Sadborow House

ST 30 SE THORNCOMBE SADBOROW 3/74 Sadborow House GV II* Country House in small park. Built between 1773 and 1775 by John Johnson, for John Bragge and cost £2,589 2s 4½ d . 1843: 2-storey wing was added on West additions and alterations in neo-grecian style. Portland Walls, with Ham stone Ashlar facing. Slate-and asphalt roofs of shallow pitch; The house is square in plan with the main entrance on the East front. The East, North and South fronts are symmetrically designed, of 3 storeys and with 5 window bays (East). Sashes with wooden glazing bars and crown glass. East front-plinth, flat-band at first floor level and a block cornice. Central entrance with blind arcading over ground floor windows. Stone porch with panelled sides: early 19C addition. Arcaded and pedimented chimney-stack over cornice early 19C. South front: wide semi-circular bay in middle to full height. North front: ground floor addition of early 19C to East 4 bays. Stone panel with relief carving of arms of Bragge impaling Sparrow, Bragge crest and date 1843. North entrance has stone surround of the original East entrance-doorway. Interior: Entrance hall opens into a domed staircase-hall in centre of house, and to full height. Entrance to domed hall has a wide elliptical arch carried on entablatures with fluted frieze, carried on columns and pilasters and fluted capitals. West wall of stair-hall semi-circular in plan. Stair with mahogany handrail with wrought iron balusters. Two openings and a recess in the stair-hall: 3 centred heads. Landing divided into 2 by an open screen of columns. Plasterwork of dome with panels containing arms and trophies, swags and rosettes. Skylight. Ground North-East room: open screen of 2 Ionic columns; frieze with arms and wreaths and a cornice. South-East room with festoons and small roundels containing figure subjects. South Drawing Room with large South bay. Plasterwork with anthemion details. White marble fire-place with Caryatid torch bearer, 2 cherubs in the imposts and central historiated neo-classical panel. Doorways of North-East and South-East rooms have added scroll-tops. Above are plaster panels with reliefs with an urn and confronting gryphons. Sadborow is a Neo-classical house of great external severity; The internal plaster-work is rather simplified, and of provincial quality. Source: R.C.H.M. Dorset I, p.246(4).

Listing NGR: ST3733402022