Parrock'S Lodge

Parrock’s Lodge is a country house, now converted into flats, dating to circa 1801. A north wing was demolished around 1960, except for its facade, and an attic storey with a pediment was also removed. The front is faced with ashlar, with a rusticated basement, while the rear elevation is red brick with ashlar dressings. The roof is slate, behind a parapet, with paired brick stacks rising on returns. Originally designed with a ‘U’ shape, it faces roughly east and is set into a hillside at the rear. A south wing provided service areas.

The main block is two storeys over a basement, with wings of single-storey and unlit basement levels. The arrangement of the bays is 1:1:3:1:1, with the central three bays of the main block projecting forward. The parapet features three panels made of a Coade stone-type material, depicting swags flanking a lamb, and baluster panels in the outer bays. Panels in the wings depict Ceres and Pomona. Flat string bands run horizontally. The windows are 12-pane sashes with moulded lintels carried on console brackets to the outer bays. A central fluted Doric porch is supported by paired columns carrying a plain entablature, and is accessed by a flight of two steps. A semi-circular-headed double doorway has a keystone and is flanked by shallow paired brackets to reeded architraves. The doorway has a guilloche moulded lintel, a fanlight with decorative leading, and a square-headed four-panel door with an inner half-glazed door. On the right return are two basement garages with asbestos corrugated sheeting behind the facade wall. The left return is two storeys high due to the sloping site, and features an attractive early 19th century boxed porch.

The interior includes a groin-vaulted entrance hall with Greek key pattern plasterwork, divided by a 20th century glass partition. A cantilevered circular stone stair has a wrought iron balustrade. Rooms flanking the entrance hall have acanthus leaf moulded cornices and simple contemporary marble chimneypieces. The southern room retains an elaborate 1860 cast-iron grate with a decorative cast-iron apron to the hearth, an unusual survival. The demolished four-bay north wing previously contained a library with a conservatory on the garden front; the floor tiles of the conservatory remain in situ.