Chiverton House, Attached Boundary Walls Gatepiers And Railings

Chiverton House, along with its attached boundary walls, gatepiers, and railings, is a building with significant group value, dating from the 17th century, with substantial alterations in 1712 and the 19th century. The house is constructed of coursed squared coal measures sandstone with ashlar dressings, coped gables with moulded kneelers, ashlar ridge stacks (reduced in height), and a stone slated roof. The symmetrical design features advanced towers at either end and a broad central gable. It is two storeys and attics, with six bays, the two centre bays recessed under the central gable, and includes small gabled attic dormers providing access to the tops of the towers. The central doorway has a rusticated ashlar surround and lintel, featuring an advanced keyblock integrated with a perimeter band that returns in a shouldered form onto the jambs. A 20th-century glazed door with glazing bars fills the opening. Flanking the doorway are two-light chamfer mullioned windows with transoms, with the mullions slightly recessed, all beneath a continuous string course that steps down over the door head. Paired mullioned and transomed windows flank the central bays, repeating this pattern on the first floor, also with a stringcourse. The gables incorporate two two-light chamfer mullioned windows beneath a continuous dripmould, and the gable apex features a single-light 17th-century opening. The west gable has two two-light chamfer mullioned windows to the attic and was previously roughcast. The rear elevation includes a full-height offshut with a steeply pitched roof. Internally, a 17th-century hearth survives at the west end, featuring a segmental arch to the head of a wide hearth. A full-height stair with turned balusters in pine is present in the central bays. The remaining ground floor rooms were remodelled in the 19th century. The front of the house is enclosed by stepped stone walls with flat copings to the east and west, and is retained by a stone wall with a slightly curved coping. Ashlar gatepiers, square on plan, with moulded cornices topped by acorn finials (with ball finials to the end piers) flank a central stepped approach. They support ornamental cast iron railings and double gates. A tall stone wall, pierced by a doorway with an elliptical arched head and a plain planked door, stands to the east of the most easterly pier. This wall curves upwards at the eastern end to link with the eaves of an adjacent outbuilding. A plan of 1692 depicts a garden wall to the rear of the house, which is now unlisted. The date 1712 is accompanied by the initials JB, referencing John Brown of Heston, Middlesex, who purchased the house in 1711.