Built / Designed For: Edmund Waller

House & Family History: The original Queen Anne house was built for the poet Edmund Waller sometime after 1651. The brick house with stone dressings is three stories tall by five bays wide and five bays deep, with a slate hipped roof topped by a lantern (in the roof there are three dormers with segmental, triangular, and segmental pediments). There are coupled pilasters at the angles and between the windows: Ionic on the first floor, Corinthian on the second, and Composite on the third floor. Between 1832 and 1837 Hall Barn was enlarged for Sir Gore Ouseley; these additions were removed, 1968-70, for Lord Burnham to the designs of Thomas Bird, leaving the east and south facades as seen today. There is also a fine three-bay porte-cochere designed circa 1865 by George Devey. A portion of the 19th century service wing remains on the southwest corner. The entrance façade has a quadrant wall, probably early 18th century, which screens a corridor that links the house to the former stableblock, a brick building of two stories with a bell turret. The Lawson family purchased the Hall Barn Estate in 1880 and it has remained their seat ever since.

Comments: In "The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire" the gardens of Hall Barn are called "exquisite."

Garden & Outbuildings: The grounds of Hall Barn are of great historical importance and were laid out in the 1720s and 1730s by Edmund Waller, grandson of the builder of the house. Waller received advice on the garden design from John Aislabie, his stepfather, who lived at Hall Barn from 1711 until 1720. Aislabie later went on to great fame for his layout of the gardens at his Studley Royal Estate. The Great Canal, with its famous 300-year-old curving yew hedge, is headed by the Great Room, or Garden House, designed in 1724 by Colen Campbell (the timber Fishing Temple may also be by Campbell). The Little Canal was drained in the 19th century and is now a swimming pool; to the east of the of swimming pool are three 1st century AD Roman statues, acquired by Waller from Lord Arundel's famous collection of marbles. The Grove is an early 18th century beechwood forest enclosed by a ha-ha with allees linked by serpentine paths; Dipple Drive, at 1.5 miles, is the longest of the allees. The third allee leads to a statue of Aesculapius of circa 100 BC. On the southern edge of The Grove is the famous domed Temple of Venus, probably also by Campbell. From the 18th century are the Gothic Temple, the Grotto (called Milton's Cave), the obelisk, the lodge, and Hedgerley Church, an alcove in the shape of a small temple. The Victorian Oak Lodge is noted for its surfaces that contain Renaissance paneling. A Medieval hunting park is believed to have been near the northern half of the park.

John Bernard (J.B.) Burke, published under the title of A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. II, p. 37, 1853.

Country Life: XCI, 564, 662, 1942.

House Listed: Grade II*

Park Listed: Grade II*

"Brief Encounter" (1945). "Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1980 - TV mini series, as Marroway Court, the Bassington-ffrench home). "Chariots of Fire" (1981 - as Lord Lindsay's home [where he jumps over hurdles that have champagne glasses on them]). "Jeeves and Wooster" (1993 - TV series - in the episode "The Delayed Arrival" [aka "Arrested in a Night Club"], Hall Barn was the exterior of Brinkley Court). "Black Beauty" (1994 - as Squire Gordon's estate). "Gosford Park" (2001 - as Constance, Lady Trentham's, home; the Temple of Venus was also used for the lunch after the hunt). "Midsomer Murders" (2002 - TV series, episode 5.4, "Murder on St. Malley's Day," as the Talbot family home). "Midsomer Murders" (2004 - TV series, as the home of Grace Maplin in the episode "Sins of Commission"). "Penelope" (2006). "Miss Austen Regrets" (2008 - TV, as Fanny's wedding reception exteriors; home of Sir Edward Knatchbull). "Sense and Sensibility" (2008 - TV mini series, as Delaford). "Midsomer Murders" (2008 - TV series, as the Hammond family home in the episode "Shot at Dawn"). "Spooks" [aka "MI-5"] (2010 - TV series, as Falkirk House in Volume 9, episode 1). "Downton Abbey" (2011 - TV series, as Sir Anthony Strallan's home). "Midsomer Murders" (2012 - TV series, as Causton Country Club in the episode "Murder of Innocence"). "Midsomer Murders" (2016 - TV series, as the manor house in the episode "Harvest of Souls").

Current Seat / Home of: Harry Frederick Alan Lawson, 7th Baron Burnham; Lawson family here since 1880.

Past Seat / Home of: Edmund Waller, 17th century Waller family here until 1832. Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Bt., 19th century. Edward Levy-Lawson, 1st Baron Burnham, late 19th century.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

House Open to Public: Grounds Only - By Appointment

Historic Houses Member: No