Hatherton Lodge

Hatherton Lodge is an early 19th-century villa built for John Twemlow, with subsequent extensions and alterations carried out during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

The building has brick construction with stucco rendering to the front elevation, a cream-coloured limestone portico, and a double-pile hipped slate roof with rolled lead ridges and deep timber eaves supported on pairs of brackets. Cast-iron rainwater goods serve the main house, with a central panelled rendered stack topped by six terracotta chimney pots. The service range has a slate-clad gabled roof with ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods.

Plan and Layout

The house follows a two-storey L-plan, comprising a rectangular-plan main house with a rectangular service range attached at right angles to the north-eastern end of the rear elevation.

Front Elevation

The front elevation (facing north-west) presents a symmetrical three-bay composition with a central first-floor bow projecting over a ground-floor portico. The portico rises from an ashlar stone step and features two pairs of Tuscan columns supporting a flat pediment with plain architrave and moulded cornice. The painted timber front door has six raised and fielded panels, a central letterbox, a large brass lion's head knocker, and a faceted Regency-period door knob. The door is approached by a bow-shaped ashlar step and sits within a glazed timber surround with five-pane panels to each side, fluted pilasters, and a three-pane fanlight. The right-hand pilaster has a circular dished bell push with decorative cast border and white ceramic button press.

The stuccoed front elevation has a low plinth, a plain first-floor string course, and a cornice beneath the eaves. The stucco wraps around the corners of the side elevations, forming quoins. Flanking the portico are tall 12-pane timber sash windows with partially exposed sash boxes. First-floor rooms are lit by three-panel casement windows resting on the string course, which acts as a sill. The bow has a two-panel casement window flanked by a pair of single-panel casements, also resting on the string course.

Side Elevations

The side return elevations are of painted brickwork with projecting brick plinth, string course, and cornice. The right return has a two-storey canted bay to the left, with a modern glazed French door flanked by single-panel casements with shoulder drip moulds. First-floor windows match those of the front elevation. A canted bay window with integral glazed side panels and pitched canopy sits to the right of the two-storey canted bay.

The two-bay left return features a tripartite sash window to the right, set between four plain Tuscan pilasters beneath a beaded plain architrave and moulded cornice, and an offset six-pane sash window resting on the brick string course above. The second bay is set back slightly with a pair of six-pane sash windows with stone sills to both ground and first floors.

The left return continues as a two-storey multi-phased service wing attached to the rear elevation. The service wing breaks forward slightly from the house alignment and has a mixture of different-sized timber casement and sash windows to both floors and elevations. First-floor windows and a centrally placed chimney stack break the roofline, and a modern uPVC door sits to the right with a multi-paned bay window to its left. The left bay is a modern extension, differentiated by being rendered rather than painted brick. The service wing terminates in the blind gable of the extension; its south-west elevation varies in depth, with the elevation breaking forward to accommodate corridors on both floors. The end of the first floor is cantilevered out over a passageway to the rear patio.

Rear Elevation

The rear (south-east) elevation has slate cladding above the slope of the attached service range roof, with a two-pane deadlight illuminating the corridor and landing within. First-floor windows are modern two-pane horned sashes resting on the string course. The ground floor is obscured by a secondary flat-roofed orangery and a vestibule with a glazed pyramidal roof terminating in a pinnacle. The orangery has three arcaded French doors with semi-circular fanlights, and a single French door in the south-west elevation. The orangery's flat roof forms a roof terrace with a low parapet wall and stone coping, accessed by a glazed door at first-floor level. A chimney breast projects from the wall line, pierces the roof, and terminates in a two-flue chimney stack.

Interior

The original plan form of much of the main house interior has been retained, though it is unclear whether some fixtures and fittings are original introductions. Most of the ground floor has modern polished stone floor surfaces.

