Denford Park, Kintbury - Hungerford Virtual Museum

DenfordPark. Kintburv. Berkshire
3.13.01 The Portico
The floor of the portico is reached up low steps with moulded nosings around the
outer perimeter and is mainly covered with stone slabs, possibly of York stone.
Added in the centre of this is a modern mosaic commemorating the centenary of
Norland College in 1992. The ceiling has been renewed in a form of fibreboard -
probably in the mid-ZO* century - and the large lamp is therefore reset.
3.1.3.02 The Ground Floor
The Entrance Hall
The front doors from the portico lead directly into the Entrance Hall. This was
latterly the Reception area for the College and is a well-proportioned space, virtually
square in plan.
It has a well-polished stone floor of very large and relatively crisp slabs that is not
necessarily primary and quite probably a later replacement of the original floor. It
could have been re-laid as recently as the late-1930's
The room has a tall moulded timber skirting board and a fairly small but well-crafted
plaster cornice-cum-ceiling frame enriched with egg-and-dart and beaded motifs. The
plastered walls and ceiling are both quite plain.
On the north side of the hall the entrance doorway and flanking windows have rather
attenuated architraves. The windows have fairly plain panelled shutters and originally
had full-height reveals. Inserted radiator covers, presumably of the mid-20 th century,
now form window seats.
Opposite the entrance, double doors in a simple but elegant timber surround lead into
what was latterly known as Lecture Room 1 - but probably designed as the Saloon.
The doors are faced with high quality hardwood veneer - probably mahogany - with
panels that have a slightly raised field within a beaded verge.
On the east side of the Hall there are two tall arch-headed openings with simply
beaded surrounds. One leads into the corridor that leads into the East Wing (Building
B2). The other contains a doorway with full architrave leading into the former Study
Centre. The veneered door and its door case are similar in character to the double
door into the Saloon, but the opening is slightly narrower and the door has a central
bead to suggest it too is a double door.
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On the west side of the Hall there are also two arch-headed openings, virtually
identical in detail - one leading into the Stair Hall and the other into the corridor
through the West Wing (Building Bl). As the latter passageway is assumed to have
been created as part of the 1939 changes - there being no need for such a passage
until the construction of the West Wing, the opening leading into it is presumably of
that date as well.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA