Westwood House

Westwood House is a hunting lodge extended as a country house, now converted to flats. Built around 1600 for Sir John Pakington, it was substantially enlarged between 1660 and 1670 for his grandson, also Sir John Pakington. The house underwent mid-19th-century alterations by P Hardwick, early 20th-century alterations by Sir Reginald Blomfield for Lord Doverdale, and further modifications during the mid-20th century when it was converted to flats.

The building is constructed in red brick with English bond and red sandstone ashlar dressings, with plain tiled roofs in Jacobean style. The house has a distinctive plan: a central rectangle forming the original hunting lodge, with two full-height angled bays on each front. The north and south elevations feature additional large central bays. The most striking feature is the four large angled wings added to each corner, creating one of the most distinctively shaped houses in the county. The building rises four storeys with a cellar, though the principal east-facing front varies between three and four storeys.

All elevations display wide moulded floor strings that drop or rise as necessary at the junctions with the angle wings. Memorable cornices run across all elevations, decorated with heraldic devices of gerbes alternating with mullets from the Pakington coat of arms, particularly visible at the centre of the principal front. Three shaped gables appear on each front, each containing a mullet within a circular panel at the apex, rising from behind the angled bays, with moulded cappings and ornamental finials. The angle wings terminate in pavilions with full-height angled bays, capped by two-stage ogee cupolas with fishscale tiles and finials, added by Blomfield in the early 20th century. Between these pavilions and the main block are additional shaped gables. Windows throughout are tall mullioned and transomed types of 2-, 4-, and 5-lights with king mullions and leaded casements.

The principal entrance front facing east is remorselessly symmetrical, with central three bays flanked by two bays in each projecting angled wing. The central entrance porch is constructed in limestone with marble inlay panels, presenting a tripartite design incorporating a Triumphal arch motif with fluted Corinthian columns. Above are strapwork cartouches and a central headless eagle with an allegorical figure astride it. Within the porch is a round-arched doorway with 17th-century-style oak doors, flanked by pilasters enriched with lozenges; heraldic mullets appear on the soffits and seriatim throughout the house, including the lead guttering. The parapet above the entrance is capped with lead urns between which sits an unusual latticework balcony of cast iron bars. On the first floor above the entrance is a large achievement of arms set within an enriched square panel. Ground and first-floor windows have two transoms and two sunk-chamfer king mullions. The wings display dressings in more reddish-coloured sandstone with a chamfered stone plinth; the first of the two bays on each side is set back with a small ogee-headed doorway at the bottom of the outermost side. The opposing sides of the wings show slightly irregular junctions with the main block and large external chimneys capped by diagonally-set shafts.

The west front, opposite the principal entrance, has two chimneys set between the outer angled bays, causing a change in design to the central gable, each chimney with paired diagonally-set shafts. At the centre of this front is a single-storey kitchen extension dating to around 1840. The north front features sandstone angled buttresses to the central bay, with a late 17th-century single-storey square bay window projecting from it, displaying chamfered rustication to the dressings and angled voussoirs. Above this is a lattice-pattern cast iron balcony resembling that above the principal entrance porch. A single-storey 18th-century extension with modillion cornice is situated to the right of the late 17th-century square bay in the angle with the north-west wing.

Internally, the porch leads into the Hall. The traditional entry arrangement may have been relocated around 1660 when the porch was built. The panelling of the ground floor rooms and Hall was replaced around 1840. Behind the Hall, extending across the full length of the house from north to south at first-floor level, is the staircase hall, dating to around 1670. The staircase comprises two main flights with a main landing, each flight divided into eight risers separated by small landings of equal length. The handrails are moulded with turned balusters and massive newel posts surmounted by Corinthian columns with ball finials.

The Saloon features a magnificent plaster ceiling dating to around 1670, with a central oval wreath within a shaped panel enclosed by heavily moulded ribs, the soffit enriched with deeply undercut foliage. The remainder of the ceiling is made up of wreaths and panels, with the cove decorated with large festoons. An early 17th-century highly elaborate oak chimney piece frames the fireplace, constructed with coupled columns of two superimposed orders, the lower Ionic and the upper Corinthian, both with ornate carved friezes. Above the fireplace is a panel with enriched bolection moulding. The surfaces behind the columns display naturalistic carving, with fluted niches featuring strapwork detailing.

The rooms in the wings leading from the Saloon have similar plaster ceilings on a smaller and less impressive scale. The north-east wing contains a fine wood chimney piece with naturalistic carving painted white.

The Westwood Estate was founded in the 12th century as an abbey of the Order of Fontevrault, later becoming a Benedictine nunnery. After the Dissolution, it passed to the Pakington family. The original hunting lodge was of tall, compact design comparable to Barlborough in Derbyshire and the hunting lodges at Cranbourne and Sherborne (now Sherborne Castle). Given these analogies, the angle wings added in 1660 were probably enlargements of former angle turrets or similar structures. The overall layout of ancillary buildings and the estate as shown in Kip's illustration of around 1698 added to the dramatic effect of the house plan, though this is now diminished by the removal of garden enclosures, two of the four garden pavilions, and changes in surrounding parkland use. However, Blomfield's early 20th-century replacement of former short spires on the angled wings with two-stage ogee cupolas has enhanced the house's appearance and helped relate it once more to the gatehouse and two surviving pavilions.

To the south of the house is a late 19th-century formal garden with low perimeter walls and a central basin; a small topiary garden adjoins it.