# Woodchester Mansion - One the Builders did not finish! (Pic Heavy)



## neill (Sep 11, 2009)

Woodchester Mansion is a country manor house that was never completted. The original plans for the house were drawn up by Augustus Pugin, who fell ill before he finished them, so Charles Hansom then took over as architect. The manor grounds were landscaped by John Speyers and Capability Brown. 

William Leigh started building his new manor house between 1858 to 1870, but as William Leigh died in 1873 all building work stopped suddenly. Rooms were left as they were and the doors closed. Other members of the family either did not want to finish the house or could not afford to do so. It remained closed for the next 61 years when the American army used it for a short while, just before D-Day. It then was closed up apart from a few ground floor rooms being used as a cattle shed! The Mansion is now in the hands of a restoration trust who aim to preserve the building, but NOT finish it. The trust open the house to the public for a few days a year, and this weekend is one of them!

'Most Haunted Live' have shown a number of TV programmes for the mansion.














The front door.




The back of the Mansion, or Chaple end. Note: many of the windows have never had any glass in them.




Inside, looking up over three floors. The arch wooden 'scaffold' it the builder's original, and has never been removed.




The start of a vaulted ceiling, the ladder has been there since 1873 left by a builder!




Doors that lead nowhere, with no floors.




Fireplaces with no rooms or floors, halfway up the walls.




This room was used as a cow shed!




Cows were ties up here.




Looking from room to room, with no glass in the windows the light is amazing.




An incomplette staircase, note the stone ceiling bosses have only been rough carved.




The detail. The stonework is of the highest quality. Some of the paper pattens for these arches from 1868 were found on site.




My little Ubexer having an explore of his own!




From the first floor.




The floor is unfinished, and you can seen the vaulted ceiling from the room below.




Down tools and leave!

















Stone bath.




Hot and Cold taps???













Inside of the roof, note the builder initals and 1856!





I hope you like the pics!
N.


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## diehardlove (Sep 12, 2009)

nice pics and love how you take the little one along,its a strange place inside i like it


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## Krypton (Sep 12, 2009)

This is such an amazing place. Shame someone hasnt bought it. It would make a nice house.


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## Misstee (Sep 12, 2009)

I seem to remember seeing a programme about this last year some time - a proper one not "Most Haunted" . Might have been the English Heritage thing that was on. 

Anyway, whatever, it's an amazing place and a beautiful building and testament to the "keepers" whoever they are that it is preserved so well.

Great pics, Neill - lovely place.


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## RichardH (Sep 12, 2009)

Excellent photographs. You've really captured the "almost done" atmosphere of the building. I went on a tour of this place last year, and I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't ever going to be finished. It looks almost as if the builders have just stopped work for a short while, and are going to be back to finish the job at any moment.

I didn't know about the Most Haunted connection. I wonder what possible pretext they could have to justify an "investigation". It has never been lived in. It was never an asylum. It was not built on an Old Indian Burial Ground. They must have had to have been even more, erm, creative than usual.


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## escortmad79 (Sep 12, 2009)

Rumour has it the builders just upped & legged it without explanation without finishing the build which has never been completed.

The house is now home to colonies of protected bats


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## RichardH (Sep 12, 2009)

Yes, that'd be sufficient for Most Haunted, I suppose. I'd hazard a guess that the upping and legging was not unrelated to the death of their paymaster, and the consequent uncertainty about getting their wages.

The lady who acted as tour guide when I visited wurbled at length about the bats - apparently there are a couple of very endangered species with viable colonies at Woodchester. And I've now found the website, so I'm going to read it and while away some more opium-addled hours.


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## tbkscott (Sep 12, 2009)

damn looks like the set for Harry Potters Hoggwarts, very nice explore and great looking site, very good photo's too neill - wel done


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## Mimble (Sep 12, 2009)

That's gorgeous!!
Want to live there - maybe with a bit more floor though...


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## smileysal (Sep 13, 2009)

What a beautiful building. i love all the arches with the wood scaffolding still there from the 1800s. Loving the stone sink, and bath with those awesome taps in the wall. The whole place is gorgeous. A fantastic explore, I love it.

 Sal


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## E30Elaine (Sep 14, 2009)

Amazing - very beautiful


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## Lightbuoy (Sep 14, 2009)

Absolutely stunning!

Mind-blowing to see all that quality & detail just left there and un-finished!!!


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## UrbanX (Sep 15, 2009)

Unfinished? I blame the credit crunch...
Seriously nice place tho, it's interesting to see the order in which they built everything.


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## crickleymal (Sep 16, 2009)

Krypton said:


> This is such an amazing place. Shame someone hasnt bought it. It would make a nice house.




I think it's being kept like this because it shows the way craftsmen used to build things. I keep meaning to visit but never quite get round tuit.


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## neill (Sep 16, 2009)

The mansion IS being kept as an example of the builders craft at the time. The only stonework that has been replaced is where the weather has damaged it, otherwise the mansion will be left untouched. The roof above the chaple has leaked through onto the ceiling below which has caused extensive problems. Inside the chaple is full of scafolding and props.


