(Forder House) Including Outbuilding Immediately North East

Forder House, Ford Street, Moretonhampstead

A house built around 1800, grade II listed. The main building is constructed of whitewashed plastered granite with a roughcast front, beneath a bitumen-coated slate hipped roof with lead rolls to the hips and ridge. The front pitch has been reclad in asbestos slates. A wooden plated frieze marks the eaves to the front. Brick chimneystacks sit at either end of the main range, with another on the outer side of the rear service wing, now incorporated within a later outshut.

The plan is single-depth with two principal rooms, one on either side of a wide stair hall, and a service wing containing kitchen and dairy at the rear of the left-hand dining room, forming an overall L-shaped arrangement. Further service rooms were added in a two-storey outshut on the outer west side of the service wing. The building stands two storeys with an attic.

The front elevation is symmetrical with a three-window range. Ground and first floor outer windows are tripartite sashes with 12 panes to the centre light and 4 panes to the side lights; the ground floor windows sit in cambered arched openings. The centre first floor has a 12-pane sash. A central doorway features a Tuscan porch with columns supporting an entablature with fluted frieze. The door surround has pilasters and entablature with fluted frieze and fielded panel reveals. The door itself has six fielded panels, the top two glazed.

The side walls are blind. The rear is also blank except for a tall 18-pane fixed light stair window in a moulded frame and a wide hipped roof dormer alcove at the centre. The service wing contains a late 18th-century five-light casement with glazing bars serving the kitchen on the ground floor, a small four-pane window to the dairy, and two later 19th-century first-floor sashes. A small 20th-century lean-to outshut with a cantilevered lavatory chamber clad in corrugated iron occupies the angle between the main house and service wing.

Interior features are of exceptional quality. A wide central stair hall contains a fine geometric staircase with open string, stick balusters and inlaid moulded handrail wreathed over a column newel. The balustrade continues over a spacious landing on the first floor. Both main rooms contain Adam-style chimneypieces with festoons, runs and marble surrounds to fine cast iron grates, flanked by round-headed niches. The drawing room to the right and the first floor rooms have finely moulded cornices and friezes. The hall and landing feature a fine modillion cornice with festoons and acanthus leaves. Throughout the house, joinery is complete, including moulded doorframes and panelled doors with original brass drop handles. The front windows have panelled internal shutters. The service wing retains some 18th-century two-panel doors, possibly reused. The kitchen has a large fireplace with a wooden chimneypiece featuring a moulded architrave, fluted frieze and moulded cornice.

An outbuilding immediately north-east, probably dating to the late 18th century, serves as a detached service range. It is constructed of plastered granite rubble with a Belgium clay tile roof with hipped ends. The left-hand end has a chimney with brick shaft. A wide cart entrance at the centre features a timber lintel. A fireplace at the left (west) end has a chamfered cambered lintel.

Forder House is remarkable for its integrity, having been virtually unaltered since construction. It is unusual in combining interior features of high quality with a circa 1800 date, a single-depth plan and a relatively simple exterior.