Description

TL 4115 WIDFORD WARE ROAD
(north side)

5/2 Wall forming W
boundary of church
24.1.67 yard with Classical
Gateway

GV II*

Wall. Mid C16 and early C17. Narrow red bricks set in lime
mortar to irregular English-bond. Moulded brickwork in both
parts. A thick wall about 180 metres long and 3 metres high,
extending S from the churchyard stile and continued W as a
retaining wall behind Widfordbury. The northern part represents
the lower part of the E wall of a wing of C16 Widfordbury and it
extends about 2 metres in advance of the S end of the crosswing
of the present house. The brick mansion was presumably built
c1556 when the Dissolution transferred the manor from Bermondsey
Abbey to secular hands. the E face has a chamfered plinth a
dummy arrow slit with chamfered jambs, a 4-centred arch with
reserved chamfer moulding, and the ovolo moulded jambs of a
former mullioned window to its right hand. On the W side at the
N end are the remaining 2 sides of a room with a large fireplace.
Further S is a wide 4 centred arch. The southern part of the
wall is of the early C17 and closed one side of a forecourt. The
ground is higher on the churchyard side, where there is a moulded
plinth and a brick pilastered gateway with full entablature in
moulded brick. the wall has a corbelled saddle-back coping of
bricks set flat and is propped by later buttresses on the W. The
gateway rises above the wall and has a segmental rere arch on the
plain W side. E face has a deeply moulded round arch with heavy
moulded imposts checked for a door opening westward. The
pilasters are unusual in being abruptly narrowed a little below
the necking of the moulded brick capital as if a truncated
diagram of the Tuscan Order had been misunderstood. Moulded
bases to pilasters and tile capping to pedestal. The entablature
breaks forward over each pilaster and terminates as simple bands
to the side. The upper part of the gate now terminates in a
blunt triangle which may be a late alteration. Most interesting
examples of C16 and early C17 brick craftmanship in the lower
sidewall of an early brick mansion with historical features, and
a Renaissance gateway and courtyard wall of the early C17. Part
of a picturesque group with Widfordbury and the parish church in
this part of the conservation area. (RCHM (1911) 241: VCH
(1912) 404-5: EHAS Newsletter No 32 (1974) 4).

Listing NGR: TL4130115793

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553841

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

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)