Building record 0420802137 - Bell Gate Lodge, Stowe Landscape Gardens

Historic building recording carried out by Polyolbion Archaeology in 2019 and 2022 in advance of and during restoration works concluded that Bell Gate Lodge was constructed in the the 1760s at the rear of the eastern Lake Pavilion, as a gate-keeper's lodge adjacent to the pedestrian entrance to the gardens. The lodge was originally a single bay two storey brick structure built against the rear wall of the pavilion with no bonding apparent between the two. Significant traces of the original exterior lime based rendering with incised false jointing survived on the eastern face of the lodge but the detailing around the front door appeared to be later. The ground floor of the original lodge was probably brick paved but limited evidence of original flooring or paving survived elsewhere. A
fireplace set diagonally into the north west corner of the ground floor room , although later modified, appears to be an original feature.
There was no evidence to secure a date for the two storey single bay western extension although a nineteenth-century date, perhaps in 1801 is suggested by documentary evidence. The single storey eastern extension, initially assumed to be a twentieth-century addition, but the discovery of a brick fireplace in the north wall covering a coat of cement based rendering with false jointing copying the eighteenth century arrangement suggests an earlier date, perhaps of the 1870s. A major refurbishment of the property was undertaken in 1978, dated by an inscription left in a bed of mortar by the builders. This included reproofing and presumably new bathroom fittings, kitchen units and windows. The later extensions to the lodge were demolished as part of the restoration scheme. See report for detail (B88).