Higher House

SJ 5223 - 5323 17/35 28.10.60

GRINSHILL C.P. HIGH STREET (North side)

Higher House

GV II

House. Early C18, refenestrated in the mid-to late C19 and extended in the early C19. Red brick with painted sandstone ashlar dressings, addition faced in tooled rusticated grey sandstone ashlar; plain tile roofs, hipped over left-hand wing. 2 storeys and 2 storeys and attic over basement. Moulded plinth, raised chamfered quoins, plat band, moulded wooden dentil eaves cornice; central break with quoins and oeil-de-boeuf in tympanum of steep triangular pedimented gable with moulded verges. Parapeted gable ends with chamfered coping and moulded kneelers and external brick end stacks. 1:1:1 bays; glazing bar and 4-pane sashes with stone cills and lintels with raised keystones, that to centre triple; pair of probably late C18 ground-floor canted bays with glazing bar sashes, moulded eaves cornices and lead tops. Pair of central half-glazed panelled doors have lugged moulded architrave with projecting triple keystone and flat hood on carved scroll brackets with moulded cornice and 2-panelled soffit. Early C19 wing set back to left with first-floor cill band, moulded stone eaves cornice (dentil brick to side) and integral brick end stack to left; 2 first-floor 2- light wooden casements and 3 ground floor Gothick glazing bar sashes with Y-tracery. Left-hand return front with probably reset datestone inscribed: E Rear: 2 storey and attic-gabled wing to left with dressed red I E sandstone lower parts and triple-keyed sashes; central stair 1657 tower and one-storey kitchen wing to right with brick stack. Interior: mid-C18 stair-case with open string, turned balusters (2 per tread), columnular foot newel post and moulded ramped handrail; balustrade returning to landing. Early C18 depressed-arched fireplace in right-hand bedroom with raised-and-fielded panelled surround and fluted keystone,and early C18 fireplace in left-hand bedroom with raised-and-fielded panelled surround including keystone with shaped lower edge. Early C18 door under back stairs with bolection-moulded panels and H-hinges. Three early C18 fireplaces in ground-floor rooms introduced in the late C20; that in right-hand room with lugged architrave, pulvinated frieze and dentil cornice, that in left-hand room with lugged architrave, frieze with husk festoons and moulded cornice, and that in early C19 addition to left with lugged architrave, carved pulvinated frieze with flanking scrolls, and cornice with egg and dart enrichment. The front of the C18 part was formerly of 2:1:2 bays (see straight joints of blocked windows). The fenestration was probably altered in the mid-to late C18. The house is similar in design to The Well House and the Elephant and Castle Hotel (q.v.) and might be by the same architect (see steep pedimented gable). B.o.E., p. 135.

Listing NGR: SJ5206723514