Woburn Abbey is a Grade I Listed House and one of the ten Treasure Houses of England.  It has been home to the Dukes of Bedford for nearly 400 years and today is occupied by the 15th Duke of Bedford.

The existing screen walls were built mainly of Totternhoe Clunch with Portland Stone plinths and had had extensive repair works carried out over the years.  Careful consideration had to be given to the recording and setting out of the walls to ensure that they went back exactly to their original orientation and plan.  To enable this, a topographical survey was undertaken.  Due to the sweep of the walls, none of the stones were square, with all perp joints being vertical and bed joints running to a fall. 

The original setting out of these walls appeared to be simple, but were in fact complex, with both walls being built to a radius and falling towards the Abbey by over three meters, meaning they were built to a ramp and twist. 

The north and south screen walls were dismantled by hand and the reusable Portland stone elements cleaned and numbered.  All dismantled masonry not suitable for re-use and any brick infill was crushed on site and reused for hardcore elsewhere on the estate.  The existing footings were removed and replaced with 166 piles 305mm dia. x 11m deep, 42 pile caps, and connecting ground beams.
Throughout the entirety of the project, in excess of 700 tonnes of Portland Basebed were worked, a stone that was selected for its durability and existing use in the screen walls. 

South Wall - the front elevation is 95m long x 4m high from ground level, consisting of 22 No stone bays and 2 No stone pavilion bays, totalling 420 sq m of face stonework. 

North Wall - the front elevation is 85m long x 4m high from ground level, consisting of 21 No bays with the existing pavilion retained, totalling 340 sq m of face stonework.  On the rear of the walls where no stonework was required, hand made woodfired bricks were laid to a Flemish bond in lime mortar. 

It was a demanding but highly enjoyable project and one that provided a great sense of achievement for all our masons both in the workshops and fixing on site.

Judges comments: - "It is difficult to appreciate the size and complexity of this screen, as architecturally it is perfect.  Every joint both perpendicularly and tapered was well within the very strict tolerances that were specified, and the surface finish is exemplary.  This courtyard is once again a beautifully contained space as the architect Henry Flitcroft designed"