Arch Cottage and entrance arch, Minley Manor

Arch Cottage and entrance arch, Minley Manor

A carriageway arch and cottage designed in 1887 by George Devey for B W Currie. Built in red brick in English Bond with stone and rubbed red brick dressings, flint chequerwork and slate roofs.

The building occupies the northern end of the service range of Minley Manor, providing the main approach to the forecourt from the main east drive entrance and terminating the forecourt on the eastern side. Its arrangement reflects Devey's approach to grouping buildings that gradually recede from or mark the approach to a principal building, contrasting with the more formal hierarchy of Clutton's work. Designed in conjunction with the loggia and orangery, the elements create an informal picturesque group where asymmetry and descending scale of importance and detail are deliberately and skilfully handled.

The range containing the carriageway arch is flanked to the south-east by a squat tower and a further square tower linking it to the servant's hall. The cottage consists of a two-storey square tower to the north-west of the arch, a two-storey pitched-roofed range facing the forecourt, and an octagonal stair tower between them.

From the east drive, the composition presents a roughly symmetrical range of two square towers with pyramidal roofs on either side of a central carriageway arch. The elliptical arch is executed in rubbed brick, set within a pedimented aedicule with flanking pilasters and a shaped gable enriched with a rubbed brick fielded panel, stone dressings and a ball finial to the apex. Timber gates beneath a wrought iron overthrow close the arch. The cottage entrance is set beneath the arch with a chamfered stone architrave and plank and muntin door. The left square tower is single storey while that to the right, forming part of Arch Cottage, is of two storeys; both have a single two-light hollow chamfered mullioned window to each floor, with metal casements in flush stone surrounds. The composition is balanced by a tall end stack visible above the roof.

The west elevation features a similar pedimented arched opening but with offset buttresses rather than pilasters. The upper section of the southern tower, above a moulded string course, is in flint chequerwork, inset with a moulded plaque bearing a cartouche inscribed '1887'. To the left of the arch the octagonal stair tower has small rectangular windows in chamfered stone surrounds with a cornice and parapet with moulded copings.

Arch Cottage extends beyond the arch in two storeys beneath a pitched roof, with a tall central stack with an oversailing cap. The west-facing elevation is primarily blank brick wall, enhanced by diapering and a low offset buttress, though a single ground floor window has been inserted or enlarged beneath a flat brick arch and brick cill. The gable walls have stone mullion windows in flush stone surrounds and tall brick parapets with stone copings and ball finials.

The interior was not inspected.