Abbey Lodge Including Boundary Walls

Abbey Lodge is a detached house, originally St Mary’s Vicarage, built in 1846 by Samuel Daukes. It is now divided into two separate residences. The house is constructed of stucco or painted brick, with a slate roof. It is a large, square double-depth block with a low-pitched roof and a flat central section, designed in the Domestic Tudor style. It has two storeys and a partial basement, with a three-window front, plus a small one-storey wing to the left and a later two-storey wing brought forward on the right.

The front of the house is symmetrical, with the central bay projecting as a gable. A deep porch with a steep-pitched roof is centrally positioned. The windows have stone frames and flush alternating quoin stones, along with moulded dripstones. The first floor has paired eight-pane casements to a narrow central mullion, while the ground floor windows have been replaced with uPVC. A stone shield of arms is located in the gable above a two-light casement with a transom, which sits above the porch. The porch has small rectangular casements with four-centred heads flanking a doorway within a chamfered pointed arch, with a 19th-century door. A small contemporary one-storey lean-to wing to the left has a wavy bargeboard above a single-light casement. The two-storey wing on the right has a hipped roof and four-pane sash windows. Features include a plinth, a cement-rendered band above it, buttresses with three offsets at each end of the main front – partly concealed to the right by the wing – a moulded mid-string, and a ground-floor cill band. Deep box eaves incorporate a scalloped decorative band set back to the wall face, continuing to both sides but not across the back eaves. The central gable, porch, and left-hand lean-to wing all have decorative wavy bargeboards.

The rear of the house features flush stone-framed windows, all tall two-light mullioned casements with dripstones. A one-storey canted bay with a lead-hipped roof is centrally positioned, with four-centred heads to the lights, and a grille to the basement window at the south end. There are no visible chimney stacks.

The left (north) flank, built of painted brick, features a two-light stone mullioned casement at ground floor. Above, the central first-floor window is flanked by blind recesses to round arches, set on a rendered panel with stone sills. The right return has a tall brick wall with a plank door in a four-centred arch. In a swept-down section, there is a further blocked pointed opening. The interior of the house has not been inspected.

A brick wall extends around the entire property at varying heights, including along the road in six bays with flat dividing piers topped with low pyramidal stone caps approximately 1.8 metres high. For four bays, the wall rests on the remains of a stone plinth, likely from an earlier wall associated with the Abbey Precincts. A second floor, probably added in the late 19th century but not part of Daukes' original design, was removed in 1970.