Gayhurst House is a late-Elizabethan[1] country house in Buckinghamshire, with important contributions by the Victorian architect William Burges.[2] It is located near the village of Gayhurst, several kilometres north of Milton Keynes. The house itself is a Grade II* listed building, as are the dovecot and gate piers in the grounds.[3]
The house has early sixteenth century origins, was expanded in 1597 by William Moulsoe and completed by his son, Sir Everard Digby, one of the conspirators involved in the Gunpowder Plot.[4] The estate was subsequently inherited by Sir Kenelm Digby, the courtier, diplomat and natural philosopher. In 1704 the estate was sold to Sir Nathan Wrighte.[5] It was extensively refurbished, 1858–72, by William Burges for Robert John Carrington, 2nd Baron Carrington and his son.[6] Lord Carrington was Burges' first significant patron. In total, some £20,000 was spent, which did not include the costs of construction for Burges' planned main staircase, which was never built. However, a minor stair, the Caliban Stair, was constructed.[7] The style chosen was Anglo/French Renaissance, which Burges considered in keeping with the date of Moulsoe's rebuilding.[8] Rooms contain some of his most splendid fireplaces, with carving by Burges' long-time collaborator Thomas Nicholls, in particular those in the Drawing Room which include motifs from Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.[9]
The estate has a fine series of out-buildings including a seventeenth century dovecote, turreted stables, a brewhouse, bakehouse and dog kennels. Perhaps the most extraordinary addition is the Male Servants' Lavatory, a large circular privy based on the Abbot's kitchen at Glastonbury and surmounted by a,now-eyeless, statue of Cerberus.[10]
The park was laid out by Capability Brown and remodelled by Humphry Repton.[11]
Gayhurst was a private home until the mid twentieth century when the squire, Sir Walter Carlyle, died, having acquired a modicum of fame some 40 years earlier by becoming the first MP to arrive at the House of Commons in a motor car. Sir Walter's widow lived on in the neighbouring village for many years and was pleased to see the property saved by sympathetic developers, who converted the main building and adjoining stable blocks into luxury apartments and maisonettes.
The estate was broken up in the twentieth century and the house was converted into flats between 1971 and 1979.[12]