page_title: Ashton Gifford House
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Ashton Gifford House / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Front of Ashton Gifford House
context_page_description: Ashton Gifford House is a Grade II listed country house in the hamlet of Ashton Gifford, part of the civil parish of Codford in the English county of Wiltshire. The house was built during the early 19th century, following the precepts of Georgian architecture, and its estate eventually included all of the hamlet or tithing of Ashton Gifford. The house sits in the Wylye valley, part of the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
context_section_description: The main house appears to have been built in two principal stages. The central part, of three storeys, has thick walls which were constructed as external walls and which now lie in between the central portion and the east and west wings of the property. It is surmised that this part of the property was constructed some time around 1806 by Benjamin Rebbeck, a local landowner who had purchased the property (including around 93 acres (380,000 m²) of land) from the estate of the Earl of Shrewsbury.  Rebbeck lost the house to the mortgage holder in 1815 as a result of his spiralling debts, for which he was imprisoned in 1818, and the mortgage holder, William Hubbard, who is mentioned in the enclosure of Ashton Gifford, took possession of the house and added the two ashlar wings. William Hubbard appears to have been resident by May 1817 (at the latest). Hubbard also increased the size of the estate, to around 307 acres (1.24 km²).
  The walled garden, which appears to have been constructed around this time, and which is still a part of the property, lies to the west of the current house. It has been described as the largest in the county (at 1.3 acres). It was in active use as a vegetable garden as recently as the 1980s, when the house was a school (see below).
  In the 19th century significant modifications to the property were undertaken. The owners added a service wing to the western side of the house, running from the original Georgian structure towards the walled garden. This wing contained the kitchens for the house (two in number), two dairies, pantries and store rooms, and servants' accommodation. This wing was damaged by fire in the 1950s, and demolished in the early 1970s. The westernmost portion of the wing remains, and is now in use as garages.
  The railway line linking Salisbury and Warminster, running to the south of the house, was opened on 30 June 1856 and Codford station close to the West Lodge (also known as Thatched Lodge or Station Lodge) provided rapid transport links for the Ashton Gifford Estate.
caption: Ashton Gifford House, north facade, showing the original central block of three stories, and the two east and west ashlar wings
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