Court House

Court House

A large detached house at Painswick, rebuilt in 1604 for Thomas Gardener but probably incorporating elements of 16th-century layout, with a substantial 20th-century extension at the north end. The building is Grade I listed.

The house is constructed of large squared dressed limestone blocks with stone slate roofs. The entrance front suggests a late hall house, with a two-storey porch and projecting wings, though the porch entry faces a large spiral stair on the far elevation. To the left, set well back, is a lofty block containing the Court Room. The front elevation is two storeys with attics, featuring gabled wings at either end of a recessed centre and a two-storey porch to the right. Each gable has 2 over 3 over 3-light windows; the centre has 2 over 2-light windows. All are hollow-mould stone mullioned casements with rectangular leading, set to continuous moulded strings at ground floor and to stopped drops above. In the left return is a canted wall with single-lights serving the staircase. The porch contains a 2-light window above a fine broad studded panelled door in a moulded surround. A datestone reads 1604. The left elevation has a gable stack, with three diagonal stacks at the ridge left and four diagonal stacks beyond the ridge right. The gables have saddle-back copings.

The left return features a centre gable with 2-light casement over two 3-light windows and an oculus, above two 2-light plain chamfer-mullion casements with no leading, flanking a good 17th-century door with fillets and studs. A three-storey return wing contains a 3-light casement to a stopped hood over a large 4-light window with transom, and at ground floor a round arch over a blocked opening with an inserted door in a chamfered surround. A diagonal buttress with two offsets stands to the left; two plain buttresses with offsets also appear on the south front of the main building. Attached to the plain wall of the wing is a single-storey unit at right angles with vents at the ridge and a very lofty stack. An arched throughway adjoins the house and contains a three-offset buttress.

The back elevation is four-gabled; the leftmost gable is brought forward, the next is haunched, and the gable to the right, serving the Court Room, is brought forward again with a canted two-storey bay. Due to the fall in ground levels, the right half of the building has two storeys, attics, and a basement or lower ground floor. The windows are 2, 3, or 4-light hollow-mould casements. The canted bay to the right contains a larger 4-light transomed casement at first floor and terminates in battlements. A continuous moulded string runs above ground floor to the original block. Two small single lights serve the stair in the centre section, to the left of stone steps to a quarter landing and a door under a flat cambered head in a chamfered surround. A 2-light hipped dormer sits beside the quadruple stack.

The 1938 wing to the left is constructed in rubble with dressed quoins but generally conforms to the existing style.

Interior

The Court Room contains a large 16th-century stone fireplace and overmantel with figures, complete 17th-century panelling including fluted Ionic pilasters, and decorative H-hinges on some doors. It has a wide plank floor. The adjoining all-panelled room also has a 16th-century fireplace and deep chamfered beams. The central hall features a good flat 4-centre stone fireplace and painted panelling. Opposite the porch is a generous oak spiral stair rising through two floors, and on the opposite side at the front is a stone spiral stair through two floors in the canted corner. The Dining Room, probably a former kitchen, has a very wide plain chamfered bressummer fireplace, a Jacobean cupboard door with ventilator, and two deep chamfered beams. A small corner room to the south-east has a bolection mould fireplace. King Charles' bedroom is fully panelled in 17th-century style, with a moulded stone fireplace, wide plank door, and two chamfered beams. Above the porch is a peaked-head wood door frame and an early door constructed of two planks and battens. An upper wall corresponding to a possible screens passage contains some timber framing. The roof, where visible, has heavy principals and mostly 17th-century structure. The south-west corner bedroom has painted panelling, a good chamfered beam, and a moulded flat 4-centre fireplace. The cellar beneath the Court Room has transverse beams propped on slender cast-iron columns and was formerly approached from the east through a now-blocked opening.

Historical Context

The building is said to have originally stood between a Manor House and the Church. Known since 1680 as Court House, it is recorded that in 1689 a 'Conventicle or Meeting House' was appointed here, constituting the first Dissenters' Chapel in Painswick. The 1938 addition was executed with sensitivity so as not to spoil the overall aesthetic and historical harmony.