The Grange

The Grange is a substantial brick house, built around 1710. It comprises a square, two-storey main block with projecting fronts on both the east (garden) and west sides, each of five bays. The east front, overlooking a formal walled garden, features a projecting plinth and a deep string course at first-floor level. It has slightly projecting piers of full height at the corners and flanking the central bay, with strings, a frieze, and cornice that break forward over each pier. The painted frieze and cornice are supported by pairs of carved console brackets. A panelled parapet with moulded coping tops the building, and the roof is covered in old tiles. The first floor has five windows, each within an architrave frame, the central window being arched with a triple key block. The ground floor has four matching windows, and a central glazed door consisting of three panes high and four panes wide, within an enriched architrave surround and a doorcase featuring fluted Corinthian pilasters. A full moulded entablature projects over the pilasters, with the architrave upturned at the centre, featuring scroll ends to the upper moulding and a carved central cartouche ornament, topped by a segmental pediment. The west front mirrors the design of the east front, with the exception of the doorcase, which has a bolection architrave surround, double scroll-cut brackets, and a flat moulded hood. The north front has three windows and a similar overall design to the east and west fronts. The south front also continues the cornice and parapet treatment, but presents an asymmetrical arrangement of windows on three levels, including four-light mullioned and transomed casements on the second floor, two three-light and two four-light casements on the first floor, and irregular casements on the ground floor. A door is set to the right of the centre, with a bolection architrave, elaborate double scroll-cut brackets, and a flat moulded hood with a broken forward front edge over the brackets. Inside, the staircase is decorated with painted scenes by J. Thornhill, and features contemporary, richly turned balusters. The house occupies the site of a former Bishop's Grange, and has been featured in Country Life magazine and Nathaniel Lloyd’s History of the English House.