The Leasowes

The Leasowes is a detached house dating to circa 1903, designed by Ernest Gimson. The house suffered fire damage in 1941 and was subsequently rebuilt with some alterations to the original design. It is constructed of rubble stone, originally with a thick thatched roof and eyebrow dormers. Following the fire, the roof was replaced with Cotswold stone-slate and the dormers were altered to a gabled form. The house has a large lateral stack on the southwest side, incorporating a small gabled porch at its base with stepped offsets, and a tall single flue with random dove perches on the opposite wing. A further two stacks are present on the main range.

The house is arranged in an L-plan. The northwest side features two gabled dormers breaking the eaves, and below them a new glazed-in loggia. The original circular stone pillars, formerly used as a drying area for timber, still stand within this loggia. A curved lobby sits in the angle of the L, leading to the northwest gable, which features leaded casement windows: a three-light window above a four-light window, set within wide flat stone mullions, large lintels, quoins, and aprons. The southeast front has two eaves dormers.

Internally, the ceiling level on the ground floor was lowered after the 1941 fire, and bookshelves which ran along the top of the living room wall have been removed. Some original doors and a fireplace survive in the main room, but all upstairs fireplaces are now blocked.