Stocks House
STOCKS HOUSE, STOCKS ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1078055
- Date first listed:
- 21-May-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Stocks House
- Statutory Address:
- STOCKS HOUSE, STOCKS ROAD
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-07-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/05770/22
- Rights:
- © Mr Nick Jarvis. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1078055
- Date first listed:
- 21-May-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Stocks House
- Statutory Address 1:
- STOCKS HOUSE, STOCKS ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- STOCKS HOUSE, STOCKS ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- Dacorum (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Aldbury
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 96230 13354
Details
ALDBURY STOCKS ROAD SP 91 SE (West side) 5/24 Stocks House 21.5.73 GV II
Country house, now a country club. 1773 rebuilt on new site for Arnold Duncombe, enlarged in late C18 to double depth with 2 rear (N) wings, late C19 3-storeys NW service wing and other alterations in early C20 for Mrs Humphrey Ward the novelist (family occupied house 1892-1922). A girl's school up to 1972. Stuccoed brick with moulded architectural features and steep hipped tiled roofs with parapets. Originally facing S, the plan is the principal evidence for the development of the house. Phase 1 had 2 large S rooms flanking an entrance hall leading to a rear stair hall, with a 3rd room (?library) on its W side with a N projecting chimney. Phase 2 added a small room on N of library. Phase 3 added a room set back at the E end (now the entrance lobby approached from E). Phase 4 added a second rear wing on E, and Phase 5 added a new dining room and billiard room for the Humphrey Wards with bay window to drawing room and 3 storeys NW wing. The old front porch was then removed and the free-standing staircase is of the early C20. 2 storeys and attics, with 6 windows and 3 dormers to each main front. Stringcourse, cornice and parapets. Sash windows with 6/6 panes. Ivy covered NE block with 2 similar sash windows on each of 3 floors. Each front has a projecting central feature, one with a bay window with 3 windows to each floor, and on S a tripartite window with pediment over and a bow window below. Sir Walter Scott is said to have stayed at the house and to have based the name Ivanhoe on the nearby village of Ivinghoe. Frequent visitors to Mrs Humphrey Ward were her relations of the Trevelyan, Arnold and Huxley families. (RCHM Typescript: Pevsner (1977) 65: Davis (1980) No 3).
Listing NGR: SP9623013354
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 355660
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 65
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 00:40:09.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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