Belwood House

Belwood House is a circa 1800, two-story, five-bay classical country house. A smaller wing was added to the recessed right side, and a large, bowed addition was constructed to the left around 1880. The house is built of sandstone ashlar, featuring a base and band course, projecting cills, a central pediment, and a parapet.

The east, or principal, elevation shows Belwood House at the centre, flanked by a north (right) and a south (left) wing. The central portion is a two-story, five-bay house with an advanced, pedimented three-bay section. A reinstated central doorway is topped by a rectangular fanlight, and single windows are found above and in the flanking bays. A blind oculus is located within the pediment.

The south wing is a two-story, two-bay structure with a three-window bow to the left. A Roman Doric doorway is set into the ground floor right, featuring a projecting stone cornice and lintel, and a semi-circular, seven-part glazed fanlight above. A single window is located at the first floor above the bow. A late 19th century, pitched-roof conservatory adjoins the ground floor left, with round-headed glazing on the side and a door in the left gable, topped by a finial.

The north wing is a two-story, three-bay structure with a base course, regular fenestration to both floors, a band course between, and a low parapet.

The rear west elevation was unrecorded in 2000.

Most windows are 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while the bow front has 15-pane timber sash and case windows. Interior timber shutters are present. The roof is piended and covered in slate, with metal ridges, and stacks are located in the middle, right, and left sections. Replacement metal rainwater goods are on all elevations.

The interior features ornate cornicing and plasterwork in the principal rooms, a tiled floor in the hall, internal folding shutters, an ornamental archway to the hall in the south wing, cast-iron grates, cast-iron balusters and mahogany handrails to the stairs, and an arched hall window. There are gilded pelmets in the south wing drawing room, and modern galleried bedrooms.

The house was occupied by Baroness Sempill in the late 1850s. The original Belwood House was smaller than the current structure, and the central five-bay house was extended with the addition of the bow fronted wing to the left. This addition caused the loss of rusticated quoins and altered the symmetry of the original central portion. The house was subdivided into three separate houses in 1978, with the original front door being reinstated. The central portion retains the name Belwood House, the right wing is known as Belwood House North Wing, and the left portion is Belwood House South Wing. The north lodge remains at the entrance to the main drive, although a second, now unused, driveway exists to the rear. An ironstone stable range is located at the rear of the property.