Merlewood

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 22/10/2012

SD47NW 705-1/2/44 02/05/75

GRANGE-OVER-SANDS WINDERMERE ROAD (West side (off)) Merlewood

(Formerly Listed as WINDERMERE ROAD, Merlewood (Victorian parts only))

GV II

Large house, now apartments. 1853. For Alfred Binyon by architects Thompson and Webster. Extended 1881 for William Pitt Miller. Limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and slate roof. Irregular plan with steep gables. Two high storeys plus attics. North facade has gabled wooden porch, cusped and ornamented, 3 unequal gables with ornamented bargeboards, and long stair window. Above the porch there is a timber oriel window. Farther to the right there is a subsidiary porch, with a pointed arched window in the porch room. The south front is more symmetrical, with 2 windows on each floor in centre, gabled centre attic window, and flanking gables with 2-storey bay windows. The wing to the right has another 2-storeyed bay window facing east. A lower wing to the left connects with an oblong tower which has a pyramid roof and wind vane. Its front wall was rebuilt in the mid C20 and the right-hand return wall has a plaque carved with a coat of arms and date '1881'. Tall chimneys, some clustered. Interior: Elements of the original interior survive as does a fireplace which contains decorative coloured tiles either side of the fire grate. The tiles form rectangular borders depicting urns containing foliage. The borders each surround a central panel which depicts a romanticised medieval scene, one a male walking through dense woodland carrying a spear and a dagger as if hunting, the other a male stood in a woodland clearing outside a castle preparing to release a bird of prey for sport.

SOURCES:

Merlewood 1850-1950. Becket,J. & gardiner,A. 1987. ISBN 0 9512421 0 5.

Listing NGR: SD4095879614