Balls Park
| Balls Park | |
| Hertfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Balls Park | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL33421199 |
| Location: | 51°47’26"N, 0°4’1"W |
| Town: | Hertford |
| History | |
| Built 1637 - 1640 | |
| For: | Sir John Harrison by Nicholas Stone (poss.) |
| Country house | |
| Artisan Mannerist | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to apartments |
| Owned by: | City & Country |
Balls Park is a Grade I listed house in Hertfordshire, at the southern edge of Hertford, the county town. It dates from the mid-17th-century.
The estate and house are set in over 63 acres of parkland which is listed Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. The estate and house are believed to have been the inspiration for some of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, which is set in Hertfordshire.[1]
History
The history of Balls Park begins with Sir John Harrison, a wealthy financier and customs official, who had the house built between 1637 and 1640, possibly to the designs of Nicholas Stone, the king’s master-mason.
The building is designed in the 'Artisan Mannerist' style, similar to several other Hertfordshire houses of the same date but shows purer classical traits which suggest metropolitan influences. Several later phases of remodelling can be traced stylistically to changes initiated by Harrison’s son Richard Harrison, and his grandson Edward Harrison, who had served in the colonial government of the East India Company.
In the later 18th century, the house passed to the family of the Marquesses Townshend of Raynham in Norfolk, and so became a secondary home, though favoured by Lord John Townshend, who initiated further changes; possibly roofing over the courtyard as a saloon or atrium in the early 19th century.
In the 1880s the estate was let to the Faudel-Phillips family, who purchased it outright in 1901 and made further changes. The estate offices and surviving stable block were built in 1902. In the early 1920s Sir Benjamin Faudel-Phillips commissioned the architect Sir Robert Lorimer to enlarge the house, by removing a series of service buildings and constructing a new west wing, mirroring the form of the mansion. The coach house was also remodelled at the same time.
The estate was sold in 1946 and converted into a teacher training college, and served in an educational capacity for over 50 years, before closure in its final educational incarnation as the Hertford campus of the University of Hertfordshire in 2002.
Redevelopment
City & Country acquired Balls Park in 2001 from the University of Hertfordshire. In 2003, planning permission was granted for a comprehensive redevelopment subject to English Heritage Enabling Development Guidelines (that allowed the minimum new build possible to ensure the repair of the listed buildings and park). The scheme included commercial use for the listed buildings, the demolition of unsightly 1960’s college buildings and the development of 132 new homes that were designed to respect the setting and context of the listed buildings and the historic park.
Several years later it was concluded by English Heritage that ‘the optimum viable use’ for this important Carolean country house was into residential apartments. Planning permission was granted in 2010 and The Mansion, Coach House and Stables have been restored and converted into 40 apartments by City & Country.
Cricket
- Main article: Ball Park Cricket Ground
Balls Park is also the name of a cricket ground in the grounds of the Balls Park estate, and which is the home ground of Hertford Cricket Club.[2] The first recorded match on the ground was in 1865 between Hertford and a United South of England Eleven.[3]
