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Summary

Surviving part of a house built or enlarged by Sir Robert Dormer in the later 16th century; much altered and now divided into two properties

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• Resistivity survey at Little Gaddesden Manor House, 2016 (Ref: N)

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 157729: THE MANOR HOUSE AND NO 55
• Listed Building (II*)

Full description

The house, now subdivided, was built in 1576 for Sir Robert Dormer (although see below); service wing on S and alterations 1684, timber-framed SW projecting wing (no. 55) 17th century or earlier, antiquarian restoration possibly 1787, restoration and SE wing c.1880. Built of Totternhoe stone ashlar, W front skimmed in plaster 1958, E side chequered stone and flint. Red brick S wings and casing to SW wing (no. 55) which has timber framing exposed on SW. Old red tile roofs <1>.

The house is associated with a manor first recorded in the late 12th century and known alternatively as Lucies <2>. According to <2>, Sir Robert Dormer commemorated his rebuilding or enlargement (rather than original construction) of the house by a tablet bearing the date 1576. The 16th century work in the house as it stands at present amounts to no more than two rooms, one on each floor. Far from being a house appropriate to Sir Robert Dormer it may well have been merely an addition to an older building which has since disappeared. Matters are further complicated by the early 19th century alterations (c.1811), which were so extensive that most of the apparently Elizabethan features are suspect <2>. These features include wall paintings, notably a scheme showing scenes of Elizabeth I's connections with Ashridge; other architectural motifs are apparently medieval <3>.

Pieces of Totternhoe stone in the structure imply that the house was built using stone from the conventual church of the Bonhommes at Ashridge [1074, 4148], which was only 780m to the SW. In 2016 geophysical survey in the garden NW of the house found little evidence for possible foundations of a larger building, although there were indications of stony patches <4>.

OS Records (Index). SHT8223.

RCHM (England), 1911, Inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire, - p143 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9222.

Pevsner, N, & Cherry, B, 1977, Buildings of England: Hertfordshire (2nd edition), - p158 (Bibliographic reference). SHT7257.

Jones, Arthur, 1984, Bedrooms, chimneys and lavatories! The development of Hertfordshire houses from shelters to homes, Photo, p17 (Bibliographic reference). SHT5427.

<1> Listed Buildings description (Digital archive). SHT6690.

<2> Smith, J T, 1993, Hertfordshire houses: selective inventory, - p117-18 (Bibliographic reference). SHT16660.

<3> Rouse, E Clive, 1989, Domestic wall and panel paintings in Hertfordshire; Archaeological Journal 146, 423-50, - p440 (Article in serial). SHT3082.

<4> Juniper, Graham, & Wallis, Ken, 2016, Little Gaddesden Manor House resistivity report, RNO 3903 (Unpublished document). SHT18163.

Sources and further reading

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