If you think this information is inaccurate please e-mail corrections to Hertfordshire HER .

Summary

Grand 18th century remodelling in Portland stone of the Duke of Monmouth's late 17th century brick house, which itself replaced an early 17th century house

Monument Types

• COUNTRY HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)
• ORANGERY (Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)
• STABLE (Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden 39: Moor Park
• Listed Building (I) 158835: MOOR PARK AND ORANGERY/STABLE BLOCK

Full description

Late 17th and 18th century mansion, now the golf clubhouse. The house built in the late 17th century by the Duke of Monmouth was rebuilt in 1720-28 by Sir James Thornhill for Benjamin Styles, with further work by Leoni in 1728-30. It was then altered several times, twice in the later 18th century (the wings were demolished in 1785) and again c.1830 and in 1849.
The 17th century house was of brick; the rebuilding involved casing this in Portland stone, in Baroque/Palladian style. It is now a two-storey with attics house of 11 bays with 5-bay returns, and steps up to a colossal central pedimented portico with central entrance and Corinthian order columns. The interior includes major work of c.1730 and the 1760s.
Linked to the house is the orangery and stable block, which were rebuilt in the 19th century to the 18th century model, in ashlar. Facing the house (now with a linking block), it is 8 bays wide with engaged Ionic columns <5>.
The 1680s house built for the Duke of Monmouth replaced, and reused materials from, a house built in 1617 on the same site. It is unclear how much of the 1617 house was retained within the new one, which was built of brick from clay dug within the park <6>.
Analysis of the surviving fabric of the later 17th century house is set out by <7> following detailed inspection, and study of the documentary records. This house was built in 1679-84 for the Duke & Duchess of Monmouth; the design can be attributed to Hugh May, and it was evidently built by Office of Works craftsmen who were also working with May at Windsor Castle. 'However, the design is unique in his domestic work… It seems to spring from a knowledge of continental classical houses, and to take a position in a tradition going back to the 1630s. This may have resulted from the influence of the earlier Jacobean house on the form of the new one, and from the fact that it was seen as a lodge'. The Duke was executed in 1685 at the end of the Monmouth Rebellion, but work on the interiors of the house for the Duchess continued until c.1688. <7> also outlines Thornhill's alterations in the 1720s, which included moving the main entrance to the west front and extending the main block by two bays on the north and south sides.


For the park and gardens, see [4134]. The house is on high ground; for its predecessor at The More, on low ground by the river to the north, see [10919]. See also [30621].
For the model home farm, designed in 1763 by Robert Adam, see <4>. For the riverside tea house of the same date, see [30451].

Earl, Timothy Hare?, (Watercolour said to be of Moor House built in 1663) (Graphic material). SHT4986.

OS Records (Index). SHT8223.

RAF, 1941, Moor Park mansion & golf course, Rickmansworth, PNO 8532 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15813.

<1> Pevsner, N, 1953, Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, - p170 (Bibliographic reference). SHT8770.

<2> Page, W (ed.), 1908, VCH Hertfordshire vol.2, - p375 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9314.

<3> Bevan, Tom, 1924, Notes on Rickmansworth; Trans St Albans & Herts Archit & Archaeol Soc 1924, 60-68, - p64 (Article in serial). SHT9763.

<4> Robinson, J M, 1983, Model farms: a study of decorative and model farm buildings in the age of improvement 1700-1846, Gazetteer, p133 (Bibliographic reference). SHT3882.

<5> Listed Buildings description (Digital archive). SHT6690.

<6> Information from Dr Sally Jeffery, 19 January 2013 (Verbal communication). SHT4206.

<7> Drury, Paul, Jeffery, Sally, & Wrightson, David, 2016, Moor Park in the seventeenth century; Antiquaries Journal 96, 241-90 (Article in serial). SHT17863.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.