Painswick Lodge

Painswick Lodge is a manor house of major medieval significance, possibly rebuilt around 1400, which served as the residence of the Lords of the Manor from 1530 to 1800. The building has undergone extensive modification over the centuries, with substantial work dating to the 16th and 17th centuries. Two wings were removed in 1840, and the house underwent comprehensive restoration by Sidney Barnsley in the early 20th century.

The structure is constructed primarily of small rubble limestone, with some larger cut stone visible in the early western wing. Roofs are covered in stone slate. The original building was a major medieval house with a great hall and a courtyard layout, but now comprises two wings only: one to the west and one to the north. Entry is through a porch on the south side of the north wing, leading into the hall, which is now ceiled.

The north wing rises two storeys with an attic, and a basement section that returns at the same height along part of the lower west wing. The four bays contain various windows: at ground floor level are three 2-light mullioned casements with hoods and stops, all modified from earlier 16th-century 4-light windows with arched tops and rich moulding. Above these, on the left, is a large 4-light window with transom, and three 2-light windows with transom, all in stone mullions but without hoods. Four unevenly spaced 2-light hipped dormers correspond with first-floor window positions. To the right of bay three is a gabled porch with a 4-centre doorway in a moulded surround and a square dropped hood with a plank door. Far left is a blocked doorway with moulded surround under a hood, possibly the original screens entry judging from the plan. The short return to the left has a small 2-light mullioned casement above single and double lights with 16th-century arched heads, all under a drip course.

The lower west wing is two storeys high. At ground floor are two large openings with segmental heads, formerly open doorways, with a 2-light flush-chamfer mullion casement between them and a 20th-century door to the right. The first floor contains a 3-light ovolo mould casement and a 2-light 14th-century cusped window. The south front features windows predominantly with ovolo mould, and between windows one and two is a buttress with two offsets.

The right return of the west wing has diagonal corner buttresses with two offsets. At ground floor is a 2-light 16th-century casement, formerly of four lights, with a stopped hood, above which is a 4-light window with king mullion and transom and hood. The gable contains a 2-light ovolo mould casement with hood. The north front, facing the lane, has two eaves stacks, one with offsets, and a large external gable stack with offsets to the right. A further projecting gabled unit projects between the first two stacks. Various 2-, 3-, or 4-light casements with chamfer mould, and one 2-light ovolo mould in the projecting gable above three single lights, appear throughout. The right gable stack is flanked at ground floor level by 2-light casements which cut into the masonry of the stack.

The west front presents a complex elevation. Far left is a projecting stair turret with a hipped roof, followed by a 2-light casement in a basket-handle head with a stopped hood and a 2-light hollow mould under a 20th-century four-light with transom. A deep projecting dairy block with a gable stack follows. To the right is a lofty 2-light casement with cusped tracery and a small single light; at first floor a 3-light ovolo mould mullion, partly concealed by the later dairy, and a 2-light flush hollow mould. Two offset buttresses are present. Further right is a possible garde-robe tower with a small rectangular light beneath a pointed and cusped opening; at ground floor is a 2-light opening cut from a single stone. The elevation terminates with a coped verge and stack. The south front of this wing contains a 4-light casement over a 4-light doorway and a single light.

Interior: The house has experienced a complex history of additions and demolitions, and by the early 20th century was considerably subdivided. In 1924, Sidney Barnsley undertook major restoration work, contributing some interior details executed with such careful detail and craftsmanship that they are not easily distinguished from original work. The main wing contains a central hall or parlour with an 8-panel compartmental ceiling to moulded beams, a large stone fire-surround with ovolo-mould edge, and a stone Tudor doorway. The adjoining dining room has 17th-century panelling and frieze, a 4-panel compartmental ceiling, and a stone doorway with a 4-centre head leading to a stone spiral stair. At the head of the stair is a second similar doorway. The old lower wing contains a fireplace with a good chamfer surround and a very flat 4-centre head; above the early pointed openings in the courtyard wall are three heavy stone corbels. The first-floor main bedroom retains complete 17th-century panelling for two-thirds of its height. The roof was not inspected.

The house has a complex history of ownership and development, and appears to have functioned as a lodge to the deer park.