Madresfield Court, Including Bridge, Retaining Wall And North Service Court

Madresfield Court, including bridge, retaining wall and north service court

Madresfield Court is a Grade I listed country house, built in the 16th century on the site of an earlier moated settlement, with substantial later additions. The house was extensively restored, rebuilt and extended between 1866 and 1888 by architect P C Hardwick.

The main structure is built of brick with stone dressings and a tile roof. The entrance front is approached by a 16th or 17th century brick bridge. Four gabled bays were raised by one storey to four storeys in 1885, with the two central bays projecting forward. Windows are mullioned with transoms on the ground and first floors. To the left stands a fifth gabled bay, canted back to follow the line of the moat, which is two storeys with an attic storey. The west side of the house contains servants' rooms and is fitted with glazing bar sashes.

On the north side, a service court including a game larder and brew house was added in 1870 and connected to the main house by a covered bridge spanning the moat. To the right of the entrance front is a two-storey canted bay window serving the library, with the south wall of the chapel adjoining it. The east side displays a variety of bay windows and gables. Running parallel with the projecting chapel at the north end of the east front is the north-east wing, containing the drawing room and music room on the site of 18th century extensions. A timber bellcote with fleche was added in 1875 near the junction of the wing with the main house. A retaining wall follows the line of the moat to connect the chapel with the north-east wing.

In the centre of the house is a courtyard. On its south side is a wall of stone tracery with double doors opening into the dining room. The other elevations are elaborately timber-framed, with jetties on the west and north sides and an east gallery. The courtyard paving shows an inlaid pattern and the date "1888".

Interior

The staircase hall, dating from 1913, features three glass domes. The stair and galleries on two sides have carved newels and irontwist glass balusters. The dining room, occupying the site of the great hall, has a false hammerbeam roof and a chimney piece incorporating re-used 17th century woodwork.

On the first floor, the long gallery on the east side is positioned on the site of the Elizabethan gallery. It contains re-set panelling of that period and a chimneypiece of 1610, originally removed from a farmhouse. The first floor room over the entrance retains an original plaster frieze and a ceiling in three panels. Another bedroom has a ceiling of shallow pitch decorated with vine, rose and acorn ornament in an ogival pattern. The Japanese Bedroom and an adjoining bedroom are fitted with Deuxieme Empire panelling added in 1874.

The library contains woodwork by C R Ashbee and the Guild of Handicraft, including two doors and bookstack ends carved with the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. The Chapel features a complete scheme of Arts and Crafts decoration carried out between 1902 and 1923. Tempera murals by Henry Payne depict Lord and Lady Beauchamp and their family. The reredos is by W H Bidlake, the panels and altar frontal by G M Gere, and glass quarries by M Lamplugh.