Plans are still in the works for TV celebrity James Corden’s brand new home in Berkshire.
Plans are still under way for TV star James Corden’s new home in Berkshire after he left The Late Late Show in April 2023. He bought Templecombe House in Wargrave, near Henley, for about £8.5 million in December 2020.
The house first appeared on the market in 2018. Built in the 1960s in a distinctive Bauhaus style, it once boasted a tennis court and a covered swimming pool. Urban explorer videos from 2022 showed the property in a dilapidated state; one clip even showed a swastika spray-painted on the poolhouse wall, which appears to have been removed in more recent footage.
Agents acting for Mr Corden won permission from Wokingham Borough Council to demolish Templecombe House and replace it with a new purpose-built home three years ago, but the project is still moving through the planning process. The latest step is seeking consent for a conservation management strategy, a condition of the January 2023 approval.
The strategy aims to protect the site’s habitat across its 43 acres and preserve a druidic circle on the grounds. The so-called Mont de la Ville dolmens — a collection of megalithic stones known locally as the Druid’s Temple — were brought over from Jersey in 1788 by a former owner of the Park Place estate.
Brindle & Green’s conservation strategy states: "The proposals seek to preserve the parkland setting of the Grade II listed Druid’s Temple (a collection of 45 megalithic stones) positioned to the southwest of the redline boundary. The Local Planning Authority specifically requested that the setting, and the associated sight lines of the Druid Temple, were not altered as a result of the planning application, as such the feature remains unaffected by the proposals."
The plan does propose removing a dead sequoia and replacing it with a suitable alternative parkland tree. Three conservation strategy documents were submitted in May and November last year, with the latest sent in last month; Wokingham council’s planning department is now considering the latest submission and will either approve or reject it.
You can view the application on the council planning portal using reference 251123. The project initially included a replacement pool house near the druid stones, but that was removed from the plans after objections from Historic England.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
