Pippbrook House

Pippbrook House is a Grade II* listed building constructed of stone and cement rendering with ashlar dressings and a slate roof, partly Westmorland and partly Welsh slate, with tall clustered stone chimneystacks. At least part of the building features cavity walls. The windows are principally stone mullioned and transomed casements, with some retaining decorative cast ironwork, probably sourced from family-owned ironworks.

The building is asymmetrical and roughly L-shaped in plan, with principal rooms aligned north-east to south-west, a billiard/ballroom to the north-west, and a service wing to the west. The house varies considerably in height, ranging from one storey with semi-basement to the north-west billiard/ballroom, to two storeys and semi-basement to the north-east, to two storeys, basement and attic to the south-west, and three storeys to the western service range.

The south-east or entrance front comprises seven bays, with a higher section of three bays, two storeys and attics over basement to the west, and a lower section of four bays and two storeys over basement to the east. The western section features a decorative cornice of stone lozenges, moulded string-course and plinth. The third bay from the south-west projects with a gable and a further projecting square bay extending from the second floor downwards. This bay contains paired two-light trefoil-headed windows separated by slender shafts with small capitals to the first floor, with plain shafts to the ground floor and decorated spandrels above each window head. The other two bays have paired trefoil windows under a cambered arch to the first floor and under a pointed arch to the ground floor. An empty plinth in front of the ground floor windows once supported a conservatory. The eastern section is recessed with a moulded cornice and contains three windows of two lights with trefoil heads under pointed arches with carved paterae. The main entrance is situated in the eastern bay, accessed by four stone steps leading to a pro-style porch with a moulded trefoil arch supported by slender columns, with corner buttresses and two pierced quatrefoils enclosing heraldic shields above. The parapet above features pierced trefoil arches. Further east, a fourth window bay projects with a three-light window with flat cusped heads.

The north-east side has two unequally-sized full-height canted bay windows, each containing three mullioned and transomed windows with Caernarvon arches. The basement windows incorporate decorative ironwork.

The north-west elevation features five similar windows, with the eastern pair projecting in a square bay and a western projecting gable containing two pointed-arched windows serving the main staircase on the first floor. The western half of this front has been partly obscured by the single-storey billiard/ballroom constructed over a ground floor, which overlays the plinth and part of a ground floor window surround.

The billiard/ballroom is three bays in width and six bays in depth, with windows of two lights with trefoil heads separated by columns, each topped by a pierced quatrefoil and set in pointed arches. Each window bay is flanked by buttresses.

Adjoining the billiard/ballroom on the north-west side is a two-storey porch with a triple window featuring trefoil-headed lights divided by columns on the south-west side, above a flat-arched doorcase with dripmould, corbels and plank door. The first floor of the north-west side has three similar windows above three lancet windows to the ground floor.

The south-west elevation is divided into two sections. The southern section containing principal rooms comprises two bays with a large gable and canted bay to the lower floors. The ground and first floors feature five-light trefoil-headed windows, a moulded string-course and carved waterspouts. The recessed bay to the north contains a paired trefoil-headed window. The service wing to the north is considerably plainer, comprising five bays with flat-arched windows, including a twentieth-century window to the second floor, and features a twentieth-century flat-roofed porch.

The interior is entered from the south-east porch, which has a coffered wooden ceiling and an elaborate door with trefoil and quatrefoil glazed panels strengthened by ornamental scrolled ironwork, leading into a hall. The hall features a moulded cornice, arched entrance, elaborate linen-fold pattern carved window shutters and doors, and an elaborate white marble fireplace with black marble half-columns, a band of ceramic tiles and cast iron fire-grate. The south-eastern corner room retains original window shutters, an octagonal ceiling rose, and an elaborate marble fireplace with Caernarvon arch, black marble columns and ceramic tiles. To the north are two inter-connecting reception rooms with square ceiling roses, ornamental cornices and elaborate white marble fireplaces. A Caernarvon-arched entrance in the western room leads into a small vestibule with a painted and carved pointed arch and a ceiling decorated with painted Tudor roses, opening into the billiard/ballroom.

The billiard/ballroom is five bays long by three bays wide and features a roof structure with carved tie beams and arched braces supported on elaborate stone corbels. The roof is coffered with painted panels depicting a starry firmament, and also contains painted panels of exotic beasts and improving texts. At the south-east end are three arched entrances, the central one higher and wider than the others and with granite columns. All feature carved and painted decoration and elaborate panelled doors with foliate decoration. Above these arches is an ornamental cast iron ventilation grille. The penultimate room to the south-west, possibly a morning room, has a square moulded ceiling rose and a painted ceiling divided into twenty-four panels with geometric motifs and improving texts. It also features a moulded cornice, linen-fold wall panelling and an elaborate white marble fireplace with half-columns, ceramic tiles and cast iron fire-grate. The adjoining south-western end room has an octagonal ceiling rose and a painted ceiling with motifs incorporating the initials W H F (for William Henry Forman) and the Welsh dragon. This room also features an elaborate moulded cornice, original window shutters and an elaborate white marble fireplace. The main staircase is a well staircase with mahogany handrail and cast iron balusters. The arched ceiling is ribbed and boarded with quatrefoil motifs, and the staircase window features cast iron decoration. Paired arched entrances on the first floor, divided by composite columns, have painted decoration above depicting a stylised oak tree with a heraldic shield and motto. The south-western bedroom retains a moulded octagonal ceiling rose, moulded cornice, original window shutters and an elaborate white marble fireplace with Caernarvon arch, black marble half-columns and ceramic tiled lining. The adjoining bedroom also retains a moulded cornice, window shutters and a white marble fireplace. Two further bedrooms retain small marble fireplaces with tiled surround and iron fire-grates. Another room features a marble fireplace with paterae, pilasters and cast iron fire-grate. Two other marble fireplaces have been blocked but may retain similar fire-grates or tiling. The service wing contains a service staircase with turned balusters.