The Red House

The Red House is a house designed by Alfred Hoare Powell in 1909 for the poet Edward Thomas. The building was constructed by Geoffrey Henry Lupton (1882-1949), who had trained under Gimson, on his own land. Some interior fittings were made by Edward Barnsley.

The house is L-shaped and built in vernacular style. It is constructed of handmade orange 2½ inch bricks laid in English bond with a deep handmade tiled gambrel roof and timber-framed attic behind. There are 3 Tudor style brick chimney stacks with round-headed arches. The building is one storey with attics.

The principal feature of the north or entrance front is a projecting porch with octagonal oak piers on brick pilasters and a room above. The entrance has a cambered oak door with studs and fine iron hinges with sidelights. To the right is one penticed dormer lighting the first floor corridor and two cambered casements. There is a brick addition with tiled roof that formerly housed the water tank, featuring two cambered headed oak doors with studs and hinges and an ingenious wooden ladder with cut out semi-circular holes for steps. The wall linking the house and former water tank is of rat trap bond. The left side elevation has an end brick chimney stack with tumbling in and three casements. The garden front faces due south to take full advantage of the view.

The first floor has one penticed dormer and a right side tile-hung gable that lights the staircase. The ground floor has 3 cambered casements with a hipped bench seat built beneath a projecting bread oven. This oven was specially requested by the Thomases and is recorded in Helen Thomas's 'World Without End'. There is an oak studded door under a gable. The wing contains a lounge and principal bedroom above, with one oak three-light segment window to each floor.

The interior features a lobby with oak beams with run out stops and a brick paved floor. The plain staircase is of brick with treads edged with oak and a half flight leading to the garden. The sitting room has an oak ceiling (now painted) with two axial beams with run out stops and similar ceiling beams. The fireplace has an oak bressummer with run out stops and a splayed brick opening. Above is a wide oak shelf with brackets. The hearth has large herringbone bricks edged with oak. The floor has very wide oak boards with oak pegs. A three plank oak door with studs and triangular shaped iron hinges provides access.

The drawing room to the right of the lobby has a ceiling with chamfered oak beams with lamb's tongue stops. It features a cambered fireplace with shelf above and a double cupboard by Lupton to the right of the fireplace with three planks and elaborate pintle hinges. The kitchen has a three plank door with hinges and a spine beam with two inch chamfer and run out stops, with similar floor joists. A built-in oak dresser by Lupton has three drawers to the centre with octagonal iron hinges, flanked by two oak doors of three planks with iron studs and catches, and plate racks above with hooks. The first floor corridor has exposed jowled upright posts. The principal bedroom features a curved oak windowseat. Another bedroom retains an original firegrate and an oak shelf to the right. There is an inserted cupboard by Edward Barnsley in another bedroom.

Edward Thomas lived in the Red House between 1909 and 1913. He was killed at Arras in 1917. The house inspired two of his poems: "New House" and "Wind and Mist".