Reasons for Designation
The gate piers, gates, walls and railings at Park Lodge (also known as Wilton Lodge), Bletchley Park have been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic Interest: Special architectural interest as an imposing south entrance of the mid-1880s to the Bletchley Park Estate, famous for its highly important code-breaking activities during the Second World War.
* Architectural Interest: for the Gothic design of the piers and the attractive ironwork of the original gates, in keeping with the architecture of the main house.
* Group Value: Although no longer functioning as an entrance gate to the park, they have group value with Bletchley Park (Grade II) and the structures form a historic group with the contemporary Park/Wilton Lodge immediately to the north.
Details
721/0/10029 CHURCH GREEN ROAD
16-DEC-09 Bletchley Park
Gate piers, gates, walls and railings
south of Park Lodge
GV II
Also Known As:
Gate piers, gates, walls and railings south of Park Lodge,
WILTON AVENUE, Bletchley Park
Gates, gate piers and flanking walls at the former south entrance to Bletchley Park, c. 1886; railings replaced in the C20.
MATERIALS: Red brick walls, sandstone piers and copings, iron gates and railings.
DESCRIPTION: The former south entrance to Bletchley Park comprises a concave entrance of short brick walls topped with modern railings and four piers: the inner pair supporting the original iron gates. The walls are in header bond with the fixing points for the original railings visible in the sandstone coping stones. The replacement C20 railings to the walls are not of special interest. Both sets of piers are polygonal and are complimentary in design, with the outer pair less elaborate than the inner (which support the gates). Both are chamfered with decorative heads to each face and moulded capstones; the higher degree of decoration to the inner piers creating a blind arcade effect of very shallow buttresses with niches and decorative heads. The gate piers retain parts of the metal stands for the globe lanterns (now lost but visible on early C20 photographs) and the iron gates themselves are original with decorative scrollwork to the panels.
HISTORY: Bletchley Park is a large country house of 1860 (listed Grade II), which is undoubtedly best known as a highly important code-breaking centre during the Second World War. The house was extended in 1883 for its owner, Herbert Samuel Leon, MP for Bletchley between 1891 and 1895, and a newspaper owner and financier. Park Lodge was built in 1886 as its south gate lodge, clearly constructed as part of considerable investment and enhancement of the estate in the 1880s. On the 1881 Ordnance Survey map a recessed, concave entrance to the park is depicted but this appears to have been enlarged and the lodge built by the time of the 1900 mapping. It therefore seems likely that the south entrance to the park was remodelled in the mid-1880s with the new gate piers and lodge being contemporary, erected to create a more impressive entrance to Bletchley Park.
REASON FOR DESIGNATION:
The gate piers, gates, walls and railings at Park Lodge (also known as Wilton Lodge), Bletchley Park are recommended for designation at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Of special architectural interest as an imposing and attractive south entrance of the mid 1880s to the Bletchley Park Estate, best known for its highly important code-breaking activities during the Second World War.
* Of special architectural interest for the Gothic design of the piers and the attractive ironwork of the original gates, in keeping with the architecture of the main house.
* Although no longer functioning as an entrance gate to the estate, the structures have group value with Bletchley Park (Grade II), which was remodelled and extended contemporary with their construction, and form a historic group with the contemporary Park Lodge immediately to the north.
