Bower House

Bower House is a 17th-century farmhouse that forms part of the historic Holme Lacy Estate. The building was constructed in the mid to late 17th century as a tenant farm, and has been substantially modified over three centuries. It comprises a two-storey principal range with cross-wings at either end, each containing an attic floor, together with a rear two-storey range and a single-storey stone outshut with catslide roof to the north-west.

The façade is an early 18th-century red brick re-fronting across four bays, set beneath a steeply-pitched roof with projecting gabled end bays. The central two-storey bays are recessed, featuring a round-arched door with fanlight to the right and three 18th-century window openings with flat sandstone arches and raised keystones. Disturbed brickwork between the first-floor openings marks the location of a former opening. The wide gabled bays either side project forward, each containing a single 18th-century window opening at ground, first, and attic floors, all with sandstone arches and keystones. Three windows retain their original timber sashes, one without horns; the remaining windows throughout the building are later 20th-century uPVC or timber replacements. An interrupted three-course brick storey band runs at first-floor level across the façade and is repeated on the east flank wall.

The east flank wall is largely red brick with variously modified openings. It ties into the rear range with large sandstone quoins at the north. The rear range, orientated east-west, is built of rubble sandstone under a hipped roof, with visible stonework disturbance at upper levels and brick cogging beneath the eaves. A stone gable, belonging to the rear of the east cross-wing, projects above the hipped roof. Window and door openings are irregularly placed and show 19th and 20th-century alteration. The west cross-wing range is two storeys with attic, constructed of rubble stone, and has irregularly-spaced openings. Evidence of former lime-wash remains on the brick elevations, particularly at ground-floor level. Four brick chimney stacks, principally of 19th-century date, rise through the roof slopes. The roofs are covered in 20th-century clay tiles.

The main door opens into a narrow hallway with a late 19th-century tiled floor and an early 19th-century stair to the right. The stair retains its decorative string and conceals the location of an earlier winder stair. A large proportion of the joinery throughout the house dates from early 19th-century refurbishment, including skirting boards, door architraves, rebated shutters, cupboards inserted into internal walls, covered fireplaces, and some doors. The principal room to the left of the stair contains an early 19th-century alcove cut into the north end walls, along with shutters, floorboards, and a later 19th-century fireplace of that period. The partition wall between this room and the hall dates to the early 19th century.

Other ground and first-floor rooms have been substantially refurbished in the later 20th century for office use, including partitioning and replacement or fire-protection covering of doors. The rear range contains a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops in the west room, with other examples possibly concealed within later ceilings. Other ceiling beams across the ground and first floors are chamfered without stops. The west cross-wing has a sealed inglenook in the north room, with an intact bread oven to the left. The spine wall between the re-fronted range and rear range is of substantial depth.

The attic floor is accessed from the west range. The main roof structure above the central bays of the south elevation contains two large trusses with carpenter's marks, below an offset ridge beam. The roof structure includes substantial double purlins and rafters, modified by the insertion of brick stacks and a concealed dormer in the rear slope. It has been further adapted at either end to accommodate the projecting cross-wings, using substantial timbers. The west range contains four evenly-spaced trusses with large purlins. The rear range roof contains three pegged king-post trusses and chamfered purlins. The attic floor retains a number of 18th-century plank doors with iron fittings and iron ceiling hooks.

The Holme Lacy Estate has historic associations with the Lacy family, and later with the Scudamore family, who were the principal landowners in Herefordshire by 1663. The second Viscount Scudamore built Holme Lacy House in 1674, and Bower House was constructed as the focal point of a tenant farm during this mid to late 17th-century period. The building was re-fronted and otherwise adapted in the early 18th century, and underwent further refurbishment and internal reordering in the early 19th century. The building's current plan is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1888, though the projecting gables on the south elevation are not marked. The Holme Lacy Estate, comprising 18 tenant farms and numerous other holdings by the early 20th century, was sold and subsequently purchased by Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth Bart., who resold it to F. Noel H. Wills in 1924. Herefordshire Council acquired the estate in 1934 and operated the farm until the 1960s, when a college was established on the site. Bower House was converted to office use in the later 20th century, a use it retains.