Stroud Court

Stroud Court is a large former mill-owner’s house, now used as a residential home for autistic adults. It was originally built around 1800 for William Playne, with a significant enlargement to the east in the 1830s. Further remodelling and additions occurred in 1892, including a new staircase hall, billiard room, and conservatory.

The house is constructed of coursed rubble with dressed limestone ashlar, and has ashlar chimneys and roofs of Welsh slate and asbestos. The main building comprises a central two-storey range flanked by three-storey blocks at each end. The north front (entrance front) has two symmetrical three-window blocks; the windows are 12-pane sashes on the ground and middle floors, with 6-pane sashes above. Modillion cornices are present on each block, with a blocking course above. The block to the right is the original c.1800 house and features a central projecting porch with a Tuscan pedimented doorway and double panelled doors. The ground floor of the block to the left is obscured by a later service wing behind a screen wall. A central linking range connects the left block and features a hipped roofed staircase wing with three large sash windows containing marginal glazing bars. A flat-roofed enclosed porch sits below. Chimneys are typically situated on the parapets of the end walls, with swept bases and plain caps. The west front has two windows, with Venetian windows on the ground floor and tripartite sash windows above. The south side (garden side) shows original three-window fenestration to the outer blocks, disrupted by later additions. A two-storey canted bay window has been added to the left block, and a single-storey billiard room addition to the right block features a canted mullioned and transomed bay window with Venetian windows in the centre, along with a skylight.

Inside, many rooms retain reeded cornices and Regency architraves. The original staircase in the west block was destroyed in a 20th-century fire. The hall in the central range was extensively remodelled in a Jacobean revival style, possibly by F.S. Waller, and incorporates a large open-well timber staircase with heavy newel posts and pyramidal finials, plus linenfold panelling. A stone hall fireplace is also in a Jacobean style. The billiard room, dated from an external panel as October 17, 1892, with the initials 'ATP' and 'MEP', has a coved timber ceiling and stained glass within the skylight. The additions to Stroud Court reflect the success of woollen cloth manufacturing at nearby Longfords Mills; the house was originally named Longfords House. It dominates the view from the road on the opposite side of the valley.