Buildings by Sir John Soane in or Near London

Moggerhanger House

A Guide to Moggerhanger House

Moggerhanger Park has just produced a 34 page colour booklet which provides a brief guide to the history of the estate and the planned restoration work.

The book has been written by Jenny Cooper, whith help from Peter Inskip and John Phibbs, two of MHPT’s key advisors.

Price £4.95 (plus £1 postage and packing)

Tel: 01767 641 007 or write to:

Jenny Cooper, The Park, Moggerhanger, Bedford MK44 3RW

Moggerhanger House (1791 - 1812), near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, is one of Sir John Soane’s most distinguished houses. It was designed for a director of the Bank of England, Godfrey Thornton and is one of the few projects that Soane returned to work on throughout his career. As he became more involved with the Thornton family so his vision for and involvement with Moggerhanger increased. He began the house in 1791, returned in 1797, enlarged the house in 1805-7 and transformed it into a substantial country residence in 1812. For many years the house was used as a hospital, listed only at Grade II and was little appreciated. When the hospital closed the Repton park and the house were sold separately and the park threatened with housing development. The house is now in the care of the Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust, listed at Grade I, its restoration and long-term future dependent on fundraising to match a substantial grant from English the Heritage Lottery Fund. The painstaking analysis of the building carried out by the architect Peter Inskip and by Ptolemy Dean, a scholar working on Soane’s country houses, has demonstrated that at Moggerhanger nearly every element survives in situ - not just the house but the magnificent Soane kitchen and stable courtyard. The threat of development in the Park has been averted and the land acquired for the Trust. Their aim is to restore the house and the Park - both will be open to the public.

For more information visit the Moggerhanger Website (click here)