St Paul's Walden Bury
St. Paul's Walden Bury is an English country house and surrounding gardens in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. The house is a Grade II* listed, and the gardens Grade I.
A home of the Bowes-Lyon family, it is possibly the site of the birth of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.[1]
The house, of red brick with stone dressings and slate roofs, was built in the early 18th century for Edward Gilbert (1680-1762).[2] His daughter Mary married George Bowes of Gibside, Durham, and the estate has been in the possession of the Bowes-Lyon family since 1720.[3] James Paine made alterations to the house in the 1770s,[4] which was also extended to the rear in the late nineteenth century.
Gardens
The St Paul's Walden Bury gardens' landscape design, which contains areas of woodland, is largely contemporary with the house. Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900 - 1996), the landscape designer, restored and "improved" the 18th-century work. There are three straight grassed allées radiating in patte d'oie formation from the frontage of the house. Each allée is flanked by clipped beech hedges.[3] In the 1950s a circular temple designed by James Wyatt was rescued and brought here from Copped Hall, Essex, when that house burned down.
In 1987 the gardens were designated Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.[4]
References
- 1901 England Census, Class RG13, piece 1300, folio 170, p. 5
- Historic England. "THE BURY (1307601)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- "St Paul's Walden Bury". Garden Visit. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
- Historic England. "St Paul's Walden Bury (1000150)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 October 2013.