Moggerhanger House

The original house at Moggerhanger was small and of Georgian design. The house was acquired by Godfrey Thornton, a Bank of England director, who commissioned the Bank's architect, John Soane, to remodel it between 1790 and 1793. More substantial work would follow when Thornton's son Stephen inherited the house. Soane continued from 1806 until the scheme was completed in 1812 while the Bank of England reconstruction was under way. Soane remodelled Moggerhanger entirely, enlarging it to the west, relocating the entrance to the north and reproofing the house completely. He incorporated his previous work from 1793 maintaining symmetries and Classical axes. Soane experimented with decoration,…

The house is now used as a conference and training centre for most of the year, but opens as a tourist attraction from mid-June to mid-September, during which time public tours are conducted twice daily. Free access to the grounds is available throughout the year. There is a spacious tea room and children's play area within the grounds. The house had become a centre of local community activities and its successful restoration so far has been a triumph for the local village and for Bedfordshire. It continues to need maintenance and more recently Covid has affected its continuing development but it is hoped that further developments will take place shortly. The Moggerhanger House Preservation…