Blaisdon Hall

Blaisdon Hall is a large house, dating to 1876 with a later extension in 1907, designed by Waller and Son of Gloucester for Edwin Crawshay. It is now a school. The house is constructed of rock-faced squared masonry with ashlar dressings, a moulded plinth and string courses, and has slate roofs. It is built in a Jacobean style, with a central light well, two rear wings forming a courtyard, and a projecting entrance tower on the right of the garden front, alongside a conservatory projecting from the left return.

The main facade faces the garden, featuring two gabled wings with a recessed centre, displaying five windows across. Two-storied canted bays with pierced balustrades extend from the wings, while a single-story semi-circular bay is located in the centre. The windows are mullioned and transomed, with pedimented hoods above the main gables. These gables are finished with finials to the kneelers and apex, and incorporate three ornate dormers. Chimneys are prominent, featuring panelled ashlar stalks with projecting cornices.

The entrance tower on the right return rises four stories high, with corner pilasters to the upper two levels, crowned by a pierced balustrade and a corner access turret. Datestones are positioned above the third-floor windows on each face of the tower. A porte-cochere projects to the right of the tower, featuring semi-circular headed arches constructed in rusticated masonry, topped with a pierced balustrade, urns at the corners, and a cartouche on each face. The conservatory on the left return has three bays with a canted end, rusticated piers, stone mullioned windows with circular tracery and marginal lights, set above a strapwork cornice, and a simple slate roof, originally featuring a clerestory. The 1907 extension incorporates windows similar to the original, but with simpler gables and flush ashlar bands replacing the original moulded string courses.

The interior retains original moulded ceilings and beams in the main rooms and staircases, along with ornate timber doorcases. Parquet flooring in contrasting woods is present in the entrance hall and a central room on the garden front, and as a margin in the dining room. An ornate stone fireplace with an original iron grate and decorative glazed tiles is located in the entrance hall. Unpainted stone arches to the first floor of the staircase incorporate windows on one side. Original sliding doors provide access between the main rooms overlooking the garden; one room contains a stone fireplace surround with coloured marble inserts, while the dining room also has a stone fireplace surround. The internal courtyard is lined with white glazed brick, with coloured or obscured glass in all windows opening onto it. Original painted glass remains in the upper parts of the main ground floor windows, along with original iron casements and fasteners. Cast iron radiator covers with marble lids are found in the stairs and entrance hall. The estate was purchased in 1864 by H. Crawshay, who built the local church. The hall was built by his son, and extended in 1907 by P. Stubbs, who purchased the estate in the 1890s. It was sold to the Salesian Order in 1935 for use as a school.