46 And 48, Lyncombe Hill

This is a semi-detached villa, built in the early 19th century. The houses are constructed of limestone ashlar with a slate roof. The design is of a lofty central range with full-height bows, and slightly set-back lower wings. There are two storeys and a lower ground floor, with a symmetrical arrangement of one-one-one-one windows on each level. The windows are sashes, with blind central panels. The first-floor windows are large sixteen-pane sashes above very large twenty-four-pane sashes with margin lights extending to floor level. A full-width openwork cast iron veranda with slender iron supports and a delicate railing runs along the ground floor. The lower ground floor has small two-light casements. The front has plain end pilasters, a lintel, frieze, cornice, blocking course and parapet, all carried around the head of the bows, and a central ashlar stack. The wings each have a twelve-pane sash above a panelled door with narrow sidelights featuring diagonal glazing bars and a flat pilaster, leading to a sunk arch with a square keystone and swagged fanlight. The doors are approached by short flights of stone steps and landings with simple railings. The return of No.46 to the road includes a blind light above a twelve-pane sash, above a wide, part-glazed door in a broad moulded architrave, and a small two-light casement to the right. The lower ground level has dressed stone, with the upper parts in ashlar. The rear of the houses, accessed via a service road at a high level, features twelve and sixteen-pane sashes. The wings are plain, but with a small two-storey extension to No.46. Both the central range and the wings have a cavetto cornice to the blocking course and parapet. The interiors were not inspected. These are a fine pair of villas, deliberately distinct from the adjacent Nos 50 and 52, positioned high above the main road to afford views to the east.