Foxhunt Manor including the terrace wall and steps

Foxhunt Manor

A country house built in 1898–1899 in Jacobean style, probably designed by Frederick Reeve, a land agent from Halland. The building has been substantially extended and altered since its construction. Brick extensions were added to the north side in 1964 by the firm J H Alleyn and Associates, and are of lesser architectural interest. An extension was added to the north-east by 1931, and circa 1936 the staircase-hall was divided to form a separate room at the south end.

The house is constructed of red brick in English bond with terracotta window dressings. The roof is plain-tiled and hipped with terracotta ridge tiles. Brick chimneystacks are set diagonally, many in clusters. Windows throughout are mullion and transom casements under drip moulds, some with leaded lights.

The original plan was roughly L-shaped with a conservatory to the east, arranged around a central staircase-hall with four reception rooms and service rooms to the north-west. This layout was progressively modified through the 20th century.

The south or entrance front is almost symmetrical, presenting two storeys and attics across five bays. The central and end bays project. The central bay has a crenellated parapet with two-light windows to the upper floors, each with trefoil heads. The ground floor contains a wide gabled porch of possibly mid-20th century date, surrounding an earlier flat wooden hood supported on wooden Tuscan columns. Double doors are approached by steps. The recessed bays flanking the central projection have hipped dormers and plain parapets. The first floor has three-light mullion and transom windows; the left ground floor window is four-light, the right side window three-light. The end bays are notably wider, with Dutch gables topped by terracotta finials and three-light attic windows. The lower floors of these bays project and have pierced parapets with strapwork motifs below five-light windows.

The west side comprises two distinct sections. The southern part, containing some reception rooms, is of two storeys and five bays. The central bay projects beneath a pierced balustrade with strapwork decoration, with five-light mullioned and transomed windows below. The ground floor window has a central arched light and stained glass shields in the transoms. A later 20th-century wood and glazed balcony has been added to the southern bay of the first floor. The southern bay ground floor has a three-light window with an arched head. The northern end of this section has two similar wooden mullion and transom windows on the first floor; the ground floor window has a brick projection to the north forming part of the service end. The northern section of the west side, originally the service end, is of two storeys in matching brickwork with plainer wooden mullion and transom windows.

The east side has a parapet along most of its length with two external chimneystacks. A large later 20th-century wooden dormer with three casement windows has been added at the north. The first floor has two mullion and transom windows, one two-light and one four-light. The ground floor contains a circa 1898 T-shaped cast iron conservatory on a brick base, with paired arched lights and decorative ironwork. The gable to the eastern T-wing has an oval shell fanlight over double doors. At the north end is a hipped-roofed projection with a three-light casement window.

The north side features a projecting gable to the east with a two-storey canted bay containing mullion and transom windows, a recessed centre, and a projecting bay to the west, to which the 1960s wing is attached.

Attached to the west, south and east sides is a terrace wall of similar brick construction, with brick piers at regular intervals crowned by gadrooned terracotta urns and linked by sections of terracotta balustrade. On the west side a flight of steps has solid balustrading and terracotta coping. The centre of the south side, opposite the main entrance, has a break in the balustrade.

The south entrance opens into an entrance hall with a square ribbed wooden ceiling and full-height panelling with pilasters and a frieze of grotesque heads. Originally this room incorporated the main staircase and corridor to the north, but a partition wall with plainer panelling and double doors with a round-headed fanlight was added later, probably after 1935 when the building became a school. The oak main staircase and corridor retain panelling similar to the entrance hall with an identical frieze. The staircase has flat balusters and square newel posts with Jacobean style finials.

The room to the west of the entrance hall has a square panelled ribbed oak ceiling, panelling to dado height, and an oak fireplace surround with strapwork motifs, pilasters and an over-mantel with matching details and a central panel bearing a warrior's profile and scroll work. The west wall has an alcove with a four-centred arch; the centre is dated 1936, but the carving appears to be of the 1890s.

The ground floor room to the east is plainer but retains a late 19th-century fire surround with garlands and paired columns. The adjoining conservatory retains its original multi-coloured tile floor, original shelves and heating pipes.

North of the east ground floor room is a large former billiard room with a panelled alcove set within a large segmental arch supported on pilasters.

North of the west ground floor room is a former library with an oak ribbed ceiling, panelling, built-in shelving with pilasters and a carved frieze. The fire surround has fluted pilasters, a tiled hearth and an over-mantel with three round-headed arches and fluted Corinthian columns.

North of the library is a service staircase and a door with four panels separating the service room to the north. The top two panels have leaded lights and stained glass with trailing foliage and roundels containing female heads; the lower panels are decorated with putti and scroll-work. The door has a round-headed fanlight and tapering pilasters.

The service rooms retain their original room divisions. The cellar retains slate shelves, a room with tiled walls and a built-in cupboard.

The first floor landing and corridor has a plastered cornice with garlands and mutules and panelled doors. Most rooms retain original fire surrounds, including one of white marble with pilasters and another of red and white marble. One room retains a built-in cupboard.

The attic floor is reached by a plainer straight flight staircase with stick balusters and square newel posts with carved knops. Several rooms retain original fire surrounds.