Site of 16th century house, Easton Lodge (EHER 4591)

The lands and hunting lodge at Little Easton were granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1590 to Henry Maynard. Mid 16th century house comprising a half H-shape. it was extended during the 17th century. Most of the house was demolished but rebuilt in the 19th century, incorporating the 17th century servants' quarters. The building was extensively altered in the 20th century. The building is of two stories, has a timber-frame, of brick construction and is rendered. It is no longer extant.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Easton Lodge (NR). <1> Easton Lodge was probably built in the mid 16th century on a plan of half H-shape with wings extending to the south. A wing extending west from the north-west corner was added in the 17th century. The greater part of the house was destroyed by a fire in the 19th century and rebuilt, though the 17th century wing and part of the 16th century house are incorporated in the reconstruction. It is 3/4 of a mile north-west of the church. The 17th century wing and part of the 16th century building remains incorporated in the modern house. The main block has a two-storied bay window of the 16th century and three original chimney stacks. The south-west wing has two original chimney stacks. Inside are some panelled dados and one room is said to be completely panelled. Some of the garden walls are partly 16th century in brick. In the garden there is a stone font of uncertain date with an octagonal bowl and circular stem. <2> Former servant's quarters to the main house survive. 17th century, extensively altered in the 20th century, with a 17th century red brick chimney stack. <3> The lands and hunting lodge at Little Easton were granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1590 to Henry Maynard. A map of 1593 shows the site of the lodge and walled garden. Maynard, who was knighted in 1603, demolished the hunting lodge and built a large Elizabethan mansion. In February 1847 a fire almost destroyed the Elizabethan house but Henry commissioned the architect Thomas Hopper to rebuild the original central wing and to extend the house in the Gothic Revival style. When the 3rd Viscount died in 1865 he left his estate to his three year old granddaughter Frances Evelyn Maynard, who in 1881 came into her inheritance and married Lord Brooke, later the 5th Earl of Warwick. In 1902 Lady Warwick commissioned the architect and garden designer Harold Peto to create an elaborate setting for the north side of the house. During the first decade of the 20th century, Easton Lodge was famous for its society gatherings but during the Great War the Essex Yeomanry used the park for training. In February 1918 the house suffered a second fire and in 1919 and 1921 parts of the estate were sold. Following the 1918 fire the architect Philip Tilden was commissioned to rebuild the west wing, constructed as a separate building, and he is also thought to have been responsible for additions to the Peto garden (Magnus and Spencer-Jones 2000). In 1937, the year before her death, Lady Warwick established a country nature reserve in the park. Her younger son, Maynard Greville, inherited the estate in 1938 but took little interest in it. During the Second World War it was requisitioned by the War Office and the park cleared of trees to make way for an airfield. After the War, the house was demolished, leaving only Tilden's rebuilt west wing, and the gardens were abandoned. Following his death in 1960, Maynard Greville's daughter Felice Spurrier inherited the estate, built herself a house to the east of the Japanese lakes and sold the surviving buildings and grounds to Charles Wearn, who sold much of the stone paving and statuary in the gardens and in 1971 divided the buildings into three and sold them. The surviving west wing of Easton Lodge was purchased as a private house, since which time new garden features have been added and restoration of the early 20th century gardens begun. The site remains in divided, private ownership. Easton Lodge is approached from the east, along a concrete drive laid down by the Services during the Second World War, on the line of a 19th century drive. The drive leaves Little Easton village, passes Easton Manor and enters the former park midway along the eastern boundary, about 750m south-east of Easton Lodge, running north-west in a straight line before turning north-east into the gardens to arrive at the south-east front of the Lodge. The drive also continues past Easton Lodge to a second turn north-east into the former stable courtyard. A brick archway gatehouse (17th century, remodelled in the 18th century, listed grade II and outside the area here registered) survives on the southern boundary of the former park, c2.65km south-south-east of the Lodge, although the drive through the park which connected it to the main house, was removed during construction of the airfield. Easton Lodge stands to the north of centre of the former park. The red brick and tile T-shaped house, with stone mullion windows and diaper work details, is an early 20th century building by the architect Philip Tilden. The Elizabethan house was completely destroyed in 1847 by a fire and its Victorian replacement, by Thomas Hopper, was also destroyed by fire in 1918, resulting in the rebuilding of only the west wing by Tilden for Lady Warwick. To the west of the Lodge stands the late 19th century stable yard cottages (listed grade II), the red brick water tower (listed grade II) and a servants house. Immediately to the north-west of the house is a large, enclosed paved courtyard, with a central balustraded octagonal pool and fountain basin, all laid out by Peto. The floor of the courtyard is decorated with a wide range of paving materials, including cobbles, bricks and tiles on edge. Beyond the courtyard to the north-west is an L-shaped fish pond (late 20th century), at the southern end of which stands the late 17th century square red brick dovecote. The walled kitchen garden lies to the north of Easton Lodge, on the site shown to have been used for walled gardens in the early 18th century (Skynner 1732). It is divided into two compartments, that to the east being laid to grass, and planted with trees as the grounds of a private house created (late 20th century) from the surviving Servant's House. The walled garden to the west continues to be cultivated for the production of fruit and vegetables. On the outside face of the north wall stands the Shelley Pavilion, moved to Easton from Maresfield Park, Sussex in the 1920s for use as the west porch. It was later re-erected as a summerhouse in its present position, facing north towards the Japanese Garden. <4> Described on the listed buildings resurvey form, there is an 18th century dovecote, with red brick and a plain red tile hipped roof. It has a square plan, rusticated quoins, and a central doorway with gauged brick arch and projecting keystone. It was altered in the 20th century. <5> There was a chapel at Easton Lodge built in 1621. <6> April 1966. Field survey. Main residence demolished. Outbuildings are contemporary with the 'lodge', now demolished. Easton Lodge had been demolished by 1966, a few buildings and outbuildings left are of 19th century date. The site was undergoing redevelopment in 1966. <7> See also: <8> - <10>