Rotherfield Park

SU 63 SE 4/1

EAST TISTED ROTHERFIELD PARK Rotherfield Park

I

Country mansion. 1815-21, by Joseph Parkinson, with alterations and extensions of the mid to late C19. Stone walls, with unobtrusive slate roofing. On an old site, the building was designed in Tudor/Gothic style, of irregular form and outline, with stuccoed elevations; this was re-modelled in the late C19, with more elaborate Victorian/Tudor refacing in Bath stone, so that the general Romantic form of the original remains, expressed in bolder detail. Square structure of 2 storeys, with a lower range west of the south elevation, with 3 storeyed towers at each corner, the south east being a slender octagonal turret and the others massive square blocks. East elevation: (between the towers) comprises 2 bow-shaped full-height bays on either side of a central rectangular bay. Pepperpots to the towers, parapets, 1st floor band, plinth, mullion and transome stone windows. North elevation: contains the entrance porch: here again the general form repeats the original but the detail of this 3 storeyed range is plain Jacobean; pierced parapet, hood moulds, mullions, plinth. An elaborate porch in a Doric Order, oval arch with keystone, recessed entrance with a Jacobean doorway. South elevation: continues the Victorian proportions of the features, but the west side is a lower range, having on the ground floor an arcade (or cloister) of Tudor arches on octagonal columns, enclosing quadripartite (plaster) vaulting, and ending in a church-like brick tower of 3 stages with diagonal comer buttresses. The west side of the building is a mixture of later and altered units, of brickwork in Jacobean style, with a small section of crenellated (original?) parapet. Entrance to the rear (west) from the north forecourt is via a 2 storeyed wing which is pierced by an oval gateway, dated 1891. Decoration scheme of 1870's retained in hall with stencilled decorations throughout and in both big and little drawing rooms (ref. Country Life of 23 and 30 April, and 7 May, 1948).