St Leonard's Hill
Berkshire
| Location | Clewer nr Bracknell | ||
| Year demolished | 1924, 1970 | ||
| Reason | Abandoned, becoming derelict before demolition | ||
| See all images: | Gallery | ||
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Originally known as Forest Lodge, the house was extended in the late 1760s when Lady Waldegrave commissioned Thomas Sandy to expand the existing structure. It was subsequently described in a guide book, published in 1771, as '...a noble edifice commanding a most extensive and delightful prospect of the Thames.'. No known images of the house, either before or after the alterations, appear to exist.
The next improvements, to the grounds, were the direct result of a Royal scandal. Lady Waldegrave had secretly married the Duke of Gloucester, brother of King George III, in September 1766. The secrecy surrounding Lady Waldegrave’s marriage to the Duke of Gloucester was partly due to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, which required the King's consent for royal unions. Gloucester's sympathy with his brother's recent banishment for another marriage-related decision meant that he admitted his marriage to the King in September 1772 and was also promptly banished from court.
As a former favourite, the Duke of Gloucester's banishment was particularly hard felt, so, to busy himself, he promptly set about improving his country house. Thomas Sandy was again commissioned, this time landscaping the grounds and adding plantations. In 1773 the Duke also bought the neighbouring house - The Hermitage - and renamed it Sophia Farm in honour of his daughter born that year. By 1776, mounting debts forced the family into self-imposed exile but the Duke was reconciled with his brother in 1778 leading to his restoration at court. Perhaps this return to favour spurred the Duke to seek to leave behind the estate he had spent so much time at during his banishment. The Duke and Duchess sold their St Leonard's estates in 1781/2 for the reputed sum of £10,000.
Gloucester Lodge, as it was still known, was bought by the 3rd Earl Harcourt, in whose family the house remained until 1872. The house was then sold to Mr (later Sir) Francis Tress Barry who renamed the house St Leonard's Hill. Sir Francis Tress Barry, 1st Baronet (1825–1907), was a successful businessman, diplomat, and politician who made his fortune in Spain’s Rio Tinto copper mines before serving as British Vice-Consul at Bilbao (1865–1875) and later as Conservative MP for Windsor (1890–1906). Knighted in 1899, he was also granted the Portuguese title of Baron de Barry in recognition of his services.
After Tress Barry's alterations to its final form, St Leonard’s Hill was an elegant French château-style residence. This was characterised by its grand two-storey main block flanked by striking three-storey corner towers, each topped with steeply pitched roofs and ornate dormer windows. The house featured a largely rectangular footprint, extended on the garden-facing side by a wing that mirrored the main roofline, leading out to expansive terraces overlooking the landscaped grounds. The façade combined stone detailing with tall sash windows, while the steep slate roofs and decorative ironwork echoed the opulence of French Renaissance architecture. The overall design blended grandeur with symmetry, creating a striking country house that commanded its surrounding parkland.
After its sale in 1924, following the death of Lady Barry, the once-grand house faced systematic demolition, its valuable materials stripped and sold. Left to the elements, the remaining shell gradually succumbed to dereliction, with nature reclaiming the site over the decades. Even in the 1970s, it was said that approximately 40% of the shell remained, though more of the house and the stables were demolished later and now, all that remains are minor ruins, alongside small piles of the high-quality stone, now being smothered by nature.
Description from 'Beautiful Britain - the Scenery and Splendours of the United Kingdom' published in 1894 by the Werner Company of Chicago:
"St. Leonards Hill, is situated in the parish of Clewer, Windsor Forest. It was formerly called Gloucester Lodge, it having become the property of the Duke of Gloucester when he married the original proprietress, the Countess of Waldegrave. At that time the building was enlarged and much improved, and, together with seventy-five acres of land principally laid out in pleasure-grounds and lawns, is said to have been valued at £10,000. In the beginning of the present century it was the property of General Harcourt, and now belongs to Mr. Barry. St. Leonards Hill is a name no doubt originating from the chapel of Saint Leonard of Loffeld in Windsor Forest, in connection with which there is still extant a document dating from the time of Edward III in which a large portion of the forest was granted to John the Hermit.
