Foscombe

Foscombe

A Gothic revival country house, probably built around 1860 by and for T. Fulljames. The house is constructed in coursed squared blue lias stone with ashlar dressings to windows and eaves, beneath a slate roof with lead flat sections. It presents a six-window front elevation of two storeys with attics and a tower, following a slightly irregular and characteristically picturesque Gothic outline.

The principal front features ground-floor windows generally set beneath relieving arches. A tower projects towards the right end, accessed by a boarded door with decorative iron hinges mounted on a stone step, flanked by marble colonnettes and framed by a Tudor arch with hoodmould. The chamfered corner to the right steps back slightly, containing a single-light window with trefoils on the return. To the left of the tower stand two 2-light mullion and transom windows with rounded trefoil tops and carved roundels above, linked by a hoodmould. A slight set-back further left accommodates paired and triple lancets opening to the cellar below the first floor. A boarded door at the left end, now replacing a 2-light window, sits beneath a quatrefoil within a relieving arch. A single-storey wing once extended beyond but was demolished in the mid-20th century.

The first-floor arrangement includes a 2-light mullion and transom window in the tower with circular trefoil heads, topped by a hoodmould. To the left stands an inset canted bay beneath a relieving arch, containing a 3-light mullion and transom window with leaf carving between the heads and finished beneath a half-hip roof with moulded stone eaves and verge. Carved heads below a stone rainwater head decorate the right side, with leaf carving to a large kneeler on the left. Further left, 2 and 3-light mullioned windows each sit beneath a half hip, with stone boxes at the bases for rainwater drainage. The centre window is notably supported by carved dog and fox heads. A second, shorter tower with a single-light window stands to the far left.

The roofscape is particularly elaborate. A tall pyramid rises over the canted bay on the right return, with a hipped end, lead flat decorated with ornamental iron railing extending behind the tower, and a triangular dormer set with a trefoil window. The tower itself features a single-light window above a string course; colonnettes rise at the corners above a 3-light window with trefoils set back behind a low arch, with leaf carving crowning the plain ashlar above. A string course beneath crenellations at the parapet, rising higher at the corners, completes the tower. A chimney rising against the right side as a buttress follows a T-plan with carved cap. To the left, decorative iron finials crown the half hips; a lower ridge runs to the left of the inset bay with alternate crested ridge tiles, and a well sits within the roof behind. A chimney to the left of the inset bay rises off the ridge with four square flues and a decorative cap. To the left of the second tower, three octagonal flues rise from the ridge with a pyramid top, triangular dormer containing a 2-light ventilator in timber with quatrefoils in each light, and a further pyramid above.

The right return features a canted bay on its left with paired large-pane sash windows beneath a string course, and a 2-light window to the right. At this end stands the stone conservatory, built on a plinth with 1-3-1 lights, circles pierced through the wall below the sill with iron ventilators, small crenellations to the sill, and a trefoil head to each light. Two circles positioned above carry a moulded string at the parapet with turrets rising over the king mullions. The conservatory is finished with a hipped slate roof, originally with a glazed gable and roof. The first-floor bay features a 3-light window with shouldered heads, while a 2-light window stands to the right. Moulded eaves, higher over the bay and right window, are decorated with leaf carving, with decorative ends to the eaves between carrying leaf decoration to the stone rainwater head. A hipped roof with a tall pyramid to the canted bay and triangular dormers supports a tall iron finial and railing to the lead flat.

Interior

All interior woodwork is unpainted pine with shutters to many windows. The main staircase features a string with toothing to its underside, quatrefoils in plank to the lower part and open above, a moulded and carved handrail, and square newels. The stair rises to the attics. The entrance hall, positioned to the left of the stairs, contains a triangular stone fireplace with an arched opening and a stag carved in roundel above. Ceiling beams spring from heavy stone corbels carved with shields and leaves, with exposed joists visible above. Four-panel doors in heavy timber surrounds, crenellated at the head in the stair hall or with jambs rising above the head elsewhere, give access to the principal rooms.

The drawing room, situated to the right of the tower, features a stone fireplace with marble corner columns and decorative plaster cornice, with French doors opening to the conservatory and from the stair hall. To the left of the stair hall stands a good stone fireplace moved from the first floor. The dining room beyond contains a buffet in a left-hand recess, with linen-fold panelling to doors in timber surrounds with coved and panelled heads and crenellated cornices, the panelling carried up to the ceiling. A moulded timber cornice runs around the room. A stone fireplace with Gothic pilasters and three roundels in the lintel faces the room, with French doors to the conservatory in a recess on the left balanced by another recess on the right, both serving as buffets.

The first floor features two trefoil-arched stone fireplaces and four-panel doors. Queen post trusses with iron straps support the lead flat sections of the roof. A smoking room occupies the top of the tower, with a door leading to the lead flat and corbelled external stone steps providing access to the tower roof.

The house has been little altered. A sale catalogue from 1887 (now held in Gloucester Record Office) and David Verey's architectural history provide historical documentation of the building.