Sir William Proctor-Beauchamp, 1st Baronet (c.1722-1773) assumed the surname and arms of Proctor in compliance with the testamentary injunction of his maternal uncle, George Proctor of Langley Park, Norfolk. (Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 92nd ed., 1934). The Proctors had bought the Langley Park estate in 1739. Sir Thomas inherited Langley Park from his father in 1773.

Between September 1784 and August 1790 Soane made four separate designs for park buildings for Sir Thomas Proctor-Beauchamp as well as sending a 'Plan of a Design for Bath' and a 'Plan & Section of a Design for new Roofing the Mansions house' (15 March 1788, 'Ledger A') and other drawings for alterations, none of which have survived.

None of the variant designs for an entrance gateway (drawings 1-2) were accepted but a design for a gate with lodges in a simple Doric style (drawings 3-6) was carried out. Variant designs in a 'primitivist' style for a (hunting ?) lodge were not executed. A design for another gate with twin lodges in a more conventional style was built and (with the Doric lodges) still survives. The lodges were lived in up to about 1970 when, in their empty state, they were stripped of their lead and vandalised but they have since been restored.

Literature. P. du Prey, John Soane: the making of an architect, 1982, pp.256-8; D.Stroud, Sir John Soane, architect, 2nd ed., p.123; P.Dean, Sir John Soane and the country estate, 1999, p.171.

Jill Lever, June 2009