Description

HERTFORD

TL3313NE ST LEONARD'S ROAD, Bengeo
817-1/14/284 (East side)
10/02/50 Bengeo Hall
(Formerly Listed as:
BENGEO
Bengeo Hall and Bengeo Hall Cottage)

GV II*

Small country house in gardens with parkland setting. Late
C17, refaced early C18, east front mid C18 with late C18 bay
windows and remodelled attics, west wing early C19. Red brick,
Flemish bond (English bond in attic storey of east front),
colourwashed cream early C19 now largely washed clean, west
wing in cream Hitch patent brickwork (manufactured in Ware by
Caleb Hitch). Old tile and Welsh slate roofs.
PLAN: square plan to main house with central entry, and
central stacks giving double-depth plan of 4 principal rooms
on each floor linked by closets and lobbies. Outline of
pedimented door, infilled later, on brickwork of north
elevation suggests a 3-bay lobby entry plan, 3-bay principal
east elevation with main central entry.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics with basement. East front has 2
large late C18 2-storey brick canted bay windows left and
right, with one 12-pane sash window, in each face, taller on
ground floor, and recessed below rubbed brick flat arches.
Wood dentil frieze and moulded cornice with blocking course
above; semicircular rubbed brick arches to basement vents in
front face. Centre of facade has plat bands at first-floor
level, and at second-floor level, two projecting bands in
English bond, at base of attic storey, which is English bond
throughout, with half-gabled stone-coped parapets at left and
right, and flat coping across the top, 3 square 6-pane attic
windows with rubbed yellow sash window, 15:6:9-pane with red
rubbed brick flat arch. Ground floor with central 6 fielded
panelled door below semicircular fanlight with elaborate Adam
style traceried cast-iron grille, surround with inner
pilasters and moulded impost band and panelled archivolt,
outer surround with attached columns with 'stripped' Tower of
the Winds Greek Corinthian order, entablature with swags and
paterae frieze; 5 sweeping stone steps, with curved
wrought-iron railings with ornamental foliated scrollwork.
South elevation with outer triple sashes 4:12:4-panes, with
central sash with heavier mid C18 quadrant bars, all with
cambered heads; ground floor with two C19 French windows,
those at left with sidelight casements.

North elevation has late C18 sash at left, with blank upper
panel, with segmental rubbed arch above, mid C18 sash in
centre, and late C18 projecting canted oriel bay, with triple
12-pane sashes, moulded cornice and plaster spandrel below.
Ground floor with late C18 sash at left, with blank upper
panel below segmental double header arch, infilled door in
centre, and deeply recessed 6-panel door, with upper 4 glazed,
recessed in panelled reveals with broad surround centrally set
below oriel, with narrow 8-pane sash windows on either side.
2-storey west wing runs across the rear of the original house,
but has a separate gabled roof. Cream Hitch brick, with the
characteristic deep courses and bond resembling rat trap bond,
with special moulded parapet bricks at gable ends and around a
modified stepped Dutch gable in centre of west elevation,
above a large 8-light mullion and transom window with moulded
Hitch brick frames and cornice. Smaller 2- and 4-light windows
left and right, moulded plat band at first-floor level.
North elevation with 12-pane sash window in moulded stuccoed
architrave surround with Hitch brick dripmould above.
Roofs: triple hipped behind parapeted east front and visible
on west above tall gabled and parapeted old tile roof over
west wing, Welsh slated upper roof in valleys between tiled
roofs at front of main house; tall square Hitch brick chimneys
below ridge line in centre of north and south flank
elevations, with projecting bands and oversailing caps and
tall square pots with battered profile and projecting rims.
Projecting chimneybreast at south end of west wing with tall
Hitch brick chimney with moulded bands and oversailing cap.
INTERIOR: front entrance hall with reeded cornice, stair open
string with long column balusters and moulded handrail.
Drawing Room with cornice of palm leaves, bobbin heads and
flowered bands, Dining Room has single C19 cornice, 6-panel
doors on ground floor. Rear room with C18 double cyma cornice,
back door to kitchen glazed with quadrant bars. First floor
bedrooms have early C19 fire surrounds and cornices, with mid
C18 windows with quadrant bars in closets alongside chimneys.
Early C19 stair with stick balusters to attics.
Roof structure not accessible for inspection.
(The industrial archaeology of the British Isles: Branch
Johnson W: Industrial Archaeology of Hertfordshire: Newton
Abbot: 1970-: 20; East Herts Industrial Archaeology: Moodey
GE: The Wall that Caleb Hitch Built: 1968-).

Listing NGR: TL3300313792

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554056

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)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)