Aldermaston Court

Details

SU 56 SE
6/25

ALDERMASTON
CHURCH ROAD (south side)
Aldermaston Court

14.4.67

GV
II*

House. 1636, rebuilt except for staircase in 1848-51 by P.C. Hardwick, with further additions dated 1894 on rainwater heads. Red brick with grey diapering, Bath stone dressings, string courses, mullioned and transomed windows, coped parapet, gables with footstones, kneelers and capstones; slate roofs with eight stacks consisting of moulded round shafts with octagonal bases and oversailing caps.

Tower to west: four stages. Brick and stone panelled flushwork, shafted corners with carved figures; battlemented parapet to squat double-pitch slate spire with three cusped lights on each face and lucanes on concave top stage with ball finial. Six arched lights with clock above on each face of top stage, three and one light windows on first and second stages. Main house on irregular L-plan with service wing to north. Free Elizabethan style.

East Front. Wing projecting to left: canted two storey bay rising to battlemented parapet and six-light window in gable above, stack to right with four shafts. Return wall to right: gable to left with two-light window, two three-light first floor windows below flanking six-light window, carved coat of arms on ground floor with hoodmould and flanking two-light first floor windows and one-light top windows. Two gabled dormers to right and two eight-light first floor windows below. Projecting ground floor with buttresses and two
eight-light windows.

Central block: two gabled dormers and ridge stack to left with four shafts, four six-light first floor windows below and one four-light and one two-light ground floor windows to left, Half octagonal porch to right with buttresses, four-centered arches with carved spandrels and battlemented parapet; brick vault inside with stone ribs on foliated capitals, mosaic floor, four-centered archway with two doors, stone plaque to left and four-light window to right with stained glass. Block to right projecting with gable and three-light window, larger gable behind with planted timbers and decorated barge boards. 17-light first floor window and ground floor square bay with 14-light window. Asymmetrically gabled service wing to right. Forecourt walls to east with arched balustrade and square corner piers.

South front: symmetrical except for stacks. Projecting wings to right and left with square ground floor bays rising to canted bays on first floor with battlemented parapet. Gables above with two-light windows and stacks with two shafts on inner faces. Central canted bay with four-centered arched doorway with carved spandrels and half glazed doors, rising to smaller first floor canted bay with battlemented parapet and gable above with six-light window flanked by stacks with two shafts. Nine-light ground floor windows flanking central bay with first floor cross windows and stepped three-light windows in gables above.

West front: canted bay to right rising to smaller first floorbay with parapet and finial rising up into gable flanked by two-light windows. Gabled dormer to left with nine-light window, irregular staircase window below. Canted bay to left rising to first floor with battlemented parapet and six-light windows, gable above with two-light window. Arched doorway to left with steps and arched side lights, gabled dormer above to right of ridge stack with five shafts. Projecting block to left with eight-light ground floor window, six-light first floor window and two-light window in gable. Asymmetrically gabled service wing to left.

Interior: six flight square well staircase of circa 1636; pierced balustrade with grotesques, mythical beasts, coats of arms etc; carved newel posts topped by allegorical figures. Good C19 interiors including double-height panelled entrance hall with arches and balustrading to landing at west and south, and fireplace to south with four-centered arch and carved spandrels and figures. Library to south contains some C16 heraldic glass from earlier house. Corridor to east contains C19 stain glass of saints by A. L. Moore. Other rooms include the drawing room and dinning room. The C19 house was built for Daniel Highford Burr. The C17 staircase is an excellent and rare example of its type, being one of the earliest to have a pierced parapet rather than balusters. Extensive grounds include remains of C19 planting and two ornamental lakes.

Listing NGR: SU5965764807

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39498

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 62
Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, (1923), 386
Country Life in Country Life, (), 54
Country Life in Country Life, (), 240

Websites
British Geological Survey, Strategic Stone Study, accessed 5 February 2020 from https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/buildingStones/StrategicStoneStudy/EH_atlases.html

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 3 Berkshire,

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