Hadspen House

Hadspen House is a country house, largely dating from the 18th century. It is constructed of Cary stone ashlar with a hipped Welsh slate roof concealed behind parapets, and stone chimney stacks. The original layout was a solid "U" shape, though it has been extended in the 19th and 20th centuries. The two-storey main block features a five-bay south front, with the central three bays slightly projecting. It is characterised by a plinth, rustic quoins to the centre bays, a cornice, a low parapet with coping, and a pediment over the centre bays. The ground floor windows are 12-pane sashes set within architraved surrounds with pedimented heads - triangular to bays 1 and 5, and segmental to bays 2 and 4. A central part-glazed door is set within a porch supported by Doric columns and pilasters, featuring a full entablature with metopes and a pedimented hood. The first floor has 9-pane sashes in architraved surrounds. Dormers with two-light casement windows are set behind the parapets. The west elevation mirrors the south front in four bays, with a projecting single-storey porch of rusticated ashlar, a plinth, cornice, coped parapet, and Doric columns supporting a full entablature and a pedimented hood, sheltering a six-panel door. A plain extension from the north-west corner is dated 1886. The east elevation features five bays; the first matching the south elevation, followed by four plain bays leading to a plainer eastwards extension with a segmental curved end marked by a date on the weather vane from 1909. A rear extension to the north was added in 1828.

The interior contains rooms from various periods. The south-west room, the library, has a good cornice, a fireplace surround, and Chippendale-style built-in bookcases. The south-east sitting room features a cornice, fireplace, dado, and plaster-panelled walls. The east dining room boasts a cornice, a marble fireplace flanked by statue niches, a plain dado, and Adamesque plasterwork decoration on the walls. A north-west room contains early 18th-century dado panelling, possibly adapted. The main stair is located at the rear and dates from the early 19th century, while the stairs from the first floor to the attic are from the 18th century, with a two-panel door and detached pediment doorcase at the foot.

The original farmhouse was built by William Player between 1687 and 1699 and was sold to Vickris Dickinson in 1747 and again in 1767. It was finally acquired by the Hobhouse family in 1785. Improvements were made between 1767 and 1791, at which point Collinson described it as having been "recently much improved," including raising ceilings between 1786 and 1787. Further major alterations and additions occurred in 1828, 1886, and 1909, representing good quality work from each period.