Temple Dinsley, (also known as Princess Helena College), Stevenage, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

A country house of early 18th-century origin, substantially enlarged by Edwin Lutyens 1908-11, at which time he and Gertrude Jekyll collaborated on the creation of the formal garden around the house. The house and garden are surrounded by 18th-century parkland.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Temple Dinsley lies adjacent to the east side of the village of Preston, 5 kilometres south of the centre of Hitchin, at the north-east end of the Chiltern Hills. The roughly 50 hectare site is bounded to the east, south and west by lanes, that to the west, School Lane, being one of the main village streets of Preston which is partly marked to the south of the house by a red-brick wall (E L Lutyens around 1908, listed grade II). To the north the boundary is marked by agricultural land. The ground is gently undulating, rising to the north-west of the house, with a pronounced valley extending north-east from the north side of the gardens, down which distant views of Letchworth are visible. The setting is rural, with further buildings by Lutyens for Fenwick lying adjacent to the south boundary, these being the former model farm, Ladygrove Stud Farm (also known as Minsden Farm, now converted to domestic use) and Kiln Wood Cottage (both E L Lutyens 1912-13, listed grade II). Lutyens and Jekyll were also working on the gardens at Putteridge Bury (see the description of this site elsewhere in the Register), 6 kilometres to the west, at around the time Lutyens was employed in further extensions at Temple Dinsley.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

Country Life, 29 (22 April 1911), pp 562-72; 40 (30 December 1916), pp 2-6

L Weaver, Houses and Gardens by E L Lutyens (1913), pp 221-31

G Jekyll and L Weaver, Gardens for Small Country Houses (5th edition 1924), pp 219-20

J Brown, Gardens of a Golden Afternoon (1982), p 170

Temple Dinsley History & Restoration Proposals (1992)

Maps

Dury and Andrews, A topographical Map of Hartford-shire, 1766

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition 1884; 2nd edition 1899

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition 1898; 3rd edition 1924 

Description written: March 1999

Edited: October 2000