Hartham House

Hartham House is a country house, initially constructed between 1790 and 1795 by J. Wyatt for Lady A. James, heiress of the Goddard family, and significantly enlarged around 1858 for T.H.A. Poynder and again in 1888 for J.D. Poynder, by J. MacVicar Anderson. The house is built of ashlar with slate roofs.

The original central section features a three-window canted bow with a two-window range on either side, visible on the south front. The facade incorporates twelve-pane sashes within architraves, a raised plinth, a band, a sill course, a moulded cornice, and a balustrade. Shallow pediments are above the ground floor central windows and the first floor outer windows, while a curved pediment sits above the first floor central window, with flat cornices elsewhere. Early depictions suggest carved plaques were originally placed over first-floor windows; the facade may have been refaced since then.

The east front, dating to around 1858, is two storeys high with a three-bay, one-bay, three-bay arrangement. A recessed central section contains a tall, segmental-pedimented doorcase within a projecting ashlar porch featuring Ionic columns paired with outer piers, an entablature, and a balustrade. A canted bay is present on the ground floor of the south end, adjacent to the original range, with two sashes above. The west front, largely from 1888, presents a tall three-storey southwest block with a three-window south front and a two-storey single-window link to the original house. A lower three-storey range extends north, including a two-storey canted bay at the left end. Between the two sections is a two-storey projection with Venetian openings on each floor and a balustrade. A glazed porch with Roman Doric columns is located to the right.

The rear north service ranges partially enclose a squared rubble stone range, originally two storeys and three bays with three bays, exhibiting raised quoins and sashes, and likely dating to the late 18th or early 19th century. A third storey has been added to the centre and left sections.

Internally, the house predominantly displays mid-19th and late-19th century features, including a two-storey stair hall behind the original range, and a late-19th century library with fine bookcases at the southeast corner. A former dining room is located at the northeast angle, featuring what are probably mid-19th century Jacobean-style pilasters. The house is characterized by fine late-18th century marble fireplaces, notably in the stair hall, dining room, library, one room on the west front, and possibly the former picture gallery (fireplace now boxed-in). Similar fireplaces are present on the first floor in five rooms. The estate had been owned by the Goddard family in the 17th and 18th centuries and was purchased by the Poynder family of Hilmarton around 1855. It was sold by Sir J.D. Poynder, 1st Lord Islington, around 1920.