Ickwell Bury - Ickwell, Bedfordshire, UK - Pre-Victorian Historic Homes on Waymarking.com

Wikipedia describes the house:
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'Ickwell Bury is a country house, at the heart of the former manor of Ickwell, first built by John Harvey in 1683 near the site of an older manor house. The Harvey family continued to own the house until 1925, although from 1900 it had housed Horton Preparatory School.

In 1898, Ickwell Bury was the property of John Edmund Audley Harvey DL JP and was described as "a mansion of red brick, in the Queen Anne style, standing in a park and woodlands of about five hundred acres, approached by an avenue of trees about a mile in length".

The school closed in 1937, and soon afterwards the empty house was destroyed in a fire. The property was then bought by Colonel George Hayward Wells, chairman of the brewery Charles Wells, who rebuilt the house on a smaller scale and on his death left it to the Bedford Charity to be used by Bedford School, his own old school. The school uses the grounds for field studies and as a conservation reserve, but it lets the buildings, which are too far from the main school to be useful to it.

In a wood between Ickwell Bury and Northill church is an ancient earthwork, with a high bank on the east side, enclosing long pools which are thought to have been fish ponds for the monks of a college at Northill or for the priory of Ickwell Bury.'

Pevsner describes the house we see today as being free neo-Georgian built by A.G.S. Butler in 1938-40. The remaining old parts still visible are the stables which date to 1683 with ten bays and a square cupola and the 17th century dovecote. The stables were converted into living quarters in 1938 when the main house was rebuilt. The dovecote has 968 nest boxes and there was also 19th century beehouse. Luckily they survived the fire.

Some barns to the north west side of the courtyard date to the 17th and 19th centuries with one structure having a timber frame and clay tile roof.

The Ickwell timeline is of interest:
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Earliest Recorded Date of Construction: 01/01/1683 Additional Dates of Construction: c1630 - Dovecote built 1938-40 - Main manor house rebuilt 1977 - The turret of Ickwell Bury clock restored 1978-2006 - Ickwell Bury houses The Yoga for Health Foundation Architectural Period/Style: Manor House rebuilt as Free neo-Georgian Architect (if known): A.G.S. Butler Type of Building e.g. Country House, Stately Home, Manor: Manor House Interesting Historical Facts or Connections: 1900 to 1937 - Ickwell Bury used as Horton Preparatory School On the 20th September, shortly after Horton School had closed, Ickwell Bury was gutted by fire started by an arsonist. The manor house was rebuilt on a small scale by Colonel George Hayward Wells at the corner of the stable block which had survived the fire, the house was completed in 1940. Listed Building Status (if applicable): Listed but unknown grade Main Material of Construction: Red Brick Private/Public Access: Private Related Website: [Web Link] Rating: Landscape Designer (if known): Not listed Admission Fee (if applicable): Not Listed Opening Hours (if applicable): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   02/19/2010 bill&ben visited it