. Enriched plaster cornices with neo-classical ornament to ground-floor room to right, rear dining room and central stairhall (now subdivided); also to stair landings (fluted brackets to cornice as in stairhall) and to most first-floor rooms. Original joinery including panelled doors and shutters, the doors retaining original brass fittings. The stairhall has a fine late C18 open-well staircase with guilloche and honeysuckle motifs to patterned cast-iron balustrade, and at first-floor level opens out through arches with rosettes to panelled intrados into two vestibules to front and rear. Late C18 service stair to rear left with stick balusters and ramped handrail.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The Stratford Park estate belonged to the Gardiner family between 1653 and 1778, when it was bequeathed by Sarah Gardiner to James Winchcombe of Bownham Park, Rodborough. It was his son who remodelled the house. The late C18 work bears strong similarities to the local work of Anthony Keck, whose Gloucestershire commissions included Bowden Hall, Atcombe Court and Flaxley Abbey.

Listing NGR: SO8466205691

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Stratford Park official website
• Wikidata Q26557846

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy