Swiss Gables

Swiss Gables

A former vicarage, built in timber-frame with yellow brick infill and roofs of banded bi-colour fishscale plain tiles topped with crested ridge tiles and terracotta finials. The building stands on a plinth of long rock-faced stone blocks. Tall yellow brick chimneys rise from stone plinths, their diagonal shafts crowned with stone caps. Windows are slightly proud of the wall face, featuring mullion-and-transom frames mostly with transoms at mid height, roll mouldings, and metal opening lights. The structure displays traditional box-framing with extensive decorative timber secondary framing, the yellow brick carefully cut to fit the curves. The building is two storeys with some attics, planned as an L-shape with a square main house and a north-west service wing. All gables feature remarkably ornate carved bargeboards with pendant finials.

The east front comprises three bays with two gables. A large 3-light window occupies each side of the porch, with smaller 3-light windows to the first floor on each side under slightly jettied gables. The centre has a small two-light window, and a small window sits in each gable. The decorative framing includes diagonal beams in the gables and opposed curved beams in the ground floor panels. A right-end chimney has two shafts. The porch is timber-framed with a Tudor-arched front door and cusped traceried side lights under a gable with a large quatrefoil containing coloured glass. Three cusped lights flank each side. The roof displays fish-scale tiles banded with straight-ended tiles, crested ridge tiles, and a finial.

The south front features a big projected gable to the right with a canted ground floor glazed in 1-3-1 lights. The angles above are chamfered with brickwork curved out to oak corner pendants at first floor sill level. Diagonal cross bracing and a carved rosette appear in the centre panel beneath a first floor 3-light oriel window. Carved brackets carry a jettied attic gable with a quatrefoil pattern panel in the framing and herringbone bracing elsewhere. To the left, the ground floor has a big 4-light window and the first floor a shallow canted oriel of 1-2-1 lights under a smaller jettied gable. Patterned framing appears below the oriel and to its sides on both floors. Tall chimneys with 3 shafts rise on the ridge and at the west end. The west end features a yellow brick chimneybreast with a single light to the ground floor right. A single bay to the left contains a ground floor door and a big 3-light transomed stair-light above.

The service range extends at right angles with 3-light windows to each floor on the right and a gable to the left with a small attic light over a first floor 2-light. A band of decorative framing runs between the floors, with a carved rosette in the gable. Two tall ridge stacks rise from this range. The west end of the service wing has two big 3-light kitchen windows with diagonal bracing in the panels above and a first floor 3-light. A two-light attic window sits in the gable. A single-storey outbuilding extends northwards with a single light on each side of the door, a banded tile roof, and a north end chimney.

The north side shows a projecting gable-end of the front range with a chimneybreast to the left. The chimneybreast has a stone cornice at eaves height and framing on each side. A door and small 2-light first floor window appear in the west return. The range to the right has 2 ridge stacks and a similar 2-light to the first floor left over a ground floor 2-light, then a gable stair-light with 3-light windows to the attic and first floor over a low ground floor 4-light and door. Another small 2-light appears to the first floor right, followed by the single-storey outbuilding, which has an east side 3-light window.

Interior

Within the porch is a tiled floor, cusped pine roof trusses, and a secondary Tudor-arched half-glazed door with later coloured glass. Each door bears a painted inscription above: 'Pax intrantibus' (Peace to those entering) and 'Salus exeuntibus' (Health to those departing). The hall has a coloured tile floor at the stair to the far end and pitch-pine woodwork throughout. Doors are of 6 long panels in deep-chamfered frames with moulded architraves. The staircase features an open well, turned balusters, big chamfered Gothic newels with inset quatrefoils and roundels, and rounded finials. A closed panelled string and ribbed underside support the stair.

The south-west dining-room contains a timber chimneypiece with a carved frieze of linked roundels and rosettes, tapered piers, and embossed patterned tiles around the fireplace. A plate shelf at picture-rail level is supported by small paired brackets. The south-east drawing room has a timber fireplace with a carved lily on each pier and a panelled frieze with inset tiles of delicate, early Arts and Crafts design. In the corners are tiles depicting a bat and a bird (night and day) in blue-grey and gold, four tiles of Morris-like scroll pattern, and two centre tiles each quartered with rising and setting sun and waxing and waning moon designs also in blue. A white marble frame surrounds the fireplace, which has patterned tiled cheeks and a tile floor within a white marble kerb. A cornice with egg-dart moulding adorns the room. The north-east room, now the kitchen, retains a moulded cornice. The service wing is accessed from a door at the foot of the stair via a short tiled passage north to the garden door and a longer passage west to the kitchen. Cellars lie beneath the rear of the main house. The first floor features an arch on the landing and plainer Gothic chimneypieces painted with patterned tiles to the grate surrounds. Inset mirrors appear in the south-east room fireplace and passion-flower tiles in the north-east room.