Description

BROOMHAUGH AND RIDING

1616/0/10005 RIDING MILL
24-JUN-04 Shepherds Dene

GV II
House, now retreat/conference centre, built 1906-7 with alterations in 1938, possibly by W Dixon. The building is of snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings and plinth coping, and the roof is graduated stone slate with roll-moulded ridges and tall chimneys with plain projecting coping. The plan form is a modified butterfly plan, with the main entrance on the short west front and the west wing as the main family block. Two storey, with dormers to service wing having flat roofs and simple mullions.
All windows are stone mullioned, most have transoms, with irregular block jambs and flush sills and lintels. Label moulds over all except first floor north front of the main wing, where there is a string instead, and the upper floor of the service wing where there are deep eaves. Most windows have leaded lights.
West front: open porch to left under wide gable, small 3-light window to right. 3-light window above and tall stair window to right with 3 rows of 4 lights, small 2-light window in gable peak. To the right of the gable, single storey extension with pitched roof, 3-light window and single light window above. Porch has shallow gabled roof supported on rustic posts; gable filled with weather-boarding with early sheet metal gas light fitting. Door has blind Gothic tracery and shallow pointed arched overlight with leaded lights.
South garden front: four windows, outer ones in projecting gabled bays, centre filled by a loggia with paired Doric columns supporting a stone-fronted timber balcony with wrought iron balustrade. Diagonally set doorway in angle between right gable and centre.
Sources: report on Shepherd's Dene, Riding Mill, by Grace McCombie, unpub., 2003
Interior: The principal rooms on ground and first floors have ceiling cornices, the doors of the ground floor principal rooms have blind Gothic tracery, and almost all the rooms have original fireplaces. All the windows are metal casements with Critall-type fittings in a variety of individual styles, and many of the windows have original leading and shutters. There are some old radiators. Entrance lobby with inner door in a screen with stained glass lights, panelled vestibule and small side room. Leading to large hall with wood panelled walls and a carved stone chimney piece with Delft tiles. The staircase off the hall has re-used C17 barley-sugar and turned balusters supporting a moulded grip handrail. Some of the panelling also incorporates older pieces. Chapel off the hall (originally drawing or music room)has been extended forming the pitched roofed extension visible on the west front, probably built post-war, using the original windows. A vestry has been incorporated and the fireplace has been lost. Dining room off the corridor from the hall has two doors and high quality wooden floor in a mitred pattern around the edge of the room, pine boards in the centre. Panelled dado and plaster frieze of low-relief swags. Panelling at the east end incorporates historic panels with inlaid decoration. Wide panelled surround for inglenook fireplace has service bell at waist height. Fireplace has beaten copper hood, dark blue tiles and a mantel supported by carved heads. Two other rooms off the corridor retain their fireplaces, that to the south having a door to the terrace, formerly separated from the room by a corridor leading from the main corridor.
Door at the end of the corridor leads to service wing. Corridor beyond is narrower. Service rooms off this retain original plan and much of original detail, with food storage and preparation on the cooler, north face. Former service yard at east end filled by stair to extra room above built in 1938. Lower part of service corridor has embossed wallpaper which may be early C20.
First floor: principal rooms have chimney pieces of various designs in C18 style. Most windows have window seats set on wooden supports. Service stair has turned newels, stick balusters and a moulded handrail. At the attic level the landing balustrade is higher with a high tapered newel. The attic rooms were rearranged in 1938 to provide a corridor and separate doors for each one: they had previously been interconnected. They are lined with tongue-and-groove boarding, most of which probably dates to 1938 but with later alterations.
History: the architect is as yet unknown, but the house was built for D.S. Marjoribanks Esq,in 1906, and given the name 'Shepherd's Bank'. The property was sold in 1921 to G.S. Newall and renamed 'Shepherd's Dene'. In 1938 plans for alterations to the house by Mr Newall were approved (see above). The house may have been used for evacuees during the war, and possibly also as a convalescent home. In 1946 Mr G.S Newall gave the house to the Diocese of Newcastle and it is now used as a retreat and conference centre.
Sources: report on Shepherd's Dene, Riding Mill, by Grace McCombie (unpub.) 2003

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670237

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)