Rood Ashton House was a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, standing in parkland northeast of the village of

West Ashton West Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is about southeast of Trowbridge, near the A350 between Melksham and Yarnbrook which bypasses Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Dunge (), East Town () and Rood As ...

, near

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southe ...

. Built in 1808 for

Richard Godolphin Long Richard Godolphin Long (2 October 1761 – 1 July 1835) was an English banker and Tory politician. Life and career Baptised at West Lavington, Wiltshire West Lavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the north edge of ...

, it was later the home of the 1st Viscount Long (1854–1924).

History

Viscount Long's great grandfather

commissioned architect

Jeffry Wyattville Sir Jeffry Wyatville (3 August 1766 – 18 February 1840) was an English architect and garden designer. Born Jeffry Wyatt into an established dynasty of architects, in 1824 he was allowed by King George IV to change his surname to Wyatvill ...

to build the house in 1808, replacing an earlier mansion on the estate. It was redesigned and extended in 1836 by Thomas Hopper, who incorporated some panelling and other material brought from another Long family property, Whaddon House, which had been rescued from a fire there the previous year. Work was very slow, with an extension of the Billiard Room given as 1846 by the agent, H.E. Medlicott, and the re-building of the house not complete until the following year.WSA 947/2191 The designer of the park at Rood Ashton is problematic. H.E. Medlicott stated in 1916 that "The Drive to the Trowbridge Woods as far as the Trowbridge Lodge & the modern planting beyond the old wood was all laid out by Sir James Nassmyth a Scotch Landscape Gardner, friends of the Colquhouns, about 1845". This may be a mistake for

Alexander Nasmyth Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1758–1840), painter and garden designer, in which case the park must have been designed earlier, probably contemporaneously with Hopper's work on the house. The estate was originally purchased by Edward Long of Monkton in 1597. In the 19th century a considerable amount of money was spent on improving its agriculture, but the Long family saw little return for their expenditure, and the changes in taxation on agricultural land brought about by the

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

government made it financially unviable. During the residence of

Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long, (13 July 1854 – 26 September 1924), was a British Unionist politician. In a political career spanning over 40 years, he held office as President of the Board of Agriculture, President of the Local Govern ...

the house was visited by members of the British Royal Family, including the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, later

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

. In 1914, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Lord Long offered Rood Ashton and another of his properties, Culworth House in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, for use as convalescent homes for wounded soldiers and sailors.

Auction

The house and the remaining were put to auction by Lord Long's executors in February 1930, six years after his death. The estate included 17 farms, 21 small holdings, 100 cottages, two public houses including The Long's Arms at

Steeple Ashton Steeple Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, east of Trowbridge. In the north of the parish are the hamlets of Ashton Common and Bullenhill. Name and history Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Steeple Ashton w ...

, and a square mile of woodland. were purchased by a syndicate of his tenants, ending 333 years of continuous ownership by the Long family.

Decline

The house was used as military accommodation and a hospital during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In the 1950s it was advertised for sale again, and the agent's details listed eleven principal bed and dressing rooms, a further thirty five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two lodges, stabling, parkland, a lake and farm of with farmhouse and buildings, all for £35,000. The new owner stripped the house of all its assets: the lead roofing and all internal panelling, fireplaces etc., were put into containers and shipped to the United States, after which time the house, now a roofless shell, became derelict. When

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

visited in the late 1950s or early 1960s he described the house as "now gutted and a ruin ... on a vast scale, and most impressive in its present state". In the 1970s the building was demolished except for the north wing, with eight bedrooms for servants, which has been restored with reclaimed timbers, and is now a private residence. Built in limestone ashlar, these remains have one and two storeys, and a square corner tower has three storeys and two octagonal corner

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s, rising to turrets linked by a battlemented parapet. In 1975 the building was designated as Grade II listed. In March 2012 the property was on the market for an asking price of £2,650,000.

Associated buildings

A short distance northeast of the house is a stable block with courtyard, carriage house and lodges. In stuccoed brick and matching the style of the house, the block was probably designed c.1830 by Hopper. According to the agent, H.E. Medlicott, these stables were largely added to and reconstructed after 1867. A servants' wing, beyond the back door of the main house, was added at the same time, under the supervision of a clerk of works called Roberts. The Lake and water supply reservoir were made between 1867 and 1876. A former lodge, Castle Lodge, is half a mile northwest of the house, at an entrance (no longer in use) from what is now the A350. It is an imitation of a castle, with an arched carriage entrance, battlements and two three-storey towers, one square and one round. The revised ''Buildings of England, Wiltshire'', calls it "very picturesque, even if silly". English Heritage thought it probably contemporary with the 1836 alterations to the house. This is confirmed by the reminiscences of the agent, H.E. Medlicott, in 1916, who gave the build date of Castle Lodge as 1838. It replaced an old lodge, midway between Castle and Trowbridge Lodges. At the southwest entrance to the grounds is West Ashton Lodge, designed by T. H. Wyatt, and nearby is West Ashton's parish church, St John's (1846), which contains the Long family

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

References

External photo links