Belton House Grantham

Belton stable block was built in 1685 and is recognised as being of ‘exceptional significance for its aesthetic and historical value’. It’s one of only 21 Grade I listed stables in England, important for the number of original features still intact. Project Summary Messenger recently completed a year-long project to conserve and rejuvenate the 17th-century […]

Stowe House Buckinghamshire

Stowe is a selective independent school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was opened on 11th May 1923. Originally for boys only, the school is now coeducational, with some 550 boys and 220 girls. Along with many of the other buildings on the school’s estate, the main house is now a Grade I listed building. Project Summary […]

Turret Gateway Leicester

Turret Gateway, built in 1422, is a Grade I* listed monument in Leicester’s city centre and is the gateway to the south entrance of the inner bailey of the Castle. It survives as a two-storey stone building with an arched gate passage and a portcullis chamber above. A third storey was destroyed in an election […]

Nevill Holt Opera Theatre

At the corner of the cluster of buildings around Nevill Holt Hall, the long ironstone block, crenellated and pedimented, is quite grand for a stable. For a theatre, on the other hand, it is compact and intimate. Project Summary The construction of a new opera theatre, within the stable block of the Grade I listed […]

Coventry Chapel of Unity

In November 1945 the West Crypt was dedicated to provide a Chapel of Unity, binding the Church of England and the Free Churches together for Christian service in Coventry. And, with the building of the new Cathedral, the opportunity was taken to create a purpose-built chapel. A stone of witness was laid in the entrance […]

Deene Park Northamptonshire

Deene Park Northamptonshire Deene Park has been the seat of the Brudenell family since 1514. The hall itself is a Grade I listed building dating back to the 14th century. Seven of the Brudenell family were Earls of Cardigan — the most notable being the 7th Earl who led the Charge of the Light Brigade […]

Private Dwelling Cambridgeshire

Private Dwelling Cambridgeshire This property stands on the edge of the Greensand Ridge overlooking the valley of the River Ivel at the southern end of the present parish. The house was built in 1710 for the MP John Pedley, and is a two-storey red brick mansion in the Queen Anne style to which it dates. […]

Country House Bedfordshire

The original much larger 1560 manor house was demolished in 1745, leaving only the service wing intact. Much of the remaining 16th Century fabric was subsequently widely extended and remodelled throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including use as offices for a significant part of the 20th Century. In the 1970s a former owner returned […]

Northgate Street Warwick

In September 1694, the houses of Northgate Street were destroyed by the Great Fire of Warwick and rebuilt soon afterwards. A new Act of Parliament was passed: “For the more Regular and Uniform Rebuilding [of] the Houses Demolished by the Fire”, which instructed houses to be two stories high, made from brick or stone and […]

Wrest Park Archer’s Pavilion

Thomas Archer’s Pavilion at Wrest Park was built between 1709 and 1711. The pavilion’s design is unusual in England with the six projecting bays, three round alternating with three square. Archer’s work is more continental than that of any other English architect of his day. The large, circular room and domed ceiling are decorated with […]