Millwater

Millwater is a timber-framed house on Mill Lane in Ockham, originally a farmhouse dating to around 1600 with a lobby entrance plan. It was refronted in the 18th century in Flemish bond brick with grey headers and a tiled roof. The building retains its original external and internal brick chimneysstacks from the period of construction.

In the early 20th century, between 1917 and 1925, the architect Leonard Stokes (1858–1925) designed and built a significant extension for his brother, Sir Wilfrid Scott Stokes (1860–1927). This comprised a river room to the west and a staircase tower to the north, transforming the original rectangular plan into an L-shape. The river room is constructed of red brick with continuous ground floor glazing on three sides, taking advantage of views over the river, and sits above a basement of red brick with stone footings. To the north of this stands a three-storey, one-bay early-20th-century staircase tower with hipped roof and casement windows, alongside a two-storey wing with lunette and bay windows. Later 21st-century extensions to the north and an attached 19th-century open-fronted cart shed to the east are not of special interest.

The principal south elevation features a moulded wooden cornice and two projecting gabled sections, the western dating to the early 19th century and the eastern to the 20th century. The fenestration is predominantly of three-light 19th or 20th-century casements, including two canted bays and a circular window at ground floor. The east side displays exposed timbers in the attic gable and an external brick chimneystack with circa 1600 brickwork. The west side contains an early-21st-century gabled attic extension with lunette and French windows opening onto the flat roof of the river room. The north side has a series of flat-roofed dormers and a recent ground floor extension.

Internally, the south ground floor room, originally the parlour, retains an exposed axial beam, though the fielded panelling and stone fireplace with eared architraves are reproduction work in early-18th-century style. The central south ground floor room displays the visible wall framing of the original north external wall, with chamfered spine beams and floor joists. Originally comprising two rooms, the partition has been removed. An open fireplace with modern bressumer and side posts remains. The main staircase in the north-eastern corner of this room is modern reproduction in early-18th-century style. The ground floor south-eastern room was entirely refurbished in the early 21st century and now contains a brought-in stone fireplace in the north wall with slender engaged columns and quatrefoil motifs. The river room adjoins this space, featuring casement windows that slide vertically.

The eastern first-floor bedroom has exposed ceiling beams and north wall framing including a curved brace, along with an early-19th-century iron casement window. A south bathroom contains an early-20th-century leaded light window bearing an emblem from the Lovelace family crest. A western bedroom also displays wall framing to its north wall, visible ceiling beams, and an early-19th-century fireplace with brackets. A winder staircase with wooden lattice balustrading at the top leads to the attics, where exposed framing is visible in the eastern gable end, together with two framed partitions and part of the roof structure including purlins and a curved brace. The top of the circa 1600 internal chimneystack is exposed, and an early-19th-century plank door with iron hinges survives.

Millwater was probably originally a farmhouse forming part of the Lovelace estate. By the time it appeared on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map as Millwater, the large compartmentalised gardens indicated it had become a gentleman's residence. The painter Frederick William Hulme (1816–1884), who specialised in landscape paintings of Surrey, is reported to have formerly resided here. In spring 1901, Wilfrid Scott Stokes, who became chairman of the engineering firm Ransome and Rapiers and was brother to architect Leonard Stokes, took a three-month lease on the house as a country cottage. As Lord Lovelace would not grant longer leases, the tenancy was continuously renewed. In 1917, Wilfrid was knighted for his invention of the Stokes Mortar, a lightweight portable mortar used in the First World War in trenches and naval operations including the Zeebrugge Raid. Following the knighthood, Lord and Lady Lovelace visited for tea and offered Sir Wilfrid a 50-year lease. Leonard Stokes is likely to have constructed the river room around this time, as Ordnance Survey maps including the 1914 edition do not show this feature. Leonard Stokes died in 1925 and his brother Wilfrid in 1927. The river room is shown on the 1935 Ordnance Survey map, by which time a narrow northern L-wing including a staircase tower had also been constructed. The original building and the L-wing were extended further to the east in the early 21st century.