Wotton Underwood Conservation Area
WOTTON UNDERWOOD CONSERVATION AREA Designated 18th July 1990
The village of Wotton Underwood is located some three and a half miles west of Waddesdon, six and a half miles north of Thame and two miles south of the A.41 Aylesbury to Bicester trunk road. Situated on a flat plain at the foot of the Brill-Winchendon Hills, the village is entered along a narrow tree lined lane heading north from the Brill/Dorton Road.
P
72.2m
74.3m
De f
74.8m
BM 7 5.43m
KINGSWO OD LAN E
CS T rack Nugent Cottage 76.5m Pond Bdy 72.9m ar d Pond
1.22m R H Pond
BM 7 5.10m
De f 80.0m
Pond
Dra in
CS Pond
Dra in Midd le F arm
Dra in The Lake
Pond Path (um) Mi d d le Cott Pond 77.3m Earles Meade Cottage
De f Path (um) 82.1m Ye Olde Cottage Path
(um) Box End
Windmill Hill
ef De
78.5m v Path (um)
Sawmills Cottage Pond
CS
Pond
De f Pond Path (um)
Foot Br idge Path (um) Pond
Pond The Lake Pond
86.0m
T rack BM 8 6.71m 80.2m Pendys Cottage
Kat herine Cottage
CS
BM 7 9.34m
Path (um) Th e L a ke
Pond 80.2m
Cl e a rf i e l d s Fa r m
rack 88.7m T
BM 1.22m R H 84.15m Ward Bdy Pond
Pond Pond De f Path (um)
Path (um)
Dra in 1.22m R H Dra in
Gr o tt o 83.9m Isl and
Path (um
)
MP Path (um)
Path (um) 85.9m
Pond LANE Pond
rack T
KINGSWO OD
87.0m Dra in .0m
De f
BM 8 3.64m Ponds The Old Post Camp Si te (disused)
North Lodge The Barn
Track 90.1m
Pond Pond
FB Brewers’ Yard Clearfield Cottages Long Wood
91.6m The Cl ock Pav i l i on
BM 9 2.18m Path (um) War d Bdy BM 84.43m 83.3m De f Wo tto n Ho us e
Chi na 93.4m Island Wotton Underwood
Water The So uth P avilio n
Gossfield The Warrells Pond
FB
Path (um)
De f Wat er Wat er Mano r 1.22m R H Pond Th e War r el l s Far m
Beechwood War d Bdy Lodge Farm Pond 94.7m Church End House
The River Old Scholars Pond 75.8m Dra in
LB
Pond Pond
Th e The Old Long School P 2.5 94.8m Warrells Pond Woo d Dra in CD Lake 76.3m Dra in The Warrells Dra in Water Water Path (um) BM 7 8.73m The River
Fi ve ar ch Br idge Al l Sa i nt s ’ Ch ur c h
Path (um) Issues
Pond TheVica rage Tu nn el Dra in 94.3m Pond
1.22m R H
T Pond rack Fi ve ar ch W oo d Ch ur c h F a r m
74.7m
rack T
89.4m Wotton Brook
Pond Pond Pond
T rack
Dra in Pond
Track
79.1m
MP 2.25 CD 80.7m
85.0m For ge Cottage
BM 8 5.17m Issues BM 8 0.59m
Rushbeds Wood Grenville’s Wood The Ro w
Pond
The Bunch 85.2m Pond
Woodside Cottage BM 85.99m
War d Bdy
ennis C ourt
T
83.4m 89.0m Pond
Path (um) Tramways
Track
89.5m
Lawn Farm 87.1m Cottages 88.4m Church Farm Not to a recognised scaleBM Cottages 88.74m Guide Lawn
F Post Lawn Far m Cottagesarm
89.1m Mile
Post BM 8 8.17m 2 Issues Lawn Far m © Crown Copyright.89.2m All rights reserved. Sta bl es Pond Dra in 84.6m Dra in 89.6m Thame Pond Lodge 1.22m R H Aylesbury Vale District Council. GP 92.1m
BM 9 0.67m Dra in Pond
De f
Licence No 100019797 2008 Dra in Car t er sme ad Sp in n e y De f Dra in
1 Wotton Underwood Conservation Area
The village is dominated by the splendid Grade I listed Wotton House and its extensively landscaped grounds. The house, reputedly built by Sir James Thornhill for Richard Grenville between 1704 and 1714, was extensively restored following a major fire in 1810 and remodelled by Sir John Soane when he added numerous columns and fine detailing to the building. Its design is the same as that used on the original Buckingham House, although clearly dissimilar from the much altered and extended Palace. Soane’s alterations were covered up in 1929 under a decoration carried out by A S G Butler but after falling into disrepair, major restoration on the house began in 1959, following the service of a Building Preservation Order. Soame’s alterations have now been faithfully restored and recreated and the house returned to its magnificent splendour.
A tree lined avenue runs north from the house towards the Romam Akeman Street (now the A.41 trunk road), although it no longer exists its whole length. From the house, fine panoramic views are afforded to both east and west, across extensively landscaped parkland and lakes. The parkland which includes two lakes and a number of temples and grottos, was originally laid out to a formal design by the Royal Gardener George London but was subsequently redesigned by `Capability’ Brown between 1757 and 1760. The grounds are similar in many ways to those at Stowe, where Brown was also employed at that time as Head Gardener. Part of the formal garden is retained within the walled kitchen garden of South Pavilion.
Elsewhere in Wotton, the village comprises two main groupings connected by the tree lined lane leading to Wotton House. The first group of just six dwellings comprises “The Bunch”, and the Grade II Listed “Forge Cottage” and numbers 1 to 4 “The Row”. The buildings form a tight grouping at a bend in the road and their setting is enhanced by an extensive backcloth of mature trees. The original avenue of trees which ran from here north to Wotton House and recently been replanted.
The second grouping centres around a large tree lined green, bisected by the avenue leading to Wotton House. It contains the Grade I Listed Wotton House, with its walls, gates and gazebo, the Grade I Listed Clock and South Pavillions and the Grade II* Listed Church of All Saints plus a further eleven properties: The Old Vicarage; The Old School: Manor Farm and its associated outbuildings; Lodge Farm; Beechwood House; the Grade II Brewers yard; Old Stable Yard; The Old Post; North Lodge; and The Flat and The Barn, North Lodges. Once again, the pleasant rural setting of these properties is enhanced by the open parkland and the extensive backcloth of mature trees and hedgerow. The grounds to Wotton House also contain a great many listed buildings and structures, all listed Grade II. These include the Ha-Ha, the Tuscan Pavilions, the Maley, the Turkey Building and the Five Arch Bridge.
February 2008
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