Description

MORETONHAMPSTEAD FORE STREET (north side),
SX 7586
Moretonhampstead
8/154
-
23.8.55 Greenhill House
GV II

House. Probably early C17 or earlier, extended and rearranged in early C18 (1720
according to R O Heath) and refashioned and extended again in circa Mid C19.
Plastered granite rubble. Thatched roof with gabled ends. Rendered gable end
chimneystacks, right-hand stack to front range has offsets.
Plan: what is now the rear wing was probably the higher end of a C17 or earlier 3-
room plan house, and its gable end stack would have originally heated the inner
room and chamber above. In circa early C18 the house was reorientated and a wing,
which is now the main front range, was built at right angles to the lower end where
the lateral stack because the gable end stack of the early C18 range. This early
C18 front range in 2 storeys and attic with a symmetrical 2-room plan with a
central through-passage leading to a staircase behind the left-hand room making the
left room smaller than the room to the right. In circa mid C19 the house was
refashined and a flat roof single stsorey kitchen and scullery addition was built
at the rear in the angle of the early C18 front and the earlier wing.
2 storeys and attic. Symmetrical 2 window range. Rusticated stucco quoins and
stringcourse at first floor level. C19 tripartite sashes with horizontal glazing
bars only. Ground floor windows in moulded stucco architraves, the cills on small
brackets. Moulded architraves removed from first floor windows. Central doorway
with stuccoed pilasters with round-headed panels and later wooden moulded cornice,
moulded panel reveals and rectangular fanlight with margin glazing bars. C19
moulded 4-panel door. 2-light attic casements with small panes in gable ends.
Rear wing has C19 2-light casements with glazing bars, first floor windows break
eaves to form eyebrows, the right-hand casement with arched top light. Large flat
roof single storey addition in the angle at rear.
Interior: most of the mid C19 internal joinery etc survives, including panelled
doors, moulded doorcases and first flight of staircase with stick balusters and
column newel, and simple marble or slabe chimneypiece in left-hand room.
Chimneypiece in right-hand room replaced but flanked by elliptically headed
alcoves. The staircase from the first floor to the attic is C18 and has moulded
string, moulded stick balusters and heavy hand rail. Many C18 2-panel doors and 1
cupboard survive on first floor and attic. Also on first floor single C19
chimneypieces with their original iron grates. In rear wing a section of C17
panelling reused as partition. Mid C19 rear addition has large kitchen fireplace
with bracketed shelf which is flanked by large early C18 corner cupboards with
Doric entablatures, giant fluted pilasters and round-arched panelled doors. These
cupboards were moved from front of house.
Roofs: over early C18 range the roof space is ceiled but it seems to have retained
its original structure. Over the earlier rear wing the roof is also ceiled and
there is no access to roof space, but over what might have been the hall there is a
high plastered ceiling revealing the shape of the trusses with collars and 1 heavy
purlin.
Immediately behind Greenhill House the first Baptist meetinghouse in
Moretonhampstead was built in 1715 by Samuel Lightfoot the Elder, but was destroyed
by fire. Greenhill House has been virtually unaltered since C19 and retains its
plan which shows the development quite clearly from its early origins. It is very
complete internally and externally and occupies an important situation close to the
church.

Listing NGR: SX7546286097

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389444

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas