Gate piers, flanking walls and gates to Danehurst

Summary

Gate piers, flanking walls and gates of 1847, forming the eastern entrance to the Danehurst Estate.

Reasons for Designation

The gate piers, flanking walls and gates of 1847, forming the eastern entrance to Danehurst are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
 
Architectural interest:
 
* the mid-C19 gate piers, flanking walls and gates show architectural attention in their classical design and the materials and decoration are of sufficient quality to distinguish them in a national context;
* the ensemble is unaltered and compares well with other listed examples.

Group value:

* with Danehurst (Grade II), the country house with which it is associated.

History

The gate piers, flanking walls and gates at Danehurst were built in the Classical style to mark the eastern entrance to the estate and are dated 1847.
 
Danehurst was designed around 1828 in the Tudor Revival style by Thomas Frederick Hunt (1790-1831). Hunt joined the Kensington Office of Works as a labourer in 1813, later rising to become the Clerk of Works. He specialised in the Tudor Revival style, publishing a number of books on the subject. Danehurst was illustrated in his book 'Half-a-dozen Hints on Picturesque designs for Gate Lodges, Gamekeepers' Cottages and other rural residences'. The gate piers and flanking walls at Danehurst are unlikely to have been designed by Hunt as they are Classical in style and the gate design includes the date '1847'. Adjacent to the gates there is a small lodge but this is a latter addition and does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map until the 1910 edition. Later editions also show evidence of extension and alteration.
 
Danehurst was built for Lieutenant-General Francis John Davies, who was at the time a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Justice of the Peace. The estate passed to Henry Fanshawe Davies, who sold it in 1875 to Herbert Hardy, who lived at Danehurst until he died in August 1888. His widow arranged and paid for the building of the Parish Church of All Saints at Danehill (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) reference 1191278, listed at Grade II). Danehurst stayed in the ownership of the Hardy family until around 1914, when it was purchased by Harold George Messel. By 1947 it was owned by George Haslam, who sold the estate to Prince and Princess Rohan (of Brittany, France) who owned it through the 1950's, before it was purchased by the Augustinian Sisters Of the Mercy of Jesus. They later funded the conversion of Danehurst into a nursing home which was able to accommodate over 50 residents and added a chapel to the north-east corner. The nursing home closed in June 2019.

Details

Gate piers, flanking walls and gates of 1847, forming the eastern entrance to the Danehurst Estate.
 
MATERIALS AND PLAN: stone piers, flanking walls and wrought-iron gates, facing east on to the A275.
 
DESCRIPTION: the ensemble is symmetrical and Classical in character. The tall piers (of around 4m) are formed of squared, ashlar stone and have pilasters on their side faces which are surmounted by a Corinthian-type moulding. The piers are terminated by a cyma-recta shaped cap, which is in turn is surmounted by a ball finial.
 
The flanking walls are around 1.5m in height and a have a triangular, scroll-type moulding on top of the walls where they join the piers on either side. The walls have a shallow moulded base and curve away from the piers. Each side is formed of horizontally orientated ashlar blocks, terminated by a squat, panelled pier, which has a cyma-recta shaped cap, surmounted by triangular pediments. 
 
The double gates are elaborately designed in wrought-iron. The side rails have ball finials and the top and bottom rails have a cross-pattern, decorated with flower heads. The top rails are surmounted by decorative, scroll-work which rises to the centre of the gates. Each gate is dated '1847' and has a large, fleur-de-leys motif to the centre with flanking scroll-work. Towards the top there is a circle formed around three, interlocking horse shoes, supporting a plume of feathers.

Sources

Books and journals
Colvin, H, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (2008), 550

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