Leeford House

Leeford House is a house dating to the mid-19th century, which was refurbished in a neo-Georgian style around 1930. The main block is of double depth, with front and back rooms on either side of the entrance hall and staircase. Single-storey wings, also dating to around 1930, project slightly forward from each end of the main block, connected by a colonnade across the front. Rear service blocks extend at right angles from each end of the main block, backed by stacks. The south-western service block has been extended with two further rooms, an axial stack between them, set further out than the original room, and returning north-eastwards with another service room.

The main block is two storeys with attics, the flanking wings are single-storey, and the rear service wings are two storeys. The symmetrical front has a 1:3:1 window arrangement. A 20th-century shallow porch with canted sides, a moulded entablature, and double-panelled doors sits centrally, flanked by large, un-divided sash windows and first-floor windows with 12 panes (likely original). A 20th-century Doric hexastyle portico, in the form of a colonnade in antis on two stone steps with a moulded entablature, is positioned across the front between the wings. A moulded eaves cornice and plain parapet top the building, with a half-hipped roof at each end. The 20th-century flanking wings are similarly styled, each featuring a large mullion-and-transom window with glazing bars to the front, and two further mullion-and-transom windows on their outer sides. The portico’s entablature is carried across the wings, with urns adorning the parapet corners, and the wings have hipped fronts and backs. Elliptical-headed windows with 19th-century sashes featuring Y tracery glazing bars light the attics in the end walls of the main block. The service wings have 20th-century casements with glazing bars, and hipped roofs.

The principal rooms of the main block retain some original joinery detail, including panelled doors, and the entrance hall features a vaulted ceiling. However, most of the detail is from the 20th century. The open-string staircase has a geometric design but incorporates early 18th-century-style twisted balusters, while the mahogany handrail and fluted newel post are 19th-century. Neo-Georgian moulded plaster cornices are 20th-century features, as are the inlaid marble fireplaces. The rear service blocks may be of earlier date, but no carpentry detail is exposed. The roofs were not inspected. Leeford House occupies an attractive position within spacious landscaped grounds, and the 20th-century neo-Georgian refurbishment and extensions were considered well-conceived.