Description

SP 75 SW BLISWORTH NORTHAMPTON ROAD
(West side)
4/27 Nos.25 and 27 (Grafton Villas)
01/12/51 (Formerly listed as Grafton
Villas)

GV II

Pair of semi-detached cottages. 1838. Limestone ashlar, hipped slate roof,
central stone internal stack. Double-depth plan. 2-storey, 3-window range.
Central block has 16-pane sash windows to ground and first floors with moulded
stone surrounds, and is flanked by lower 2-storey wings. These wings house
staircase hall and have panelled doors in stone porches with Tuscan pillars and
pilasters, plain frieze, moulded cornice and blocking cornice; blank rectangular
panel above porch. Plinth, storey band, moulded stone cornice and blocking
cornice. Interior: stone cantilever staircases with cast-iron balustrade and
columns supporting landing and ramped and wreathed mahogany hand-rail.
Stone-flagged floors; some original stone chimneypieces. No.27 has original back
staircase leading from kitchen Part of an extensive building programme
undertaken by the Grafton estate under the direction of the agent John Gardner
and referred to in his letter of 19th October 1838 "I have chosen the site for,
and set out the double cottage this morning, it will have a Lodge-like effect,
and be an ornamental adjunct to the Archway as well as shew off or stone to the
best advantage". (Grafton papers G4034/2 accounts G3901). The cottages stand
beside the railway bridge (q.v.) on the main road to Northampton, referred to in
letter as "the Archway". They are built of local stone from the Grafton estate
quarry at Blisworth (q.v, Stone Works Farmhouse).
(Grafton papers Northamptonshire Record Office; J. Steane 'The Northamptonshire
Landscape', 1974, pp240-1)

Listing NGR: SP7278454120

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26292862

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)