St Leonard's Hill was a large

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

near

Clewer Clewer (also known as Clewer Village) is an ecclesiastical parish and an area of Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the county of Berkshire, England. Clewer makes up three Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maid ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

History

The house, originally known as Forest Court, was built by

Thomas Sandby Thomas Sandby (1721 – 25 June 1798) was an English draughtsman, watercolour artist, architect and teacher. In 1743 he was appointed private secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, who later appointed him Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, wh ...

for Countess Waldegrave in the 1760s. She named it Gloucester Lodge following her marriage to the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

in 1766. The house was bought by

William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt Field Marshal William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, (20 March 1743 – 17 June 1830) was a British nobleman and British Army officer. He served as an '' aide-de-camp'' to Lord Albemarle for the expedition to Havana during the Seven Years' War. H ...

in 1781 and, after remaining in the Harcourt family for over a century, it was acquired by Sir Francis Barry, 1st Baronet in 1872. Barry made substantial alterations in the

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a Revivalist architectural style based on the Fr ...

style and renamed it St Leonard's Hill. Following the death of Lady Barry in 1924 the house was largely demolished.

References

{{coord, 51.4682, -0.6510, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Berkshire Demolished buildings and structures in England British country houses destroyed in the 20th century