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New light on Ramsbury Manor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

H. J. Louw
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Extract

The Townshend Archive at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, which is currently being catalogued by the Norfolk Record Office, contains some interesting material not only for social and political historians, but also for their architectural counterparts. Apart from important new information on the extensive building activities of the 2nd Viscount Townshend at his seat, Raynham Hall, during the period 1703 to 1732 (which in itself merits publication) another set of documents has emerged which throw light on the building of an equally intriguing country house, Ramsbury Manor.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 30 , 1987 , pp. 45 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1987

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References

Notes

1 Colvin, H., ‘Robert Hooke and Ramsbury Manor’, Country Life, 12 January 1975, 194-95Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., p. 195.

3 Hussey, C., ‘Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire’, Country Life, 14 December 1961, 1528, plate 7Google Scholar.

4 Only a measured survey and a complete set of building accounts, neither of which is obtainable in this instance, would permit this issue to be fully resolved. One discrepancy, the specification for the windows, is dealt with in the text. The only other direct comparison that can be made between the craftsmen’s bills and the estimate relates to the quantity of plasterer’s work, where the final account shows an 8.5% increase over the original valuation. Although not insignificant this variation is well within the tolerances which one would allow between the initial estimate and the final accounts for a building of the kind from this period.

5 Probably Nicholas Goodwin the Hammersmith brickmaker who in 1683/84 also made the bricks for Winchester Palace in situ. (Wren Society, vii: 26-28, 33-34, 41-42.). My attention was drawn to this connection by Mr Frank Kelsall.

6 Wren Society, xix (1942), 53.

7 Robinson, H. W. and Adams, W., The Diary of Robert Hooke 1672-80 (London, 1935), p. 431 Google Scholar.

8 Gunnis, R., Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 2nd edition (London, 1964), p. 122 Google Scholar. Thomas Davis (or Davies) flourished c. 1680-1712.

9 Robinson & Adams, Diary, Entries for 3, 11, 22, 24, 30 September 1680.

10 The Historical Manuscript Commission Report on the Townshend Papers (11th Report Part IV, 1887) makes no reference to these, but the drawings were definitely not disposed of in any of the known sales of Townshend Archives (Sotheby’s Sales Cat. 1911: 20 February, 14 June, 18 December; 1924: 14 July).