Beaurepaire was owned by the Brocas family from Aquitaine for approximately 500 years. In the 14th century, Sir John Brocas was Edward III’s Master of the Horse. In 1369, Edward permitted John’s son, Bernard, to enclose the parkland and create the Beaurepaire estate. As a knight, Bernard was favoured by Edward, the Black Prince, and accompanied him during the Battle of Poitiers. Bernard later became Chief Surveyor and Sovereign Warden of the parks at Winchester College; he was acquainted with the college’s founder, William of Wykeham.

The house suffered considerable damage during the Civil War and was later rebuilt in 1777. The house is moated with access over small bridges: the white iron gates to the main bridge were designed by Sir John Soane.

The estate was sold by the Brocas family in 1873. In 1942, the building was largely destroyed by fire. The Tudor wing, however, survived. The owner at the time of the fire, Sir Strati Ralli, was unable to restore or repair the house due to wartime restriction of building materials.

In 1959, the house was bought by Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield who lived in nearby Sherfield. Makins commissioned Tom Bird (an architect who worked at the offices of Maxwell Fry) to restore the building. The building was further renovated by Makins’s son, Dwight, who added a cloister garden with battlements and crow-stepped gables.

Williams Restoration undertook the restoration of the Tudor facades. This included the use of a ThermaTech modular cleaning system. A system created with the environment in mind. Energy efficiency, water consumption and its low emissions makes it one of the leading resources for a environmentally friendly company to have.. Once complete we progressed to removing the cementitious mortar from the brickwork and stonework and replacing this with a sympathetic Lime mortar. This was used in conjunction with locally sourced materials to achieve a mortar that matched the original. In conjunction with the before mentioned, Williams Restoration undertook the removal of existing stucco window mouldings, these were then replaced in handworked stone mouldings further to this Williams undertook the restoration of the cornices, these were restored where possible and re-run where needed.

Project location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Client: K&K Contractors