Wall Forming West Boundary of Church Yard With Classical Gateway

WALL FORMING WEST BOUNDARY OF CHURCH YARD WITH CLASSICAL GATEWAY, WARE ROAD

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1176928
Date first listed:
24-Jan-1967
List Entry Name:
Wall Forming West Boundary of Church Yard With Classical Gateway
Statutory Address:
WALL FORMING WEST BOUNDARY OF CHURCH YARD WITH CLASSICAL GATEWAY, WARE ROAD
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Date:
2001-08-20
Reference:
IOE01/04853/29
Rights:
© Mr A. Gude. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1176928
Date first listed:
24-Jan-1967
List Entry Name:
Wall Forming West Boundary of Church Yard With Classical Gateway
Statutory Address 1:
WALL FORMING WEST BOUNDARY OF CHURCH YARD WITH CLASSICAL GATEWAY, WARE 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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
WALL FORMING WEST BOUNDARY OF CHURCH YARD WITH CLASSICAL GATEWAY, WARE ROAD

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

County:
Hertfordshire
District:
East Hertfordshire (District Authority)
Parish:
Widford
National Grid Reference:
TL4130115793

Details

TL 4115 WIDFORD WARE ROAD
(north side)

5/2 Wall forming W
boundary of church
24.1.67 yard with Classical
Gateway

GV II*


Wall. Mid C16 and early C17. Narrow red bricks set in lime
mortar to irregular English-bond. Moulded brickwork in both
parts. A thick wall about 180 metres long and 3 metres high,
extending S from the churchyard stile and continued W as a
retaining wall behind Widfordbury. The northern part represents
the lower part of the E wall of a wing of C16 Widfordbury and it
extends about 2 metres in advance of the S end of the crosswing
of the present house. The brick mansion was presumably built
c1556 when the Dissolution transferred the manor from Bermondsey
Abbey to secular hands. the E face has a chamfered plinth a
dummy arrow slit with chamfered jambs, a 4-centred arch with
reserved chamfer moulding, and the ovolo moulded jambs of a
former mullioned window to its right hand. On the W side at the
N end are the remaining 2 sides of a room with a large fireplace.
Further S is a wide 4 centred arch. The southern part of the
wall is of the early C17 and closed one side of a forecourt. The
ground is higher on the churchyard side, where there is a moulded
plinth and a brick pilastered gateway with full entablature in
moulded brick. the wall has a corbelled saddle-back coping of
bricks set flat and is propped by later buttresses on the W. The
gateway rises above the wall and has a segmental rere arch on the
plain W side. E face has a deeply moulded round arch with heavy
moulded imposts checked for a door opening westward. The
pilasters are unusual in being abruptly narrowed a little below
the necking of the moulded brick capital as if a truncated
diagram of the Tuscan Order had been misunderstood. Moulded
bases to pilasters and tile capping to pedestal. The entablature
breaks forward over each pilaster and terminates as simple bands
to the side. The upper part of the gate now terminates in a
blunt triangle which may be a late alteration. Most interesting
examples of C16 and early C17 brick craftmanship in the lower
sidewall of an early brick mansion with historical features, and
a Renaissance gateway and courtyard wall of the early C17. Part
of a picturesque group with Widfordbury and the parish church in
this part of the conservation area. (RCHM (1911) 241: VCH
(1912) 404-5: EHAS Newsletter No 32 (1974) 4).


Listing NGR: TL4130115793

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
160044
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912)
Newsletter in Newsletter, Vol. 32, (1974), 4

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

Legal

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

Ordnance survey map of Wall Forming West Boundary of Church Yard With Classical Gateway

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 13-Jul-2026 at 05:47:58.

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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.

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