Building record 0202701000 - THE WILDERNESS

Dimensions - Length 24m, Width 14m.
Remains of Wharton's large C17 manor house, on site of manor rented by J Goodwin, early C16 (B4).
C18 house enlarged/rebuilt & taken down 1 March 1758 (B1).
C18 picture of complete house (B7), Dilapidated in 1799 (B10).
Extant portion is shown in C18 picture: was stables/offices (see note)(B9,B11).
House, formerly the kitchen and offices of a much larger house built c1700 by the First Marquess of Wharton and largely demolished by 2nd Duke of Marlborough in Mid C18. C17 parts, mainly c1700 altered. Brick on rubblestone plinths. Old tile roof. South wing rubblestone. 2 storeys plus dormers and 6 bays. Northeast front has French doors to right bay. Left bay gabled with blocked carriage arch with rubbed brick basket arch having keystone and impost stones. Band course steps over arch and gable band steps over sash above. 4 ground floor sashes, 6 first floor sashes. 2 hipped 2-light dormers. 5 stacks with offset heads. South wing has 2-light ground floor casement and further bay, also in rubblestone, with casement and dormer facing south west. North gable modern brick with 2 sashes. South west front has mainly modern sashes and 4 window wide central projecting modern block with hipped roof and reused 6 panel door with panelled reveals and cut bracket cornice hood on north west side. Main house has two 2-light hipped dormers. C17 stack in angle between house and south bays has stone lower part and brick upper. RCHM I. 300. MON.2 (B9).

The Wilderness, formerly the Manor House, is two-storeyed with an attic, built of brick with some stone in the SE walls. The roofs are tiled. It was apparently built in the mid-C17th, and was part of a large house of earlier date which extended towards the North and West, the foundations of which are said to remain beneath the lawn. The plan is now a modified T-shape, the SW front forming the stem of the 'T'. The walls have almost entirely been refaced with late-C17th or early-C18th brick; those on the SE are partly of stone, and the NW end is modern and partly covered with tiles. In an outhouse is a piece of early-C16th stonework found embedded in the NW wall. It appears to have been part of a fireplace. Condition - Good (B13).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.