Aymers (Including the Stables)

Aymers is a house and attached stable courtyard built between 1867 and 1869 for Captain Thomas Vallance, and later the home of Aymer Vallance (1862-1943), a prominent figure in conservation and associate of William Morris. The house is constructed of red brick in a mixture of Flemish and English bond, with stone dressings, a tiled roof, and clustered brick chimneystacks.

The asymmetrical entrance front consists of the main house, which is two storeys and attics with five windows. It features irregular two- or three-light stone mullioned windows. A projecting, full-height entrance bay has a gabled attic window with a double trefoiled window and a brick relieving arch. There’s also an arched doorcase with blank quatrefoils above, along with gabled dormers and tall arched stone windows with double trefoil mullioned and transomed windows extending through two floors. A parapet is topped with stone coping and a plinth. A lower service wing is present with three gables and wooden casements. A contemporary four-bay conservatory, with a brick and stone plinth and a wood and glass superstructure, wooden cresting, and finials, is attached to the north.

The garden front of the main house is also two storeys and attics with four windows. A projecting gable with a two-storey, five-light bay is to the right, and a tall triple lancet staircase window is to the left. Other windows are mullioned and transomed casements. A two-storey building with bands of plain and curved tiles on the first floor is attached to the south, providing access to a former coach house and stables. The coach house retains double doors on the ground floor and has three gabled dormers with sash windows on the first floor, formerly staff accommodation. The former stables are single-storey with pivoting cambered 16-pane sashes. A two-storey projecting central gable features a loading door, a wooden hoist, and a cambered arch. The stables retain wooden stall partitions and an iron hayrack.

The interior features a fine oak well staircase with trefoil-headed balustrades, chamfered corner posts with ball finials, and a stained-glass heraldic window. There is an oak fireplace with Minton tiles depicting mounted knights, a king with a bird of prey, and a king offering a ring. The sitting room has a marble fireplace with engaged columns, and a nearby room has a similar fireplace in Sienna marble. The panelled dining room has a stone fireplace with a crenellated overmantel featuring three arches and a ceiling with square and octagonal panels. A former service room has a stone fireplace with attached marble colonnettes and Minton tiles salvaged from a demolished chapel. A service staircase features stick balusters and a chamfered newel post with ball finials. The house has eight-panelled doors throughout, and some stone fireplaces with cast iron firegrates on the upper floors.