Epcombs And Garden Wall To West

Epcombs and Garden Wall to West

A small country house with origins in the 17th century, substantially altered and extended during the 18th century, early 19th century, and early 20th century. The building is constructed of pink-brown brick laid in English and Flemish bond, with a timber-framed core. The roofs are hipped Welsh slate behind parapets, with red brick chimneystacks featuring brick bands, dentil courses, and oversailing caps topped with cream terracotta rimmed pots.

The house plan evolved from a 17th-century hall at its core, with east and west cross wings. The south and west fronts were refronted in the 18th century, the west wing and north range were rebuilt in the early 19th century, and an irregular angled link with a southeast wing was added in 1902 by architects Wood and Ainslie.

The south front presents two storeys and attics. The rebuilt west wing at the left comprises two bays with two recessed twelve-pane sashes on the first floor set under rubbed brick flat arches. The ground floor features full-length openings with twelve-pane sashes above dwarf doors, concealed by a tall parapet. The centre section, slightly recessed, spans four bays with four flush-set twelve-pane sashes with projecting blind boxes beneath rubbed flat arches, a plat band above, and a tall parapet partly concealing a setback early 18th-century truncated gabled dormer clad in weatherboard with a sash window and lead flat roof with modillioned eaves cornice. The ground floor contains two 19th-century French windows with six large panes; blank brickwork to the left masks the vestibule of an earlier lobby entry to the property against the chimneybreast, while an early 20th-century conservatory to the right conceals a third French window. The angled link to the southeast wing largely obscures the parapeted front of the original east wing.

The garden front of the 1902 southeast wing displays two twelve-pane sashes on the first floor and two full-length multi-pane French windows with transom lights on the ground floor, beneath a tall parapet with setback hipped roof in the style of the east wing. A loggia with plain tiled roof extends along the right-hand southeast flank elevation into the projecting roof of the single-storey servants' hall.

The east elevation is largely obscured by an irregular grouping of one-storey outbuildings. Two first-floor sashes are visible in the centre with one tall plain glazed sash at the far right. A box dormer with a nine-pane sash sits between two chimneystacks—the left one truncated and the right one featuring an external chimneybreast with tall square shaft.

The north end elevation of the east cross wing is setback at the left and partly covered by the north range. The brickwork is irregular, incorporating some English bond, with plat bands at first and second-floor levels raised over windows. Recessed twelve-pane sashes with architrave surrounds indicate the casing of an earlier timber-framed structure. The attic brickwork includes one blocked window at the left below a central nine-pane casement and a half-hipped roof; the adjacent return flank of the north range features English bond brickwork.

The main north front spans six bays. The first floor has six recessed twelve-pane sashes spaced in a 3:1:2 pattern. The ground floor has three sashes at the left and two sashes with lower dwarf flush-panelled doors at the right. A recessed 18th-century half-glazed door with quadrant bars and two lower raised and fielded panels occupies the centre right, housed in a doorcase with an elliptical arch, impost bands, and slim pilasters.

The west front comprises four bays with four twelve-pane sash windows on the first floor and two sashes at ground floor level to the left and right. A central porch features six-pane French windows with slim pilaster surround, recessed between Tuscan antae and responds on plinth bases, topped with an entablature with modillion cornice and lean-to lead roll roof.

A red brick garden wall to the west of the house divides the west forecourt from the gardens. This wall includes a garden door with recessed pilasters and Portland stone caps, the opening crowned by a red rubbed brick flat arch with a stone keyblock carved with the head of Medusa. The wall also features circular openings and niches for sculptures including a figure of a satyr.

The interior reflects the complex building history. The 1902 remodelling introduced the southeast wing with a Smoking Room featuring an Arts and Crafts fireplace. The Drawing Room contains a 19th-century plaster frieze and cornice with swags and rosettes. The entrance hall leads to the stair hall. The north vestibule is a small square hall with some 18th-century panelling and early 20th-century work, and a 20th-century eared-architrave fire surround. The Dining Room occupies the position of the original hall and features Tuscan columns on the line of the recessed front, 17th-century reproduction panelling to door height, an 18th-century wood cornice, and a closet alongside the fireplace that may represent the original lobby entry vestibule. The stair in the north re-entrant behind the west wing is an early 19th-century open-well design with an open string, Tuscan column newels, stick balusters, and a plain moulded handrail with sweeping curtail steps at the foot. The stair hall is top-lit by a lantern light. The first floor contains two principal bedrooms in the west wing with late 18th and early 19th-century features including arcaded door heads, some 18th-century panelling, wood cornices, and two-panel doors with H-hinges. Later subdivision created a bathroom, and rooms in the north range were remodelled in the early 20th century. An 18th-century stair to the attic in the east wing features a dogleg plan, newel construction, columns on bobbins on urn balustrades, and a moulded handrail; the simple panelled dado above the first flight diminishes for the top run. The attics are ceiled at collar level with plank and two-panel doors dating from the 17th and early 18th centuries; the rear wall appears subdivided into gables. The east wing contains two attics on either side of a central stair, each with plank doors with broad architraves. The upper roof structures were not accessible for inspection.

Epcombs originated as a pre-Conquest farm, although the subsequent history of the estate remains uncertain. The gardens extend on both sides of the River Mimram. Jane Austen stayed at the house, which is reputedly the model for Longbourn, the home of the Bennet family in her novel Pride and Prejudice.