St Vincent'S House

This is a small country house, built around 1868 for Richard Hornsby, an industrialist who owned local iron and agricultural engine works. It is constructed in the Gothic Revival style. The exterior is predominantly rock-faced limestone, with ashlar dressings and steeply pitched Welsh slate roofs featuring decorative ridge tiles. Ashlar coped gables are accented with moulded kneelers and finials. There are two external chimneys on the rear wall, with tall ashlar stacks; other stacks have been capped. The building has a moulded ashlar plinth and flush quoins, and extends over two storeys plus attics. The plan is irregular.

The north entrance front features a central, projecting gabled wing, with a single-storey, lean-to porch to the left. The doorway has a pointed arched, moulded ashlar surround with marble shafts and a hood mould. Above the doorway is a moulded ashlar parapet pierced with quatrefoils. To the right is a 2-light, chamfered window with tracery, above a single plain sash in a flat-headed, chamfered surround with a pointed inner arch. Above this is a 3-light chamfered mullion window, with a taller central light containing cusped heads. A circular tower rises at the north-west corner, spanning three storeys. The lower two storeys have three single-light, chamfered lancets with quatrefoil tracery. The third floor features an 8-light glazed arcade with marble shafted columns and cusped tops, set beneath a moulded band decorated with quatrefoils. The tower is topped with a conical slate roof. The west and south fronts are similar in appearance.

Inside, the entrance hall has encased marble pillars and a carved stone staircase. From 1922 to 1977, the house was owned by the Air Ministry, serving as the Headquarters of No. 5 Group, Bomber Command from 1937 to 1943; the famous “Dambusters” raid on the Ruhr Dams by 617 Squadron was controlled from here. Various extensions and additions were made by the Air Ministry, but these were removed, and the house was restored after it became the District Council Headquarters in 1977. No buildings in the grounds are of particular interest.