SNN115759 - Boughton Wood Lodge: Heritage Statement

The architecturally enigmatic Boughton Wood Lodge, built as a Gamekeeper’s residence in the early 18th century close to the southern fringe of Boughton Wood, is included within the boundaries of the Grade I Registered Park and Garden at Boughton House in Northamptonshire, also Grade I and seat of the Dukes of Montagu, and later one of the many domains belonging to the Dukes of Buccleuch. The Lodge building, unlisted as a distinct edifice, is significantly altered from its original state with modern extensions and later ancillary buildings within its immediate setting. It replaced an earlier version shown on estate maps in the 1710s which stood a short distance broadly to the south of the extant Lodge in a more exposed spot to the north of the formal parkland and gardens of the principal house. Boughton Wood Lodge must have been contrived during the tenure of the 2nd Duke of Montagu in the late 1720s or early 1730s as a relatively unadorned edifice to house the Boughton Gamekeeper, a role of which the Duke did not approve; its original aesthetic manifestation appears to correspond with the ‘vernacular’ of cottages in proximate estate villages with a material palette of limestone, brick, wooden lintels and thatch, dated by Historic England to the 16th or 17th centuries. It was also incorporated as part of the extraordinary landscape scheme devised by the 2nd Duke which comprised the creation of miles of avenues of trees and rides through his Estate, one of which was cultivated on a trajectory running from the south up past the already extant Boughton Wood Lodge on a route to its immediate west. Changes to the landscape, especially in the 20th century, have eroded not only this early Georgian setting with the removal of this lines of trees, but alterations to the building have appreciably lessened its architectural and aesthetic integrity. The cottage is significantly reformed from its original state with modern extensions, and ancillary structures, and although located within the boundaries of a Registered Park and Garden the various stipulations via which it was presumably included have been considerably eroded. It is no longer in use as a Gamekeeper’s residence; there is no shoot at the Boughton Estate. Proposals include its demolition and replacement with a new family dwelling with detached garage in a location broadly concurrent with the existing plot layout, albeit reconfigured, and associated landscape scheme incorporating the partial reinstatement of the early 18th century historic avenue.