Hanford School

A country house, now a school, dated 1623, with possible commencement in 1604, originally built for Sir Robert Seymer. The building is constructed of ashlar and rubble with ashlar dressings, and has stone-slate roofs with symmetrically disposed square stone stacks. It features a courtyard plan, with the courtyard itself being roofed in 1873.

The main entrance facade is symmetrical, with two storeys and basements and attics, spanning five bays. Moulded string courses separate the floors. Ground and first floor windows are stone mullioned and transomed – four lights to the outer bays, three lights to the second bays, and two lights to the central bay. Three gabled dormers each contain a four-light stone mullioned window with a returned label. A two-storey, pedimented centrepiece incorporates Doric pilasters to the ground floor and Ionic pilasters above. A central round-headed archway is surrounded by rustication. The east front features two-storey mullioned and transomed canted bays. Other facades have stone mullioned and transomed windows arranged less symmetrically.

Inside, the entrance passage is lined with shell-headed niches. The internal courtyard has a two-storeyed porch with a round-headed arch flanked by Ionic columns, supporting an entablature. Above this is an achievement of arms flanked by scrolled check pieces and surmounted by a lion, and a mullioned and transomed five-light window. Similar windows are found on the other walls of the courtyard. The courtyard also contains an original studded plank door and is lined with 19th-century panelling. The east range retains an original dog-leg staircase with reeded, square newels, some with vase finials and a moulded heavy handrail intersecting the string. A staircase from the 18th century has cut strings, moulded and twisted balusters, and a moulded handrail. Various 17th and 18th century chimneypieces are present, notably one of the 17th century on a first-floor room, featuring grotesque caryatids, aedicules and figures of soldiers in high relief. Two rooms have flint floors and original 17th-century geometric, ribbed plaster ceilings with decorative arabesques. A selection of 17th and 18th century doors and panelling also remain.