Orwell House

Orwell House is a house, now used as a shop, dating to the late 18th or early 19th century. It was extended around 1847 by Rowland Brotherhood, and further extended in the 20th century. The house is constructed of limestone rubble with dressed quoins and an ashlar front. It has slate roofs with stone-coped gable ends, a parapet, and a cornice; the rear wing has a hipped roof and deep eaves. Ashlar gable-end stacks are present.

The building has a plan consisting of a 3-bay late 18th/early 19th century front range with single-bay extensions at either end, and a wing to the rear to the northwest. 20th-century shops, not of special interest, were built across the front of the ground floor and extended at the rear, covering what was formerly the back garden.

The symmetrical east front features three central bays with a moulded stone cornice and parapet, raised over a round-headed window. It has 16-pane sashes to the left and right; flanking bays have parapets and flat roofs with mullion windows. A large projecting 20th-century shop occupies the entire front. The rear west elevation has a single-storey shop covering the former back garden, and a 3-window rear elevation to the front range. The 1847 wing to the north has a 3-bay south elevation with a string course, moulded stone window architraves, and sashes with margin panes. The ground-floor windows have cornices to the architraves, and a round-headed statue niche is located between them.

The interior of the front range has a much-altered ground floor, now used as a shop. The attic staircase has stick balusters, column newels, and a mahogany handrail. A fireplace with a simple chimneypiece and basket grate is located in the north gable-end of the attic. The 1847 rear wing includes a lofty dining room on the ground floor, featuring a moulded plaster modillion ceiling cornice, a central rose with acanthus leaves, a marble chimneypiece, and panelled window shutters. The stairhall has a fine plaster segmental vault supported by small putti brackets and scagliola pilasters, and a floor with patterned encaustic tiles. The staircase is characterized by a decorative cast-iron balustrade, a moulded mahogany handrail, and a moulded plaster ceiling cornice to the stairwell. A chamber above the dining room also has a moulded plaster ceiling cornice, a marble chimneypiece, and panelled window shutters.

Orwell House was the home of Rowland Brotherhood from 1842, who was the principal contractor for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway. In 1847, after the addition of the dining room wing, Brunel is reported to have stayed with Brotherhood while conducting railway business in the area.