Lyday House And The Sugar House

Lyday House, formerly a farmhouse and now a detached house, dates from the 17th century, with extensive alterations in the period circa 1902-1910 by the Arts and Crafts architect and designer Alfred Hoare Powell (1865-1960), and some later 20th-century alterations.

Construction and Materials

Lyday House is constructed from Cotswold stone rubble with roughly-dressed limestone quoins, with stone-mullioned windows and some metal and timber casements, under a thatched roof, with stone rubble stacks.

Layout

The house is a single-depth, three-bay rectangle on plan, formerly with a central entrance.

Exterior

The house is of two storeys and attic, with a steeply-pitched roof, hipped to the south-eastern end. The fenestration is mainly 17th-century or later replacement two- and three-light stone-mullioned windows, with hood moulds. The main elevation has a 20th-century gabled porch set to the left of centre, with the original front entrance door inserted in its exterior. The windows have iron frames housing rectangular leaded lights. To the right of the ground floor is an early-20th-century single-light oak-framed window, and a small dormer of similar date is set high in the attic. To the first floor a series of doveholes is set roughly centrally in the elevation. There is a gable-end stack to the left, and a ridge stack towards the right, with limestone cappings. The rear elevation has irregular fenestration, including a horizontal eyebrow dormer; two windows have been converted to doors on the rear elevation, and a door to a window.

Interior

The interior has a two-room plan, with principal rooms to either side of an entrance hall which houses the winder stair. The ground-floor rooms retain 17th-century stone fireplaces remodelled in Arts and Crafts style during the early part of the 20th century, with hand-made metal hoods of this date. The doors throughout the interior are Arts and Crafts plank and batten doors, with a decorative pattern of ventilation holes and decorative spear-headed cast-iron strap hinges. Cast-iron windows of the same date with decorative latches have been inserted within both the stone-mullioned and oak-framed surrounds. The dining room retains early-20th-century shutters, and a 17th-century chamfered and stopped ceiling beam, whilst the living room has a ceiling structure of the early 20th century, using chamfered beams offset at an angle, rather than running parallel to each other, set on hand-dressed stone corbels. The first and attic floors have similar doors and windows to those in the ground floor rooms. There have been a number of alterations and replacements during the later 20th century, including the introduction of new ceiling joists atop the 17th-century beam in the current dining room, the creation of new triangular windows to either side of the stack in the north gable end, and the replacement of much of the superstructure of the roof and the first-floor ceilings.

The Sugar House

The Sugar House, originally a two-storey cottage built in the mid-19th century, later converted to a workshop for Alfred Powell circa 1902, is set into the rising ground behind Lyday House. Currently in use as an office, it is constructed from Cotswold stone rubble with dressed stone quoins, with stone mullioned windows, some having hood moulds, added in the early 20th century; the roof is covered in Cotswold stone slates. The cottage has a simple one-room plan with a small single-storey lean-to extension and a terrace with a conservatory above, on the rising ground. The main elevation has a three-light window to each storey, and a modern entrance door under a wooden lintel; the rear elevation is blind. The entrance is via the lean-to extension, which houses a small kitchenette and bathroom. The main ground-floor room has a modern spiral staircase giving access to the first floor; the room is spanned by a large-section oak ceiling beam with chamfers and stepped stops, set on moulded stone corbels. The first floor room is completely plain, with a modern, arched double-doorway giving access to the modern conservatory and terrace beyond.

History

The complex of which the current Lyday House and the Sugar House formed a part originated as a farmstead during the 17th century; until the 20th century it was known as Gurners Farm. Lyday House dates originally from this period. The Sugar House was added after the completion of the tithe map, probably during the mid-19th century.

The farm was bought in 1902 by Alfred Powell (1865-1960), the Arts and Crafts architect, designer and pottery decorator, who was a close associate of Ernest Gimson and Detmar Blow, after Powell had moved to the Cotswolds to work with Gimson and the Barnsley brothers. He adapted the house for himself in Arts and Crafts manner, and it retains internal features from his period: plank and batten doors with decorative finishes, shutters, metal windows by Bucknall, fire hoods probably also by Bucknall, new eyebrow dormers in the thatched roof and decorative details like the doveholes on the main elevation. He also made some structural repairs, such as the new floor inserted in the south end of the house, using offset ceiling beams in the manner of Gimson at other houses of the period; and inserted some new windows. The Sugar House, formerly a cottage, was used by Powell as a workshop – Powell learned stonework and woodworking and undertook the manufacture of as many of his own designs as he was able.

In the later 20th century, Lyday Close was purchased by a charitable trust, which has undertaken significant repairs and alterations to Lyday House. There have been timber replacements, including the bressumer over the principal fireplace in the current dining room, the ceiling joists in this room and the superstructure of the roof. A new room has been inserted in the attic floor. Some new stone windows and lintels have been introduced. Windows have been converted to doors on the rear elevation, and a door to a window.