There are many beautiful features of Renaissance architecture in the building, which is finely situated and commands a splendid view. The ground belonging to it would seem at one time to have been a Roman encampment; for, particularly in the early part of the eighteenth century, numerous antiquities have been brought to light in course of building and other operations. Amongst these was a quaint old brazen lamp, unearthed from beneath a stone under which it had evidently been hidden, which was afterwards presented by Sir Henry Sloane to the Society of Antiquaries, and has since been chosen by them for their crest. Numerous coins also, dating from the times of the Emperor Vespasian and the Lower Empire, have been dug up from time to time on St. Leonards Hill, and purchased by the same society. Spear-heads, arrows, pieces of trumpets, various coins and weapons, pots and fragments of ancient earthenware, and other souvenirs, have since been found."
Description of the interior of St Leonard’s Hill from the diary of Sophie von la Roche for Friday 6th October 1786:
Then we went to Leonard's Hill, seat of Lord Harcourt, whose wife is friendly with the queen. …… A sad mischance, however, had called the countess away suddenly …. As I could not see the noble lady, I asked whether I might look over her house and garden. The stewardess, who knew my friend very well, willingly assented, and I saw over a house fine enough to delight a prince in our country.
The countess's workroom not only does her credit because [p. 275] of the fine tapestries she sews, but because of the number of large and excellent drawings she has executed, for she has drawn all the districts visible from Leonard's Hill and in addition, those from which this noble country house can be seen. They are all half a royal folio in size, so masterly in execution, that I was unjust enough to marvel how a lady could attain such a high degree of finish and so selective a vision.
The reception-room is glorious and contains, as do all good houses over here, chests in the finest workmanship, holding the necessaries for all kinds of games, and lined on top with books of all varieties and languages; a piano, music, violin, and anything required for concert purposes on another side; numerous sofas and all kinds of arm- and easy-chairs; ladies work-tables besides, so as all the guests may do exactly as they please. There are large French windows to the ground, whereby glorious views of the finest parts of Windsor may be had from any portion of this beautifully appointed room.
The breakfast room where they drink tea, is very appropriate, and is also ornamented with Chinese windows, porcelain furnishings and panelling, and is situated on the same side as the garden, into which a colonnade built along the house and decorated with statuary and flower vases, leads one.
Two balconies run round one side of the guest-rooms, offering one a breath of fresh air and at the same time an astonishingly distant and indescribably fine view, since the house is situated so high up.
Everything was in order; flowers all over the place; pleasant odours were wafted towards one from all the numerous rooms. In one I found an extremely fine portrait of the Countess of Coventry, formerly one of England's greatest beauties, who was married very young and taken to court from the country at a time when great festivities were in pgoress; here the old king asked her whether she had already seen many things - and received the naïve reply: 'Yes, your Majesty, everything; except a coronation!'.
[p. 276] The bedroom displayed yet another aspect of the countess's industry and good taste. It is hung with a delicate monotone pale-blue chintz, with a border of the sweetest flower garlands embroidered in blue of the same shade on a white ground, similarly the curtains, quilts on both the beds, and chair-covers.
The charm and simplicity of this room are inexpressible. All the delicious rooms and balconies on this floor run along one passage, round an oval billiard-room which is lit from above.
The dining-room is very large and caused me to wonder whether the feat of the merry fox hunt were not sometimes celebrated here, described by Thomson in lines beginning thus:
'But first the fuelled chimney blazes wide,
The tankards foam:….
The original of this society picture must be very hideous, for even poetry cannot embellish it, and it must never defile this hall. …
Source: Domestic Interiors Database held on the Royal College of Art (now inaccessible)