Denford Park, Kintbury - Hungerford Virtual Museum

DenfordPark, Kintbury. Berkshire
The Stair Hall
The Stair Hall is a grand space to the west of the Entrance Hall and accessed through
an arch-headed opening off it. The floor is of stone slabs, but smaller and a little less
pristine than those in the Hall; it is possible that they are earlier and that they could
even be primary.
Around the space is a tall timber skirting board, and there is a full height window
reveal in the north wall with proper architrave and a low window seat; the window
shutters are similar to those in the former Library, having beaded moulds in the
panelling.
The cantilevered stone stairs rise along the south, west and north walls to end at a
partly cantilevered landing along the east wall at first-floor level. The stairs are
spacious and the 'goings' generous despite the use of several 'kites' at the changes in
direction.
The hand rail is of timber, possibly a hardwood, and the balustrade is of thin scantling
iron profusely decorated. There is clear disturbance in the leaded fixings of the
balustrade uprights to the stone treads.
The character of the balustrade is also a little unusual for Wyattville and perhaps,
even for Papworth, so it may well be a later replacement - perhaps as recently as 1939.
Significantly, it is matched in the inserted borrowed light opening in the south wall to
the adjacent corridor.
The Closet
A well-crafted and probably primary doorway off the north end of the west wall of the
Stair Hall has a six-panelled plain painted door leading into a small WC. This is
separated from the rest of what was evidently a single space by a modern partition
wall.
The rest of the original space is now access off the main room in the West Whig and
contains a store on the ground floor with timber steps leading up to a library or
shelved store on a mezzanine above -- all presumably part of the late-1930's
alterations.
The original room is presumably the WC and closet mentioned in the 1924 Sales
Particulars and it may have always had that function since the house was initially built
- though then a specific Water Closet in a house would have been the sign of a fairly
high status dwelling.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA