Wokefield Park
Encyclopedia
Wokefield Park is an 18th century country house, now a training centre surrounded by a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course, in the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of Wokefield
Wokefield
Wokefield is a civil parish in the West Berkshire district of Berkshire, England, south of the borough of Reading. The parish includes the hamlets of Grazeley Green, Goddard's Green and Bloomfield Hatch, and the 18th century mansion of Wokefield Park...

, near Mortimer
Mortimer Common
Mortimer Common, generally referred to as Mortimer, is a village in the civil parish of Stratfield Mortimer in Berkshire. Mortimer is in the local government district of West Berkshire and is seven miles south-west of Reading.-Geography:...

, in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

.

History

Wokefield Park seems to have been built for the Brocas family sometime before 1777 when they acquired the property. Sir John Soane
John Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...

 made alterations in the early 19th century onwards. However, the cellars have vaulting which may date from the time of the Treasurer of the Middle Temple, Edmund Plowden
Edmund Plowden
Sir Edmund Plowden was a distinguished English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period.-Life:...

, who bought the house in 1569.

In 1936 the house became St. Benedict's Approved School. Extensive additional building work took place to add staff housing, workshops and a chapel in the house.

Today

Wokefield Park House and Golf Club are currently owned by De Vere Venues. The house is used as a conference centre as well as by KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....

, BMW/MINI and the Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

Corporation as their European Training and Digital Document Centre.

Structure

The house is large and symmetrical, with a three-storey central block, linked to side wings by two-storey sections. Both frontages total thirteen bays. It has facade of Roman cement with raised quoins and cornice, all topped by balustrading and a slate roof. On the northern entrance front is a single-storey Doric portico of stone and, on the southern front, a smaller version. The interior has contemporary fireplaces, moulded plaster ceilings, wood panelling and early 18th century twisted baluster stairs.

External links

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