The Watertower
THE WATERTOWER
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1342318
- Date first listed:
- 09-Oct-1985
- List Entry Name:
- The Watertower
- Statutory Address:
- THE WATERTOWER
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-09-13
- Reference:
- IOE01/08986/08
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian R. Faulkner. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1342318
- Date first listed:
- 09-Oct-1985
- List Entry Name:
- The Watertower
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE WATERTOWER
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:
- THE WATERTOWER
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Norfolk
- District:
- King's Lynn and West Norfolk (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Houghton
- National Grid Reference:
- TF7898829466
Details
TF 72 NE
6/24
HOUGHTON
HOUGHTON PARK
The Watertower
-
I
Watertower, originally called the Waterhouse, designed before 1733, but not marked in block plan in Isaac Ware Plans, Elevations and Sections of Houghton (1735). Henry Lord Herbert, afterwards 9th Earl of Pembroke, architect. Lime washed stucco render and cement render on brick, Whitby stone dressings, slated roof. 2 storeys, rectangular on plan with symmetrical north-south and east west facades. Palladian style. North and south facades have 3 recessed blank arches with keystone heads, raised and chamfered rustication. Ground and first floor plinths and arch level platbands to all facades. First floor has open Tuscan Doric portico with stuccoed pilasters returned round angles, 2 inner stone pilasters and 2 columns with stone balustrade in between. Open balcony has 4 stucco artae and central pedimented door. Cement rendered entablature and 4 pediments to 4 faces. East and west facades have single central ground floor keystone arched headed doorway with 6 panel raised and fielded door with arched overlight, raised and chamfered rustication. First floor has clasping angle stucco pilasters with stone bases and capitals. Stone Venetian window with blank outer and open arched central bay, balustraded base. North and south facades quote that of Colen Campbell's Lord Herbert's villa on Whitehall (1724), east and west the return fronts of the wings of Campbell's Burlington House, Piccadilly (1718-1719).
Lord Pembroke's only documented work. 2 drawings labelled, perhaps by Horace Walpole, "the water-house in the Park, designed by Henry Lord Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke" now in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
See John Harris "The Waterhouse at Houghton" in Burlington Magazine III (i) 1969 pp. 300-301.
Listing NGR: TF7898829466
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 221608
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Ware, I, Plans Elevations and Sections of Houghton in Norfolk, (1735)
Burlington Magazine in Burlington Magazine, Vol. 3, (1969), 300-301
Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 29 Norfolk,
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 08-Jun-2026 at 12:32:51.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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