Parkham Villa

Parkham Villa is a detached house situated on a hillside above Burton Street, facing east. It dates from the early 19th century. The house has solid rendered walls and a hipped slated roof, with two red-brick chimneys on the rear wall and a rendered chimney on the rear wing.

The building’s layout comprises two rooms wide, with an entrance hall and staircase centrally located, and a rear wing running at right angles, attached to a possible earlier lean-to structure.

The two-storey facade features three windows arranged across the width. A segmental-arched doorway is centrally positioned, flanked by fluted pilasters with panelled reveals, and includes a fanlight with radial bars, a late 20th century door, and a surrounding transom. French windows are positioned either side, the left-hand window with three panels and transom lights, and the right-hand window with four-paned sashes, margin-panes and short panelled doors at the bottom. A raised stone-paved terrace extends in front of the ground floor, featuring a trellised verandah with a swept slated roof, with the right-hand end glazed in the late 19th century with four nine-paned fixed sashes. Steps with an iron railing lead up to the terrace; the railing consists of thin square balusters with a twisted mid-section, a voluted handrail over a moulded newel. The upper-storey windows have plain sashes. A deep, flat eaves cornice extends around both side walls. A late 20th-century bay window has been inserted into the ground floor of the left-hand side wall.

The interior features a geometrical wooden staircase with thin square balusters and shaped step-ends, with a voluted handrail at the bottom. The entrance hall and front rooms have moulded cornices. Six-panelled doors lead from the hall, along with panelled shutters to the front windows, all featuring a raised moulding. The right-hand front room contains a white marble chimney-piece with a shelf on carved brackets. The earliest title deed held by the owner in 1991 is dated 1868, indicating there had been three previous owners.