Leyhill Officers' Training School

Details

ST 69 SE TORTWORTH TORTWORTH PARK

1/135 Leyhill Officers' Training School G.V. II*

Country house, formerly Tortworth Court, now a prison officers' training school. 1849-53 by S.S. Teulon for the 2nd Earl of Ducie. Finely coursed rubble with Bath stone dressings and quoins; plain and fishscale tiled roof behind plain and embattled parapets with gargoyles and heraldic beasts; clustered octagonal ashlar and brick stacks. Irregular and asymmetrical east elevation, but a regular south elevation, all in a Tudor Gothic style. 2 storeys, basements and attics in gables or in gabled dormers with bargeboards. The main feature of the east (entrance) elevation is a porte-cochere and the 3 storey entrance tower which rises behind it: the porte-cochere has angle buttresses, moulded 4-centred arches, embattled parapet with Ducie arms and heraldic beasts; the tower has crested octagonal corner turrets, an embattled parapet and 3-light cross windows with 4-centred heads, moulded mullions and surrounds. To the left of the tower is an oriel window of 1-2-1 lights with 4-centred heads; a large gable above has a 2-light window and a diagonal shaft base breaks the apex. To the right of the tower is a 3 bay section of 2-light cross windows and a 4-light square bay window and on the first floor is an oriel window; embattled parapet. Further right is a projecting gabled wing, corbelled out corners and an oriel window with square headed lights; single storey lobby with 4-centred doorway. In re-entrant angle is a 4-stage stair tower with regular quoins and surmounted by an octagonal lantern and an ogee dome; single and 3-light casements with 4-centred heads. Dominating the whole ensemble (even more so when built as the cupola was demolished long ago) is a square central tower; embattled parapet and three 2-light Perpendicular style windows with plain tracery. Service wings project to the north: 2 bays, 3- and 4-light cross windows, four 2-light windows on first floor; to the right is a 3 stage square stair tower with a pyramidal roof; single storey projecting wing with 1-3-1 light bay window, embattled parapet and coped gables with twisted shaft finials. The south (garden) front is of 3 bays, surmounted by steep coped gables with finials and heraldic beasts; embattled parapet between. The centre bay has octagonal turrets surmounted by pierced lanterns and ogee domes with finials; 2 storey 3-3-3 light bay window with 4-centred heads, chamfered mullions, band of quatrefoils over ground floor, and embattled parapet; two 2-light casements with heraldry and scroll between on first floor. Outer bays have single storey 2-3-2 light bay windows with Ducie arms over; two 2-light cross windows with 4-centred heads on first floor and 3- light casements on the gables. Interior. Lobby: rib vaulted ceiling with central panel bearing date '1850'; ogee headed niches to corners; Gothic style screen doors. Gothic style panelled doors in moulded surrounds with 4-centred heads and framed ceilings to most ground floor rooms. Library (Dining Room) moulded Tudor style fireplace with roses in spandrels and ceiling with corbels and carved bosses. Staircase hall: large open well staircase with Perpendicular style balustrade, panelled and crested newel posts, supported on large corbelled and panelled brackets; galleries to first and second floors; panelled ceiling with carved bosses. Common Room (Drawing Room): painted Tudor style fireplace with quatrefoil frieze; painted and gilded ceiling with stencilled panels bearing Ducie crest; large Perpendicular style panelled doors to Games Room. Games Room (Library): Gothic style bookshelves; painted, gilded and stencilled panelled ceiling; two very fine fireplaces of 3 bays with brass,twisted colonettes and arches, decorative tiles to outer bays; 4-bay overmantel of twisted colonettes and brass leaf capitals; the room is divided by an arcade with a central large and 2 small, painted and gilded 4-centred arches. Board Room (the Earl's room): elaborately detailed Renaissance style fireplace with Ducie heraldry. Lecture Hall (Morning Room): linefold panelling and elaborately detailed Jacobean style fireplace; enriched ceiling and frieze, pendants and intersecting motifs. Tortworth Court is one of Teulon's most important and early houses handled in a mixture of picturesque and Puginesque ways. It was one of the first houses to be equipped with gas lighting throughout and a hot air central heating system. A central railway in the servant's wing, carried coal to a lift for distribution. (The Builder, 29.10.1853 and 19.11.1853; Country Life, 13.5.1899; Girouard M, The Victorian Country House, 1979).

Listing NGR: ST6933192514

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

34732

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Girouard, M, The Victorian Country House, (1971)
Country Life in 13 May, (1899)
The Builder in 29 October, (1853)

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic interest in England, Part 1 Avon,

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry