Description

TQ 54 NE
5/191

HILDENBOROUGH,
LEIGH ROAD,
Avalon

(Formerly listed as Meopham Bank, POWDER MILL LANE (west side))

II

Large house. Early C19 with early C20 extensions and refurbishment. The early C19 core may have been designed by Septimus Burton (information from English Heritage), the extension said to be by Edwin Lutyens (information from the owner). Rendered with slate roofs and brick stacks.

Plan: The house faces south south west, say south and has an overall T plan with a long double depth main range with a central corridor on the long axis and a rear service wing at right angles. The stair rises off the corridor to the rear. The early core is the centre section of the main range with principal rooms on either side of what is now a garden entrance. The early C20 additions are slightly set back to left and right with the present main entrance into the east end.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3:5:3 bay south front with hipped roofs with deep eaves to the main block and flanking wings; the stacks have rendered shafts with brick cornices. Early C20 canted central entrance bay with a deep projecting porch hood on moulded stone brackets. A roundel window below the hood is framed by stylized foliage carving in relief. The front door has an eaved stone architrave and a 2-leaf timber door, the upper panels with diagonal glazing bars. 12-pane sash windows to the ground floor with segmental arched heads, the early C20 sashes matching the early C19 ones in the main block. First floor windows also 12-pane sashes with 8-pane sashes to the returns. All the windows have louvred green sun shutters. The rear elevation has a mixture of casements and sashes, mostly early C20 and a large 5-light stair window with 2 transoms and small panes. The right return has steps up to an early C20 open-fronted porch with a hipped slate roof and early C20 sashes including a Venetian window to ground floor left. The left return has a lean-to for inglenook seats to the billiard room fireplace. The service wing is windowed with a mixture of sashes and casements and has an axial stack with an attached bellcote.

Interior: Early C20 fittings including oak panelling to the principal rooms, bolection-moulded chimney-pieces and doors with fielded panels. The service wing is very unaltered with butler's pantry, servants' hall and kitchen.

Avalon, formerly called Meopham Bank, was the home of John Herring, the popular C19 genre painter, from 1853-1865.

Listing NGR: TQ5633847449

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26324269

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)