Woodways

Woodways is an Arts and Crafts style house designed by Alfred Claude Burlingham in 1913 and built on land purchased from the Earl of Onslow in 1908/9. Planning permission was applied for in November 1913, and it was the most substantial of the houses designed by Burlingham within Abbotswood. The building is constructed with rendered walls on a brick plinth, incorporating decorative timber framing, and has tiled roofs with tall brick chimneystacks, some set diagonally. It has an L-shaped plan with two storeys and attics, exhibiting irregular fenestration with wooden casements incorporating leaded lights.

The front elevation features a left-side gable with herringbone decorative bracing and a two-storey, seven-light bay with a diagonally set chimneystack, as well as a projecting one-storey room to the left. A set-back gable to the right of the main front gable has a tall staircase window and a herringbone brick porch, while a right-hand wing comprises four bays, featuring a hipped roof with two hipped dormers and a quatrefoil timber-framed pattern at the base of the first floor, and a continuous jetty. The return elevation displays vertical studding and a later 20th-century aluminium door at first-floor level, approached by wooden stairs. The left-side elevation includes two gables, the right-hand one of herringbone brick incorporating a later glazed timber sleeping platform, and a stone seven-light bay to a galleried hall. A gable features an attic casement with a wreath moulding, a five-light first-floor window, and a four-light square bay to the ground floor. The rear elevation has three windows, including a five-light square bay to the Drawing Room.

The interior is remarkably complete. A central, galleried staircase hall has a crownpost-type roof with ogee braces, plank and muntin panelling, a curved stone fireplace with a Tudor rose lined with Delft tiles, a straight-flight staircase with twisted balusters. The Dining Room features a fireplace with a wooden surround, tiles, and a windowseat. A Study contains a tiled fireplace, while the Drawing Room is characterised by an early 18th-century style panelled interior; a tiled fireplace, an overmantel, a plaster ceiling with square motifs depicting oak leaves and cockatiels, and six triangular panels with floral motifs. The service wing retains its original cast iron range, a built-in dresser, a scullery with draining boards and cupboards, original pantries and coalholes, and a servant’s staircase with square bannisters. First-floor bedrooms retain original fireplaces with tiled surrounds, original doors, and bathrooms retain tiling and some original fittings. An attic features a cast iron fireplace, and a ceiling ventilation system is present.