Audley End’s service wing in the 1880s was relatively small compared with the vast service ranges of many 19th-century country houses, like Wrest Park or Waddesdon Manor. And unlike these monsters it wasn’t planned and built in one go, but developed over time. It’s on the north side of the house, hidden from the view of those approaching the main entrance by the magnificent ‘cloud’ hedge.
Originally, the great Jacobean kitchen stood here but this kitchen was pulled down in about 1710 when the family, short of money, began to reduce the size of the house and moved the kitchens to the northern pavilion of the outer court, linked to the main house by an underground tunnel. This proved impractical, so when Sir John Griffin Griffin inherited the estate in 1762 he had a new kitchen built in its old position, and a separate brewhouse and dairy. Later he added a small courtyard of offices east of the kitchen and then, in about 1780, a laundry between the kitchen and the brewhouse/dairy, linking them together. This was now the service wing.
