Edgerston House

A 3-storey mansion house with basement, containing nine bays and displaying a complex building history. The central 7-bay block appears to be an early 18th-century rebuilding of a 17th-century house that incorporated an older tower, probably dating from the 16th century. The house was extended at both ends around 1790, and a border tower was added to the south-west corner in 1834-35, possibly by architect John Dobson of Newcastle. Early 20th-century alterations were made throughout. The exterior is finished in ashlar.

The north elevation presents a 3-storey entrance front with nine bays and a raised basement. The stonework features long and short quoins with chamfered arrises, while the basement is rendered rust-coloured. A cavetto-moulded eaves cornice and pediment crown the elevation. The central three bays project forward with a pediment; the projecting outer bays reach the same height but contain only two storeys. Windows are regularly spaced, with shorter openings at attic and basement levels. The basement windows are shorter still. A moulded stone staircase with applied scrolls and a supporting basket arch over the basement area leads to the central doorway. The doors are two-leaf with six panes per leaf and graduated fielded panels, with a rectangular fanlight containing geometric glazing. The doorpiece is Baroque Tuscan in style, featuring three layers of superimposed pilasters—the outer ones fluted—and a cornice. Ground and first-floor windows have reeded arrises; those at first-floor level carry shouldered architraves. The four flanking bays feature a panelled door with a three-light rectangular fanlight at basement on the outer right, whilst the central seven bays have windows at second-floor level at the eaves. The outer bays contain tall Venetian windows at ground level, single windows above, and paired basement windows.

The west elevation rises three storeys above a basement, which is built out to form a square. At the centre sits a pair of glazed doors flanked by large square windows. A projecting piended-roof veranda with rustic timber supports extends from this elevation, with cast-iron railings rising to a terrace above. The terrace is also accessed by stone steps from the south. A three-bay bow projects at the centre above, with taller windows at first-floor level. Long and short quoins appear to the north of this bow.

The south elevation is a 3-storey garden front with nine bays and a raised basement, its fenestration arrangement mirroring the north elevation except in the central three bays. A base course sits above the basement. The centre contains a three-bay semi-circular rubble bow; the four flanking bays and the entire basement are finished in rust-coloured render. The outer projecting bays are rubble. A tower adjoins the west corner.

The east elevation presents two storeys and a basement, with a three-bay bow at the centre. Long and short quoins appear to the north. A basement area with subterranean cellars is accessed from the north. A tower adjoins the south corner.

The tower is a three-stage square structure with clasping buttresses and a corbel course supporting crenellations. Each stage contains a centrally positioned window on all four elevations, with hoodmoulds. Windows of early 20th-century date are of orange sandstone with heavy moulded hoodmoulds, except on the north elevation. A base course encircles the tower, which carries a later (probably early 20th-century) mansard roof.

The tower's east elevation contains small bipartite windows to each floor and a single dormer. The south elevation features a 10-light mullioned and transomed window at ground level, a 6-light window at first floor, and a 3-light mullioned-only window at second floor, with two dormers. The west elevation has an entrance to the left with a Tudor doorway adjoined by a closet window; to the right sits a three-light mullioned window, with a 10-light mullioned and transomed window at first-floor level and a 3-light mullioned window at second floor. The north elevation retains original ashlar bipartite windows to each floor with bracketed cills and delicate hoodmoulds, whilst an entrance to the basement area opens from the north. Two oculi dormers pierce the mansard.

Throughout the main building, 12-pane timber sash-and-case windows are employed, except for the central terrace window of the east front, which has a French casement window to its lower half. Leaded metal casement windows appear on all elevations of the tower except the north. Four symmetrical ashlar stacks with pulvinated coping crown the main block's platform; clustered angle chimneys sit to the south of the tower. The roof is covered with grey-green slates and features a cavetto-moulded eaves cornice. Cast-iron rainwater goods and railings serve the stairs.

The interior is relatively plain but well-maintained, having been extensively refitted in the early 20th century. A vestibule with two-leaf panelled doors and glazed insets opens via an Edwardian Baroque pedimented doorcase flanked by Ionic columns into an inner hall containing a cantilevered stone stair. Beyond lies a garden room, flanked to the west by a Small Dining Room containing 18th-century panelling imported from London at the beginning of the 20th century, and to the east by a study with Spanish leather wallhangings installed at a similar date and a marble basket-arch fire surround. The outer rooms extend the full depth of the house: to the west is a Dining Room with a plain fireplace and dado; to the east a Drawing Room features an Adam-style fireplace with flanking paired Corinthian columns and a figurative tablet at the frieze centre, both introduced in the 20th century, plus dado panelling. A spiral stair with barleytwist turned balusters rises to the north between the Dining Room and Hall. Above the Drawing Room sits the Library, lined with plain fitted shelves on all walls. The Library was designed by Sir Guy Dawber; other interior works were undertaken by John Watherston & Sons in 1916.

An early 20th-century bird pool of Lorimerian design stands to the east of the house. It is triangular in plan with herons at each corner, mounted on a large stepped triangular stone base.

The gatepiers, terraces, and walled garden were erected after 1933. On the south axis, a dwarf-walled Italian garden closes with decorative wrought-iron gates opening to a sequence of terraces with ponds, linked by axial stone steps. The piers are of reddish droved sandstone with coping stones, supporting 17th-century stone lions rampant, each holding a child's head between its paws. Similar quadrant walls accompany these features.

The main entrance gates, positioned opposite the church, are supported by square droved ashlar piers with pyramidal caps and feature timber gates; secondary flanking piers with coping stones sit within rubble quadrant walls. Gates to the north at Camptown follow a similar design on a smaller scale.