South Lodge and adjoining Screen at Silsoe Entrance to Wrest Park

WREST PARK, SILSOE, CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

An entrance lodge and attached screen, rear boundary wall and outbuilding, built in 1826, with late C20 extension and alterations. It was built by Thomas Phillip Weddell, later the 2nd Earl de Grey for his aunt, the Countess de Grey in the C19 French Grand Manner style. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1113781
Date first listed:: 10-Jan-1985
List Entry Name:: South Lodge and adjoining Screen at Silsoe Entrance to Wrest Park
Statutory Address:: WREST PARK, SILSOE, CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE

User submitted image — Uploaded by Helen C-F This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2003-05-07
Reference:: IOE01/10180/25
Rights:: © Mr Derek E. Wharton. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1113781
Date first listed:: 10-Jan-1985
Date of most recent amendment:: 18-May-2012
List Entry Name:: South Lodge and adjoining Screen at Silsoe Entrance to Wrest Park
Statutory Address 1:: WREST PARK, SILSOE, CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: WREST PARK, SILSOE, CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Central Bedfordshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Silsoe
National Grid Reference:: TL0838235610

Summary

Reasons for Designation

The South Lodge and adjoining screen forming part of the Silsoe entrance to Wrest Park is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Design: the lodge and the attached wrought iron screen were designed to form part of the group of structures marking the principal entrance to the Wrest Park landscape; * Architectural interest: the building is part of the earliest representation of the French Grand Manner style which was to be repeated at a much larger scale in the later development of Wrest Park House and its stable block; * Historic interest: the building was designed by the future Earl de Grey who was to be directly involved in the design of the new mansion and its associated garden landscapes; * Group Value: the Lodge makes an important contribution to the ensemble of buildings and structures forming the principal C19 entrance to the Wrest Park estate.

History

Wrest Park belonged to the Grey family from the Middle Ages until the early C20. In 1833, Thomas Phillip Weddell, later Earl de Grey, inherited Wrest, having already spent much time there as a young man demonstrating his early abilities as an amateur architect in the design of the North and South Lodges at Silsoe in 1826 (both listed Grade II).

Although he had great respect for the gardens this did not extend to the house, which he demolished. The present house was constructed approximately 200m north of the old house in 1834-9 by the Earl with the assistance of James Clephan. The stable buildings to the east (listed Grade II) and the walled gardens (listed Grade II) to the west were also added between 1834 and 1839. The site of the former house was laid out to include the present parterres and south lawns. The Earl's appreciation of the existing garden’s qualities meant that little else was done to diminish its former appearance. In 1856 'le Petit Trianon' was built for his children and in 1857 an 'American Garden' was laid out north of the bowling green.

The South Lodge forms a group with the North Lodge.

Details

MATERIALS: built from rendered brick beneath a slated mansard roof.

PLAN: it has a small-scale square plan of one storey and attics above a basement, designed, with the North Lodge (q.v.) to define the main entrance to Wrest Park. A single bay, C20 flat-roofed addition extends from the south elevation. This is a modern flat-roofed replacement of the original and not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: the lodge has rusticated quoins, a moulded eaves cornice and a low rendered brick chimney to the centre of the roof. The east elevation has a slightly projecting central bay. The west and east elevations each have a central casement window with glazing bars, a wrought iron balconette, and a decorative keystone to the segmental head to the opening. The south elevation has a pair of part-glazed double doors with a coat of arms decorating the keystone to the arched opening. The attic storey has a segmental-headed dormer window to each elevation, that to the south elevation with a triangular pediment. The C20 single bay extension to the south elevation is rendered, with a set-back doorway with glazed double doors, and a multi-pane two-light casement window to the left of the doorway.

INTERIOR: the interior has been altered to link with the C20 extension but retaining some evidence of the original plan. There are panelled doors and an original hearth, and a vaulted passage cellar in the basement together with an arched recess.

Attached to the north-west corner of the lodge is a wrought iron screen, about five metres long and two metres high. The screen stands upon a low T-shaped plinth, and is of plain appearance but terminates at a square openwork pier with decorative panels and finial.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 37692
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Roscoe, I, Hardy, E, Sullivan, M G, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, ((2009))
Smith, N, Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, English Heritage Guidebook, (2008)
Houfe, S, 'Country Life' in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, ((July 1970)), p1251
Other
Cole, D, Beresford, C and Shackell, A, Historical Survey of Wrest Park, (2005),
Donald Insall Associates, Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, Conservation Management Plan, (2009),

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.