West Woodhay House

The house was erected in 1635 and is attributed to Inigo Jones, although it is likely to have been designed and built by Edward Carter. East facing, it looks over a lawn and an ornamental lake beyond. It has two storeys of red brick with a central hall and projecting end wings. The porch has a rounded arch, which is flanked by Ionic pillars. Over the porch doorway is the date 1635 with the motto, Nisi Dominus aedificet Frustra, a shortened version of Psalm 127, verse 1: Without the Lord, he builds in vain, which, slightly altered, is also the motto of the city of Edinburgh. The poet and politician Sir Benjamin Rudyerd lived in the house and died there in 1658. In the eighteenth century,…