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## jonney (Sep 16, 2009)

Awesome... The stone work in there is fabulous. As an ex stonemason myself I can appreciate the work that has gone into the construction and decorative features of the building. The contrast between new and old stonework really stands out. In case anyone is interested (I don't want to bore anyone) where ever you see smooth faced stonework in a building like this it's new and it's like that because English Heritage and the like say you have got to be able to distinguish between the different phases of building work on the said property and they won't let you tool the stone to match in. Great photo's Neill


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## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 17, 2009)

jonney said:


> where ever you see smooth faced stonework in a building like this it's new and it's like that because English Heritage and the like say you have got to be able to distinguish between the different phases of building work on the said property and they won't let you tool the stone to match in. Great photo's Neill



Sorry you no longer practise the 'noble art'. My stonemason neighbour and myself have spent many productive hours, replacing badly weathered stonework on our respective properties. English Heritage and Local Listed Planning seem to work slightly differently in this area - repair work on our properties can have the surface finish as the original stonework. However, the rules for different phases of build/construction are even more stringent - read ridiculous. I am in full agreement that you should be able to distinguish a modern extension to a listed or important original, but the following indicates a somewhat 'over the top' approach to the problem. Not far from me is an early large Victorian mansion constructed in Ashlar cut stone, for a Bradford mill owner. In the 50s it became a nurses home and was extended in 1960, with an awful flat roofed brick dormitory wing. Six years ago the property was listed and planning granted for conversion to flats - so long as the brick extension was clad in punched stone and the roof replaced by a hipped tiled example. The construction has recently been completed, but the owner now wants to convert the attached Victorian stables into a 'town house' - if planning is to be granted for this, he must render all the punched faced cladding on the 1960 extension! Even though the different build phases are clearly seen already.

As for Woodchester - If you walked round the building in the 50s/60s you could still see the original mason's tools, laying just where they had been put down on that last day of work - evidently research has indicated that all the skilled masons were French. The Restoration Trust was set up to specifically teach the art of restoration/conservation masonry to young and other interested people.

It is not correct to state that the Trust are just preserving the building. Some of the 'behind stairs' rooms have been converted into offices etc for the trust, and the grand state rooms have been completed so that they can be used for functions etc. At the end of the day this building has got to earn its keep - conservation and upkeep are very expensive.


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## jonney (Sep 17, 2009)

Dirus the only reason I got out of the game was the arse dropped out the market up here.There are 2 companies that have the North east sewn up so to speak and although I was offered jobs with both of them I didn't take them as their owners are a bunch of muppets and I have done work for both of them in the past. Over the years I have worked on many fine buildings and I think it's not what you know it's who you know especially when it come to listed buildings. I made over 1300 pieces of stone for Tynemouth Priory which had to be smoothed faced because the National trust stated they had to be but on Hebben Hall, a Grade1 listed building, the new heads had to be tooled to match the existing because it was English Heritage, Crazy!!!

This is Whickham Hall a grade 2 listed building. We supplied the ashlaw, heads, cills, jambs, mullions and quions for the job and a mason friend of mine fixed them. He cut the existing ashlaw stone work back 50mm and cladded the new ashlaw to the existing using brackets. The second pic shows this










My camera work was shit that day, god only knows what I did to it but I had to buy a new camera...lol

The guy that owns the hall is an architect for Newcastle City Council and got permission to do this without any problems what so ever. Gets you thinking doesn't it...


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## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 18, 2009)

Jonney,

Thanks for the picture of Whickham Hall, that is a beautiful piece of workmanship! I fully agree with your comments about what and who you know, especially when it comes to work on listed buildings or in conservation areas. According to my neighbour, the condition of the market's arse in this area is getting very shitty - so to speak!


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## freebird (Sep 18, 2009)

Wow what a beautiful place! I love those arches down the staircase. Excellent stuff.


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## jonney (Sep 18, 2009)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> Jonney,
> 
> Thanks for the picture of Whickham Hall, that is a beautiful piece of workmanship! I fully agree with your comments about what and who you know, especially when it comes to work on listed buildings or in conservation areas. According to my neighbour, the condition of the market's arse in this area is getting very shitty - so to speak!



Foreign imports of cheap Indian sandstone (which is crap) have a lot to do with the condition of the market place as well mate. They can import it cheaper than we could quarry it never mind cut and dress it and don't get me started on that "Art Stone" coloured concrete rubbish (Rant over) The way things are going all the masons will be out of work before long. Durham Cathedral ran an apprentiship scheme a few years ago to train wouldbe masons. They were going to take 8 people a year on and train them using the Cathedral restoration project, so they got hands on knowlege from some of the best in the masons country. The course lasted 4 years but only 4 people applied so I think they trained them and stopped the scheme. Glad you liked Whickam Hall, I'll have to have a look and see what other photo's I've got kicking about.


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## Indy500 (Oct 29, 2009)

OMFG! Sorry - I just promised my future lottery win to another building but I think I am going to have to rescind that and put it forward for this one! Its beautiful!!!!

If I won the lottery, I'd do my very own 'which building shall we renovate post'. I reckon this one would be a serious contender!


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## jonney (Oct 30, 2009)

Indy500 said:


> OMFG! Sorry - I just promised my future lottery win to another building but I think I am going to have to rescind that and put it forward for this one! Its beautiful!!!!
> 
> If I won the lottery, I'd do my very own 'which building shall we renovate post'. I reckon this one would be a serious contender!



Well when you win and you need a stone mason give me a shout


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## minky_monkey (Nov 3, 2009)

I took part in an arranged shoot there, a friend brought along some people from her daughters amateur dramatic society.

Sorry if it`s considered cheeky to attach a few pics, but didn`t want to start up a whole new thread when one already existed..

I love the quirky history of the place.

















It was good fun seeing the reaction of the local walkers meeting these youngsters all dressed up ambling along the path lol.


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## Misstee (Nov 5, 2009)

Did anyone see this on Autumnwatch a couple of weeks ago - they did a huge thread about the bats here which went through the whole programme. They gave a bit of history too. It's still available on iplayer if anyone is interested:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00npj8y/Autumnwatch_2009_Episode_5/


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