Walcot Hall

Walcot Hall is a small country house dating from the mid-to-late 18th century, originally commissioned for Thomas Goulton. It underwent alterations in the early 19th century, including the addition of an entrance porch. Around 1964, the central section was lowered to two storeys and the west front was demolished. Originally designed with an H-shaped plan, composed of five bays by five bays, it featured a three-bay central section flanked by projecting, canted end bays to the north and south fronts, and a central entrance hall fronting to the east. The surviving portion consists of two bays of the former central section facing the rear of the property.

The east front displays a two-storey, 2:1:2 bay arrangement, with the central bay projecting forward and the end bays canted at their returns. The facade includes a plinth and a Doric porch with four fluted columns supporting a carved capital, a full entablature, and a cornice featuring triglyphs, guttae, and mutules. It contains a pair of glazed doors with five panes above single panels, flanked by similarly glazed sidelights set beneath a plain stucco lintel. The windows are 12-pane sashes with projecting cills, set within flat, rubbed brick arches with a three-course brick first-floor band. The first floor features pairs of similar windows to the side bays, and a tripartite window above the entrance, incorporating a central 12-pane sash and sidelights divided by fluted pilasters. The canted returns feature matching 12-pane sashes on each face. The roof is hipped, and there are a pair of chimneys to the rear.

Inside, the entrance hall has a plaster frieze alternating fluted panels with gilded urns, while a pair of fluted pilasters flank the opening to a rear stair hall. The three-flight open-well staircase features a ramped and wreathed handrail and pairs of column-on-vase balusters with square knops to each tread. The left ground floor saloon has a moulded dado rail, a dentilled cornice, and a chimney piece with fluted pilasters and urns flanking a fluted frieze. The right ground floor saloon also features a moulded dado rail and dentilled cornice, along with a later 19th-century marble chimney piece. The rear library contains a moulded cornice and a chimney piece with a fluted frieze and dentilled cornice. The first-floor hall mirrors the ground floor hall’s detailing. A window above the entrance, framed by pilasters, is flanked by fluted pilasters supporting a moulded segmental arch. Throughout the house, one finds architraves, fielded-panel doors, and window shutters.