Betton House

Betton House

House of the mid-to-late 18th century, constructed in red brick with grey sandstone ashlar dressings. The building has a hipped slate roof with half-conical sections over bows, and rises to three storeys.

Exterior

The main front features a stone plinth and moulded stone cornice returned to the sides, with a blocking course above. Two pairs of brick ridge stacks are positioned off-centre to left and right, each with projecting stone bands and toothed-brick cornices. The front elevation is arranged in 3:1:3 bays with full-height bows. Windows are glazing bar sashes with stone cills and lintels. The central windows have moulded stone architraves, and the first-floor central window includes balustrading beneath, a frieze with paterae and a moulded cornice. The central door comprises six raised and fielded panels, with a wreathed radial fanlight incorporating husks as spokes. The wooden Ionic doorcase consists of three-quarter columns supporting dosserets with a fluted frieze and open triangular pediment.

The left-hand return (garden front) displays a pilaster strip at the right end of the front wall. There is a plinth to the right, a plat band between ground and first floors, and a dentil brick eaves cornice with bricks on the side. This elevation has 3:1 bays, with segmental-headed boxed glazing bar sashes to the right and stone cills. A full-height bow to the left has a half-conical roof and curved triple boxed glazing bar sashes with stone cills and lintels. An 18th-century lead downpipe with straps and a fluted semi-circular rainwater head is positioned to the right.

The right-hand return front has a plat band and dentil brick eaves cornice, with two bays. Segmental-headed trompe-l'oeil glazing bar sashes occupy the second floor (two windows) and first floor (one window at left). The ground-floor windows are segmental-headed but are obscured by a later lean-to. An 18th-century lead downpipe with straps and fluted semi-circular rainwater head stands to the left.

A two-storey brick service wing projects at the rear, with a brick ridge stack and an external lateral stack. An early 20th-century projecting apsidal summerhouse with French casements is flanked by full-height horned glazing bar sashes with stone lintels and a half-conical roof.

The second floor displays darker brickwork than the lower storeys, visible on the side walls. This may indicate early 19th-century rebuilding or simply the use of a different batch of bricks, though the identical window details above and below suggest the latter explanation.

Interior

The principal staircase is an 18th-century dog-leg design with landings around a rectangular well. The open string features cut brackets, fluted balusters (two per tread) returning to the landing, and a wreathed moulded handrail with a fluted foot newel. A round-arched staircase window illuminates the rear. Two 18th-century oak doors on the first-floor landing each have two raised and fielded panels. An attic staircase with stick balusters also survives.

The left-hand ground-floor room contains a probably early 20th-century Ionic screen with two fluted columns and a lugged architrave between the room and entrance hall. An early 19th-century reeded fireplace surround with grate occupies this space. The right-hand ground-floor room features a moulded-arched recess and a guilloche-ornamented frieze, with a 20th-century fireplace surround containing an 18th- or early 19th-century cast-iron grate. The rear room has an early 19th-century fireplace with reeded surround and cast-iron basket grate. Bedroom fireplaces contain 18th-century basket grates and some plain 18th-century surrounds. Six-panelled 18th-century doors are found throughout the house, some in round-arched openings. Panelled window shutters remain in place.

According to the occupier as of July 1986, Sir Oswald Mosley lived here at some time.