Abbey Vale

Abbey Vale is a detached villa built around 1850, with later alterations. It is stuccoed, featuring a plat band, and has a hipped slate roof with deep boxed eaves supported by pairs of moulded brackets. A rendered chimney stack is also present.

The house has a rectangular main block with a rear wing, now a separate flat. Cellars provide ground floor access to the rear. The ground and first floors have been repartitioned.

The villa is two storeys high with a cellar. The south-west garden elevation has three bays and is accessed by three steps leading to a ground floor verandah that runs the length of the elevation with returns at either end. The verandah has a tent felt roof supported on plain posts with straight struts. The ground floor windows are likely re-glazed one-over-one sashes, while the first floor windows have shouldered, eared architraves and retain twelve-pane double-hung sashes. The south-east entrance elevation has been slightly altered and features a central chimney stack above a large, projecting, central porch with ionic columns in antis and a plain, rebuilt parapet. The first floor has three blind windows, one re-glazed opening, and two small secondary windows. The ground floor has one two-over-two sash window and one inserted window. The principal entrance consists of a half-glazed outer door with Edwardian-style geometric stained glass, glazed side lights, and a Greek key cornice above. The north-east elevation is largely blind, and the north-west rear elevation mainly has one-over-one sash windows, with one original twelve-pane sash surviving on the ground floor.

Internally, the doors have been replaced, but original skirting and panelled shutters remain. The staircase has slender turned balusters and a wreathed handrail (with a section missing at the landing). Decorative plaster cornices survive on both the ground and first floors. Two original polished limestone chimney-pieces have been retained, and the stairwell is lit by a round light with coloured glass and glazing bars arranged in a floral motif.

The land on which Abbey Vale stands was formerly owned by the Cary family, who acquired it in 1662 along with the ruins of Torre Abbey and its grounds, and held it until 1930. Abbey Vale replaced an earlier 19th-century cottage. An estate map from 1858 confirms that Abbey Vale was constructed before that date. Deeds indicate the villa was situated within a substantial plot including a cottage, barn, and walled gardens to the west. Current Ordnance Survey maps show that the barn and cottage have been demolished and replaced with a petrol station and a further detached house and flats within the former walled gardens.