Description

TL 30 NW BAYFORD ASHENDENE ROAD
(West side)

3/7 No. 44 (Bayford House)
24.11.66 (formerly listed as No 44 (Bayford
House and Stables))
GV II*

Large house. Late medieval rear wing incorporating rafters from C13/C14,
hall, early C17 front range heightened to 3 storeys in early C18,
enlarged to W, refronted and given S service range (the stables parallel
with this have date 1729), early C19 staircase, porch, ground floor
windows, and service extension. Timber frame in rear wing, largely
replaced or encased in red brick walls of front range. S wing has show
front of plum red brick with lighter red dressings. Stone coping to
parapet of main house. Steep old red tile pitched roofs to rear wing and
rear slope of S service wing, parallel hipped slate roofs to main house
hidden by parapet and front slope of service wing. Large 3-storeys and
cellar, 7 windows wide house in own grounds facing E with old 2-storeys
and attics rear wing at SW from which a lower 2-storeys, 5-bays service
wing extends to S. Symmetrical E front to main block with raised band
below 2nd floor windows, recessed sash windows with flat gauged arches,
plastered reveals and 3/3 panes on 2nd floor, 6/6 on 1st floor and
flanking the central entrance, but the outer pairs of ground floor
windows replaced by single 6/9 panes sashes in early C19, the sills at
floor level. 8-panels fielded door in pilastered screen with panelled
reveals, sheltered by a trellised porch with tented roof. A pilaster
buttress at the NE angle marks where the N end wall appears to have been
rebuilt in early C19 incorporating chimneys and a central broad recess
as if intended for a stair window. The polite W facade of the S service
wing has a plinth, platband, and parapet, flat gauged arches and
flush-box sash windows, those on ground floor of 6/6 panes, those on 1st
floor of 4/8 panes except for a triple sash window replacing the pair
next the main house. Blocked windows 2nd from S on ground floor and 3rd
on 1st floor. The old-rear wing also retains early C18 flush box sashes,
here with segmental tops, 6/6 panes and heavy ovolo-moulded glazing
bars. Ovolo moulded shutters remain on 1st floor of front range but
sashes replaced later. The staircase rises in a separate structure in
the NW angle with the rear wing. The interior of the main block is in 3
cells, from N to S, the drawing room (formerly the parlour), the
entrance hall (formerly the hall or principal room), and the dining room
(probably former service rooms). A very large chimney stack occupies
much space in the entrance hall backing onto the drawing room (which now
has its own chimney in the N end wall). This internal stack will have
served the 2 rooms of the former 2-storeys C17 house. A screen of Doric
columns at the rear gives onto the staircase, now early C19 but
presumably on the site of older stairs. A similar columnar screen
shields the buffet area at the W end of the dining room to the S and
superimposed columns or features continue up through the 2 floors above
it. The structural line marked by the columns is presumably that of the
rear wall of the C17 house. Smoke-blackened rafters with lap joints
re-used in roof of rear wing, which is unusually wide and may represent
an aisled hall with later floors inserted. Staircase has balustrade at
top c.1700 with heavy moulded rail and spiral fluted vases as pedestals
to turned baluster shafts like Doric columns. Turned newel. In front
block drawing room has C18 foliated plaster cornice. Dining room has
leopards' heads and egg-and-dart bedmould to cornice. C18 fireplaces.
Moulded plank C17 door in attic. Art Nouveau fireplace on ground floor
of rear wing. (RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL3060707980

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553624

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]