The Knowle

The Knowle is a house built around 1860-1870, likely designed by John Middleton. It is constructed from coursed and hammer-dressed limestone with freestone dressings and features plain tile roofs, with some gables retaining stone coping. The house showcases High Victorian Gothic architecture, with ashlar axial and lateral stacks that have moulded cornices.

The building has a deep narrow plan, with the main rooms located at the back. The exterior is two storeys high and presents an asymmetrical north-west front that includes two gables and buttresses, along with moulded plinth and string courses. On the left side, there is a moulded two-centre-arched doorway, a two-light cusped window to the right, and an oriel window above on a moulded stone corbel. The right side features segmentally-arched windows with stone mullions and transoms. The moulding of the plinth and string courses continues around the left and right returns. The left (north-east) elevation has three gables, with the large right-hand gable featuring a canted bay, Gothic pointed arch windows, and a lateral stack on the left that rises from a buttress. There is also a small triangular oriel to the right on a moulded corbel. The rear (south-east) elevation includes a gabled service wing on the right, with stone mullion windows, some of which have transoms and simple cusped tracery.

Inside, the principal ground-floor rooms are reported to have Gothic stone chimneypieces and elaborate moulded ceiling cornices. The main staircase features stick balusters and a newel post topped with a carved lion sejant finial.

Historically, The Knowle is similar in design to Granleys, which was built for Reverend Griffiths, the vicar of the Church of St Mark on Church Road, between 1860 and 1866 by John Middleton. Both Granleys and The Knowle form a notable group of buildings.