Wyfold Court is a country house at Rotherfield Peppard in south

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building. By the year 2000, the estate had been converted into apartments.

History

The house was designed by

George Somers Leigh Clarke George Somers Clarke (1822–1882) was an English architect. He became a RIBA Associate in March 1845 and a Fellow in June 1859. He sat on RIBA Council. In 1868 he had offices at 20 Cockspur Street, London. He was a pupil of Sir Charles ...

for the Lancashire cotton magnate and Conservative politician Edward Hermon and was built between 1874 and 1884. Wyfold Court has a 14 window range of non-uniform material, mostly of stone mullion and transom windows with "elaborate carved hoods". The building is built of scarlet brick with blue brick diapers (geometric patterns) and yellow stone details. Its style combines the Flamboyant period of French Gothic architecture with a touch of Scots Baronial. The front façade has towers with corner turrets, gargoyles and traceried windows; its garden front has mullioned bay windows and brick gable (facing roof walls) with crocketed heraldic beasts. Indoors, the main corridor is

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic ...

ed with staircase hall and a multi-storey wide bay window with stained glass of royal coats of arms. In the 1970s critic Jennifer Sherwood summarised its architecture as a "Nightmare Abbey". Hermon's only daughter was Frances Caroline Hermon who married Robert Hodge. Hodge secured a seat in the Commons at the 1895 general election as MP for the Southern or Henley Division of

. He was created a baronet as Sir Robert Hodge of Wyfold Court in July 1902 and later ennobled as Baron Wyfold in May 1919. After his wife died in 1929, Hodge had little use for such a large house and, in 1932, he sold it to the Government who converted it for medical use as Borocourt Hospital. It joined the National Health Service in 1948. In 1981 ''

Silent Minority ''Silent Minority'' is a 1981 British documentary film made by Nigel Evans for ATV which aired in June 1981 on ITV. The film spotlights the conditions of mental patients at the Borocourt Hospital near Reading, Berkshire and the St Lawrence H ...

'', a documentary film made by Nigel Evans for

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...

, highlighted the conditions of mental patients at the Borocourt Hospital and at St Lawrence's Hospital in Caterham. After the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

in the 1980s the hospital reduced in size and closed in 1993. By the year 2000, it was returned to residential use as apartments.

References

Sources

* {{authority control Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Hospitals disestablished in 1993 Grade II* listed buildings in Oxfordshire