Thornhill House

Thornhill House is a country house dating back to approximately 1730, with alterations made in the late 18th century and the 19th century. It was likely built for the painter Thornhill, possibly by Thornhill himself. The house is rendered with ashlar dressings and has a hipped stone slate roof. It is two storeys high with an attic.

The north facade is designed in a Palladian style and is symmetrical, arranged as a 1:3:1 composition. All windows are wooden sash windows with glazing bars. The central three bays project slightly and feature rusticated quoins and a pediment. The central doorway has a rusticated surround with a large keystone. Above the doorway is a flat entablature supported on consoles. The central bay on the first floor has a large round-headed window flanked by Doric pilasters supporting a moulded archivolt with a keystone. Swags of drapery are positioned above the upper floor windows in bays 2 and 4. Rectangular panels are situated above the upper floor windows in bays 1 and 5, and the pediment contains a bull’s eye window. The eaves overhang and are finished with a moulded cornice.

The east facade is of seven bays, with ashlar quoins and a projecting central bay from the 19th century, constructed of squared dressed stone. The arrangement is 1:2:1:2:1. Bays 1, 4, and 7 project from the facade, presenting hipped gables. At ground floor level, bays 1 and 7 have wooden sashes with glazing bars set under segmental arches with stone labels. Bays 2, 3, 5, and 6 have 19th-century ‘Tudor Perpendicular’ three-light stone mullioned windows with hollow chamfers. On the first floor, all windows except bays 4 and 5 have wooden sashes with glazing bars within moulded ashlar surrounds and square stone labels. Bay 5 contains a 20th-century casement window without glazing bars. The central bay has a mullioned and transomed ashlar stone window with horizontal glazing bars in a moulded ashlar surround with a square label. There are 19th-century hipped dormers with three-light wooden casements and glazing bars above each bay. The central double plank door is set under a four-centred ashlar arch, with moulded ashlar surrounds and a square label.

Internally, the house has been significantly altered, including the addition of a staircase and stair hall. The first-floor library contains a fireplace from around 1730 with caryatid jambs, possibly designed by Thornhill himself. Some rooms have moulded skirtings, dado rails, and cornices, alongside late 18th-century features such as a door and fireplaces.