Norton Bavant

ALTON

SU 63 NE WELLHOUSE ROAD 903/7/10003 BEECH 26-JUN-1997 (North,off) 32 NORTON BAVANT

II Large prefabricated colonial style bungalow, probably built around 1903, and constructed from a prefabricated timber-frame clad in corrugated iron sheets. EXTERIOR: It is of a single storey with attic and has a corrugated iron roof with gabled ends. The south garden front has a gabled wing to the left of centre, and a window and verandah to left and two windows to the right with French casement between. The verandah has wooden posts and Tudor arches with pierced spandrels. On the east end is a squat tower with a timber verandah and balcony above supporting the deep eaves of the pyramidal roof with wrought-iron finial. The windows are mullion-transom casements with glazing bars in top lights. There is also a later conservatory in the southeast angle. At the rear is a later outshut and a small lavatory wing is attached to the northwest rear corner. INTERIOR: The walls and ceilings are lined in match boarding and cast-iron chimneypieces and original joinery, including panelled doors and staircase with turned newels, survive. HISTORY: Norton Bavant appears for the first time on the 1:2500 third edition OS map of 1910 and appears essentially in its current form. The land where the building is situated was bought by one Elizabeth Gace in 1899, who also owned other plots of land in Beech. She was subsequently granted permission by Alton Urban District Council to build domestic dwellings on her land in both 1902 and 1904. It is likely that one of these permissions related to the building of Norton Bavant. The land, and bungalow, were sold to a Mrs Eliot in 1907, and is registered under its current name for the first time in 1908. Bertha Marion Alexander and Constance Marjorie Alexander, granddaughters of Michael Solomon Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem 1841-1845, were recorded as resident at the property on the Electoral Register of 1922 and stayed here until 1934.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Norton Bavant is of special interest as an early-C20 pre-fabricated corrugated iron-clad domestic dwelling with attractive detailing, such as the verandahs and tower. Ornate pre-fabricated bungalows were erected around the start of the C20, and this example survives well and is a relatively rare survival of the type.

SOURCES: JG Wathen, Beech and Beyond from Farm to Village 1239-1990, (London, 1996), 42-43.

Listing NGR: SU6922738912