Bowman's Green

Bowman's Green is a house built in 1913 to a design by architect Thomas Falconer, commissioned by Piers Legh. The builders were Orchard and Peer of Stroud. The architect's original plans survive, and rooms are referred to by their original names in the following description.

The house is constructed in local Cotswold stone ashlar, randomly coursed. The roofs, in a complex and interconnecting arrangement, are tiled with five symmetrically placed stone stacks, one positioned at the centre of the building. Most of the metal-framed windows with leaded lights and decorative wrought-iron catches survive, set within stone mullioned openings.

The house is built to a butterfly plan, with the entrance positioned in the centre of the north elevation and two angled wings extending from a central core. Each wing comprises two parallel ranges beneath pitched roofs, oriented outward from north towards south-west and south-east. These wings enclose a forecourt before the entrance, while a smaller angle to the south creates a south-facing garden front. The house is built over two storeys.

The butterfly plan, typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, marks this as an early twentieth-century design, though the external appearance follows Cotswold vernacular tradition with stone mullioned windows, several set beneath hoodmoulds, sweeping roof slopes, and ventilation shafts to the gables.

The entrance is set within a projecting bay fronting a hipped range between the two wings. The stone doorway has a moulded Tudor arch beneath a hoodmould containing a timber door thought to be original. The lantern over the door is also thought to be original, with a three-light window above. On either side of the entrance bay is a two-light window to each storey. The wings have pitched roofs with deep slopes facing north-east and north-west, giving their gable ends an asymmetrical quality. Windows extend outwards beneath the roofs on the ground floor. To the north-west and north-east, the slopes reach down to first-floor level, with a tradesmen's entrance and cellar access to the north-west, and a window lighting the former workshop to the north-east. The south-east and south-west elevations are similar, reflecting the angle enclosing the north-facing forecourt. In each elevation the southernmost gable end projects with a four-light window to the ground floor and a three-light window above, while the northern gable end, with its deep northern slope, has irregular fenestration. The south-west elevation has the entrance to the workshop. Hoodmoulds above windows and shaped ventilation shafts decorate the gables. Some window panels have been replaced within the south-east elevation, and two within the south-west. The south elevation comprises the inward-facing south sides of the wings, with the angle filled by a triangular roof slope forming the loggia, above which is a timber-mullioned window topped by a gablet. The loggia was originally open, with a timber lintel resting on stone corbels and two central posts; this has since been filled with glazed panels in timber frames. The multi-paned glazed doors giving access to the loggia from the house are original. Flanking the loggia and sheltered by extensions of its roof are ground-floor canted bay windows.

The main entrance leads to a small lobby, lit by small windows to east and west, opening into the entrance hall. Straight ahead is the central chimney stack, now blocked. The doorway to the sitting hall lies to the right. The sitting hall is roughly hexagonal in shape, forming the centre of the radiating plan, and opens to the loggia to the south. The principal public rooms—drawing room to the south-west and dining room to the south-east—open from the sitting hall. Both rooms occupy the southern blocks and have windows on two sides with bay windows angled towards the loggia. The stone fire-surround in the drawing room is a replacement. The dining room has an original stone fire-surround similar to others designed by Thomas Falconer, consisting of a chamfered flush frame with a deep lintel and a shallow coved mantelshelf less wide than the frame. To the west of the entrance hall is the staircase hall, with the stair curving upwards to the south. A passageway extending along the north side of the wing leads to a large room originally designated as Mrs Legh's Bedroom. This room contains an eighteenth-century timber fire-surround with a central motif depicting a bow and torch, installed later, possibly around the time the house was renamed Bowman's Green. At the north-west end of the wing, the workshop has been converted to a kitchen; a small WC beside it retains a small corner basin. To the east of the entrance hall is the pantry, with an original built-in dresser and doors opening to the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen has been substantially remodelled, with a wall removed to incorporate the former scullery. The arrangement of kitchen offices otherwise remains much as planned, with the back stair rising from behind a door in the kitchen. The larder retains its cupboards and slate shelf. The principal stair has square newel posts with shallow pyramidal caps, slender turned balusters, and moulded handrail, characteristic of Falconer's work. The balustrade continues along the south side of the landing, creating a miniature galleried effect overlooking the entrance hall. On the first floor, the bedroom layout remains largely unchanged, although the central bedroom in the western wing has been converted to a bathroom. The principal bedrooms are above the dining room and drawing room and similarly have double aspects. The south-east bedroom has a cast-iron chimneypiece thought to be original to the house. The south-west bedroom has an eighteenth-century carved timber chimneypiece. The chimney to the bedroom above the sitting hall is blocked. At the north-east end of the eastern wing are the former maids' bedrooms; the door separating these from the rest of the house has a standard brass handle on the side facing the maids' quarters, rather than the elliptical copper handles used elsewhere throughout the house. The house retains most of its original simple joinery, including three-panelled doors, door-frames, rounded angle-beads, and skirting boards. Original cupboards survive in a number of bedrooms.

Immediately to the south of the house is a terrace defined by low dry stone walls, with steps centrally and at the east end. Some alteration and extension has occurred at the west end of the wall.

The house is separated from the lane by a dry stone wall enclosing the forecourt and garden, with two stone piers having shallow pyramidal caps angled slightly to the north, widely spaced for vehicular access. A pedestrian gateway to the east has a wrought-iron gate thought to be original to the house.