The hall is entered from the front door and has skirting boards, picture rails, and a moulded cornice decorated with modillions. The front door has a moulded timber door-case with glazed side panels and five-panel timber shutters. Opposite the door sits a chimney breast with a Regency-style white marble fireplace featuring recessed fielded jambs containing a rose margent, a lintel decorated with stylised triglyphs, a central cartouche, and foliate corner bull's-eyes. The fireplace has fluted fire sides and back with a black marble hearth. Each side wall has a six-panel door set in a moulded door-case with fielded panels, one leading to the dining room and the other to the drawing room. An open flat arch with moulded panel surround to the left of the chimney leads into a vestibule at the base of the stair hall.

The stair hall has an open depressed arch in the south-east wall of the vestibule giving access to a cloakroom, the former service range, and the billiard room. The Regency well stair is lit by a skylight and rises two flights to the first-floor landing. It has a string with plain tread ends and moulded nosing; the balustrade has a moulded hardwood rail, plain square-section balusters, and a newel post mounted on a projecting 'D' end step.

The double-aspect dining room is lit by a tripartite window in the north-east wall and a large sash window with narrow glazing bars in the north-west wall. The base of the window frame is level with the floor with panelled shutters recessed into the jambs. The room has a cornice decorated with acanthus leaves, cherub faces in roundels, and vines. The south-west wall is occupied by a Regency-style white marble fireplace with fluted pilasters, patera bull's-eyes, and a guilloche lintel with dentil course supporting a narrow moulded mantel shelf. The fireplace has fluted fire sides and back and a black marble hearth.

The drawing room also has a double aspect with an identical sash window to that of the dining room, together with a canted bay and a French door opening to the garden. The doorway from the hall is flanked by a Regency-style white marble fireplace with fluted pilasters, acanthus consoles, and a lintel decorated with roundels, swags, and a central urn supporting a moulded mantel shelf. The fireplace has fluted fire sides and back and a black marble hearth. The ceiling is divided in two by a beam and has a moulded cornice. A double door in the south-east wall gives access to the billiard room.

The billiard room is lit by a bay window and a pair of glazed French doors in the south-east wall situated to either side of a polychrome fireplace; it also has a six-panel service door in the north-east wall. The fireplace has a white marble surround, yellow and black banded marble in the jambs and lintel, and a pair of white marble Tuscan columns supporting a moulded cornice mantel shelf with a mid-Victorian style cast-iron fire grate.

The orangery is attached to the former rear wall of the house and against the cellar vestibule at its northern end. It has a Tudor-style fireplace flanked by Corinthian-style columns supporting a deep cornice and is lit by four large French doors with semi-circular fanlights, one of which is in the south-western end. The vestibule leads off the kitchen and has a glazed pyramidal timber roof lighting a narrow three-panel cellar door fitted with Regency door furniture. A short flight of modern steps descends from the doorway to a brick-vaulted cellar divided into two chambers; the left-hand chamber has a blocked doorway in its northern wall and a doorway in the spine wall opening into the second chamber, which is fitted with brick and timber wine racks. The ground floor of the service range has been substantially modernised with a modern kitchen, day room, breakfast room, cloakroom, study, boiler room, and utility room.

The first-floor bedrooms are all accessed from a landing with a balustrade matching the staircase, giving access to the three principal bedrooms, all with moulded and panelled door-cases and six-panel doors. The string and handrail of the balustrade deflect at one end to accommodate the width of the door-case to the master bedroom. The stair hall ceiling is pierced by a skylight and has a picture rail and a cornice with mutule decoration.

A passageway leads from the southern side of the landing to serve a linen cupboard and a short flight of steps at its southern end, descending to an axial corridor running the length of the service wing, serving two bathrooms and three bedrooms. All principal bedrooms in the main body of the house have lost their fireplaces and have dentil cornices; the north-east bedroom has a modern en-suite bathroom, while the master bedroom has double doors in the south-east wall leading into a dressing room giving access to a modern en-suite bathroom and the roof terrace. The interior of the roof space was not inspected in 2018.

Subsidiary Feature

A ha-ha consisting of an approximately 45.72 metres (150 feet) long coursed rough-dressed dry-stone wall with flat ashlar coping stones and an in-filled ditch separates the immediate environs of the house from the pasture and grounds beyond.