Summerhouse of Stukeley House

Summerhouse built c.1840 in the garden of Stukeley House.

MATERIALS: timber-framing with rendered panels supported on a plinth of ashlared limestone laid to courses. Roof covering of plain red clay tiles.

PLAN: the summerhouse is built up against the north garden wall and faces south over the garden. It is rectangular on plan.

EXTERIOR: the summerhouse is a picturesque little building in the Tudor revival style with square timber framing. It has one storey under a half-hipped, steeply pitched roof with exposed rafters at the eaves. The ridge piece formed of saddle-back tiles is surmounted at the front end by a finial, and at the other end there is a perforated weather vane with the date 1849 located on the wall. In the place of kneelers are the carved timber heads of a dog and a cat which bear the traces of having been painted. The gable end forms the front (south) elevation which has a wide, centrally placed doorway. This has a four-centred arch opening with carved and painted timber birds and foliage in the spandrels. The double-leaf timber doors have a single raised and fielded panel at the bottom, six panes in the middle section, and eighteen small panes in the upper section. This is flanked by two windows with the same glazing bar pattern as the door, except the small panes are of coloured glass of various shades. Above the door is an C18 rectangular stone tablet inscribed with the following: ‘HIC SPARGE FLORES, SPARGE BREVES ROSAS:/ NAM VITA GAUDET MORTUA FLORIBUS:/ HERBISQUE ODORATIS CORONA/ VATIS ADHUC CINEREM CALENTEM.’ (This translates as ‘Here scatter flowers, scatter brief roses/ For life (which dies) rejoices in flowers/ And with sweet smelling plants/ Crowns the still warm ashes of the poet’.) Above the tablet, supported by carved timber consoles, is a blind box containing a wide blind to pull down over the door and windows. The side elevations have a mid-rail and convex braces between the wall plate and posts. They are lit by a single window in the same style as those on the front.

INTERIOR: this has a canted ceiling clad in square panelling, four panels of which are pierced in an elaborate pattern. The interior is also panelled to dado height and the north wall has a shallow, three-centred arch recess. There is a stone chimneypiece in the north-east corner which has a moulded Tudor arch, and the floor is covered in wood blocks laid in a chequerboard pattern.