Gate piers near Hamstead Marshall (6)
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Gate piers near Hamstead Marshall (6) by Stephen Richards as part of the Geograph project.
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Gate piers near Hamstead Marshall (6)
Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: Unknown
Gate piers of Hamstead Marshall House, a major Berkshire mansion built in 1661-65 and destroyed by fire in 1718. They are of stone, with carved swags and topped by pineapples. Possibly designed by Edward Pierce or Thomas Strong in c1675. Grade I listed. Eight of the nine sets of gate piers stand in situ, indicating the extent of the former house and gardens. They are now a rather poignant sight, most of them isolated in the middle of fields and parkland like orphaned children. Pevsner described them as 'pathetic', others have described them as 'clumsy', 'the finest piers of their kind in England', and as expressing 'a sense of vanished magnificence'. The ninth set, which stood outside the main entrance, was moved in the late C18th to nearby Benham Park (Image]). Information partly from "Craven Country, the story of Hamstead Marshall" by Penelope Stokes. This set flank the entrance to a modern house built near the site of the old house.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.396727
Longitude
-1.401572