Hillside and attached wings

Hillside and attached wings

A house dating from around 1810 with attached stable wings, built of red brick laid in Flemish bond on a buff sandstone plinth with stone dressings and a slate roof. The building has undergone various alterations over time. (A rendered extension against the original east gable wall, a 21st-century access tower and its link to the house, 19th-century boundary walls, and a 21st-century paved patio with dwarf walls are excluded from the listing as they are not of special architectural or historic interest.)

The house is double-pile in plan with flanking single-depth stable wings and some rear extensions. The land falls away to the west. The north-facing front elevation comprises five bays arranged over two storeys above a cellar. It is symmetrical, with an ashlar cellar plinth, double flight of entrance steps, a plat band, an eaves cornice, and gable stacks. The central doorway has a basket arch and is framed by engaged Ionic columns carrying a simple cornice with a semi-elliptical fanlight above. The original door contains six raised and fielded panels. All windows are original unhorned sashes with 12 panes, each with painted stone lintels and sills. The stone approach steps are open-string with projecting nosings and a balustrade of replacement iron stick balusters and handrail on the flights and outer edges of the landing. The landing features a sunflower-like design in its centre. The cast-iron posts are original except for a replacement newel at the foot of the left flight. The balustrade is topped by a late-19th-century lantern support (with replacement lantern), featuring ladder-bars and a swan-neck stay tied to the cornice of the doorway, with replacement leaves and scrolls. The plinth has a cellar opening on either side.

To either side of the house are lower two-storey wings. The western wing is symmetrical; the eastern wing is not, and is wider. Each wing features segmental arches to the ground floor, where each has two wide openings with a slender doorway between, and a pair of replacement lunette windows to the first floor. In the easternmost opening (missing its former iron gates as of 2024), the lintel has been widened and flattened; the passage is blocked and the right-hand opening of the east wing has a pair of vertically hung timber doors. In the west wing, the left-hand opening is blocked to form a window, the passage doorway provides access to the bar, and the right-hand opening also has timber doors. The west wing has stone pads at the opening jambs, with an Ordnance Survey datum mark on the lower left stone of the passageway jamb. The passage-fronts to the east wing are rendered, each with two doorways.

The east wall is rendered and largely obscured by a two-and-a-half-storey rendered extension of no special interest (excluded from the listing). Above and behind this is a wide gable stack with a corbel and eight late-19th-century pots. A three-storey glazed and rendered 21st-century access tower is attached to the left, with a similarly detailed link connecting to the house; these are excluded from the listing.

The rear elevation is partially obscured on the right by the modern access tower. To the left is a late-19th-century flat-roofed extension with a cornice and parapet, featuring four tall sash windows without glazing bars; above are two sash windows. The roof has a modern skylight and a small chimneystack below the ridge. West of the flat-roofed extension is the gable end of an early-19th-century single-storey rear range to the western stable wing. The rear of the western half of the western stable wing is obscured by its modern extension; the first floor is rendered.

The building's west elevation is obscured at ground floor level by the former stable ranges. Above this, it is rendered and scored, with a replacement large arch-headed stair window and attic sash windows. A wide gable chimneystack is corbelled and has eight pots.

Internally, the plan form has been altered but remains largely legible, particularly on the ground floor. A stone-flagged central entrance hall leads to the staircase, which rises to the west along the spine wall. The front entrance has an internal surround with pilasters and reeding; the vestibule screen is late-19th-century and altered with a widened doorway. Openings to rooms off the entrance hall, with reeded jambs, have been widened. Most spaces retain historic decorative joinery (including shutters) and plasterwork, though these are partially obscured by modern service decks. The south-east room of the original house is an exception, fitted with modern kitchen equipment and finishes. The north-west room retains ceiling strapwork and a fireplace with a fluted and reeded surround decorated with pomegranates. The north-east room extends eastwards into the east stable wing via basket-arched openings with plaster mouldings and retains a ceiling rose. A depressed-arch opening from the stair hall accesses the stone-flagged service corridor; a mid-19th-century larger arched opening here has been altered. The rear dining room has a modern wide opening and retains a late-19th-century fireplace and decorative plasterwork. The service corridor extends westwards into the rear range of the western stable wing (latterly used as toilets but retaining hewn roof timbers). The cellar is also stone-flagged.

The stair hall retains decorative plaster cornicing and a ceiling rose, along with an elaborate basket arch to the landing. The open-string staircase features brackets decorated with Vitruvian scrolls, stick balusters, and a mahogany handrail with a scrolled newel, as well as a modern handrail. The stair window surround has reeded jambs and a semi-circular head decorated with radially set feathers; the window retains rose-coloured margin-pane glazing.

The first floor is more extensively altered but retains some historic door surrounds, shutters, plaster cornicing, and fireplaces. The roofspace and upper floor of the east stable wing have modern interiors, though the roof structure is historic, retaining possible carpenters' marks and elements of the original internal box gutters. The western stable wing is thought to have a largely modern bar interior on the ground floor.