Convent Of The Sacred Heart Of Mary

Convent of The Sacred Heart of Mary

This house was built in 1870 by architect W.G. Bartlett and has been used as a convent since the 1920s. It is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with stone quoins, and is covered with plain tile and machine tile roofs.

The south front comprises a main house to the east and a service wing to the west, rising to 2-3 storeys with an attic. The main range features a 3-gabled elevation with projecting window bays. The left bay has a shaped gable on carved kneelers, with a 6-light cross casement to the ground floor and a 4-light casement above, accompanied by single-light casements in the returns. A moulded stringcourse runs between the floors. The right projection has a straight gable set back and a hipped roof, with 4-light and 3-light cross casements below a moulded stringcourse. The centre element contains a 5-light cross casement to the ground floor within a projecting single-storey bay, where the centre light opens as a doorway. Above this rises a pierced strapwork parapet, a 3-light mezzanine cross casement, and a tall canted oriel supported on a ribbed bracket, lit by single-light casements on either side. The gabled roof carries 5 twin-flued stacks with corbelled tops. The service wing has a projecting upper floor on a canted bay window, with corbelling beneath decorated with palmette and scalloped motifs. A 3-light first-floor casement sits below a sundial dated 1870, with an attic light in the gable head. A connecting link to the left contains 3-light casements to each floor, the ground-floor version featuring a transom, with a 4-centred doorway to its right.

The north front is 2-3 storeys with similar but less elaborate details, together with a 3-storey staircase tower fitted with a 5-light cross casement to the north and a 2-light casement to the west return. A gabled timber porch was added around 1900, featuring glazed panels and half-glazed doors beneath open wavy bargeboards. This porch stands in front of a half-timbered entrance bay with jet tying and pargeting between the first-floor studs.

The windows throughout are mullioned artificial stone casements or cross casements.

The interior contains a staircase hall with moulded mahogany doorcases displaying saw-tooth decoration and corner finials, with 8-panel mahogany doors. An artificial stone chimneypiece features splayed jambs and a pyramid mantel over a frieze carved with stylised fleur-de-lys. The open-well mahogany staircase has a closed string, heavy turned balusters, and ramped and wreathed moulded handrails. The string is carved with different floral patterns, and the panelled dado features carved floral and geometric panels, each different. Two moulded ceiling beams rest on grotesque corbels. The north window contains 5 stained glass panels by Burne-Jones, made by Morris & Co, depicting female figures playing musical instruments, with 5 heads in roundels above. The return window shows figures of Launcelot and Elaine, with 2 heads above.

The east room has a marble chimneypiece with acanthus consoles to the jambs and a frieze of foliage, beneath a ceiling with plaster ribs forming octagons and squares. The window bay has a mahogany surround. The centre room features an identical marble chimneypiece with a plaster ceiling whose ribs radiate from ad quadratum squares, accompanied by foliage trails to the bridging beam and window bay. The room to the west, now used as a chapel, has dado panelling identical to that of the staircase and 3 moulded bridging beams and joists. The main room of the service block contains a 4-centred chimneypiece with inset marble panels to the jambs.

The first-floor principal rooms have similar marble chimneypieces of varying designs, together with plaster cornices and 4-panel softwood doors.