1879 – Gateway, Impington Hall, Cambridgeshire

The building of Impington Hall was begun by John Pepys in 1579, and the Pepys family remained there until 1805. The Hall was not completed at the time of John Pepys death, but he left instructions concerning the exact way in which the work was to be completed. By 1926 it had became the property of Messrs Chivers & Sons, who used it as an educational centre for their employees. The company later offered it to Cambridgeshire Education Committee for educational purposes, but the latter declined to accept it. During the Second World War a unit of the army was billeted in the Hall, and caused considerable damage to it, quite a common occurance. Italian prisoners of war were housed in Nissan huts in the garden. After the war the Hall remained unoccupied, and was pulled down by the Chivers family in 1953.

According to The Building News, June 14 1878: “This gateway will form the principal to the park and hall with a porter lodge, turret staircases to residences for gardeners on the upper floors which consist of living rooms larders bedrooms and other accommodation. Bricks form the principal features in construction made of special small dimensions dressings strings and windows of Ancaster stone.” Unclear if ever constructed.

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