Denford Park, Kintbury - Hungerford Virtual Museum

Denford Park, Kintbury. Berkshire
Internally, he evidently undertook the redecoration of some of the ground floor rooms,
especially the Saloon which he fitted with as new cornice, possibly designed by the
Graces; he may have added the apsidal north end of the room to match the southern
bow. The upper floor seems to have been relatively untouched.
The main changes were in the services. This may have been a direct result of the
change of use of Denford from a villa to a family home and the resultant need for
additional service accommodation.
The series of surviving plans in the RIBA library show that several schemes were
developed and not all were started. The roof of the existing Service Range was raised,
though it retained its overhanging eaves; this allowed for higher ceilings in the firstfloor
rooms.
The first major addition seems to have been the North-East Range (Building D), the
plans for which are dated January 1828. This was built onto the north-eastern corner
of the Service Range and was composite double-pile building with a partly jackarched
first-floor structure.
It was to contain mainly storage on the ground floor, apart from, oddly, a 'Bath and
Dressing Room' in the south-western corner - subsequently changed in another plan
to be the new Servants' Hall.
There was also to be a tool store and WC accessed externally. The first floor
contained four chambers. A new single-storey link range was also added on the east
side of the Service Range. A note on the drawing ordered that 'all the fittings &
finishings... to be as the existing offices'.
The other major addition to the services was the South-East Range (Building E); there
are plans in the RIBA collection to show that the design evolved over some time and
that originally it was to contain a bathroom and, in a lower ground floor or basement,
the dairy. However, the plan still identifiable in the present range is dated 1838.
It was a stubby 'L-shaped' plan clasping the south-eastern corner of the Service
Range and containing a series of rooms and stores at each floor level. Like the North-
East Range it was originally given a double pile hipped roof with overhanging eaves
and, on the important elevations, was faced in Bath stone ashlar. Unlike the North-
East Range this was of the same height as the raised Service Wing.
4.3 Phase Three: The Late-19 th to Early-20 th Century
Further additions were made to the east of the main service offices in the second half
of the 19 th century, though details of these are rather sketchy and most were
demolished when the educational buildings were erected from the late-1940's
onwards. The major survival is the somewhat non-descript Brick Range (Building F).
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Richard KMorriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromtow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SYS OEA