Description

TEWKESBURY

SO83SE A38, The Mythe 859-1/2/385 (West side) 27/07/73 Southern Mythe Court and Mythe Court (Formerly Listed as: THE MYTHE Mythe Court)

II

Country house, now (1991) in 2 occupations. Built 1756, extended early C19. Smooth rendered, some painted brickwork, slate roofs. PLAN: the original house probably an L-plan, with symmetrical S front, and an extra principal room to the W front, around a central staircase hall. The extensions, with 2 parallel wings to a narrow courtyard, have produced a U-plan, the courtyard enclosed by a wall to N. The division of the property in the late C20 gives the S and W fronts to Southern Mythe House, and the E front to Mythe House. It is all in 2 storeys. EXTERIOR: the S front is symmetrical, with a slightly recessed centre, in 2:1:2 windows, all 12-pane sashes. The central panelled door with side lights is under a broad portico on flat paired pilasters to an entablature. Flat pilasters frame the ends and the central recessed bay. Bold moulded cornice, blocking course and coped parapet conceal the low-pitched hipped roofs. To the right of this front, without the cornice or parapet, is a slight extension of approx 1.7m, returning to the E front. Return front to the left has 2 bold and close-set canted bays, with 8:12:8-paned sashes at each level, and with a glazed hood on a lightweight scalloped wrought-iron 'fringe', carried on wrought-iron doubled standards. This was formerly glazed in curved tent-hood shape, but has now been replaced by flat glass. The former stone or rendered cornice was removed, and is carefully replaced in painted wood to the original profile. Rendered ridge stacks to right and left on S front. To the left, slightly set back, and with a stack in the internal angle a hipped wing in painted brick, with 12-pane sashes above a 16-pane sash and 2 smaller windows. Set back again, a small-scale 1-bay extension with 2-light casements, and, on the N return, a 2-light above a 4-light casement in segmental head. To the left a C20 door and porch, now the main entrance to Southern Mythe Court. The E front, Mythe Court, is also in 2 parts, all in painted brickwork to hipped slate roofs. The first 3-bay section, to a coped parapet, has 12-pane sashes, and a central panelled door. To the right, a slightly set-back wing in 2 bays with glazing-bar sashes. Both wings have gable stacks. INTERIOR: Mythe Court has been much altered, but Southern Mythe Court retains much original work. The central entrance hall is on geometrical Minton tiles, with good panelled doors in fluted surrounds, and a richly modelled frieze and cornice. A tall arched opening with panelled intrados on paired consoles gives to the square staircase hall, with open-well stair covered by a conical rooflight with radial bars, on a bold egg-and-dart cornice. The stair has scrolled open string, swept mahogany handrail, and very slender turned balusters with a mid reel. The main room left of the hall has early oak floor boards, a white marble fire surround, and a rich decorative cornice. The windows have panelled shutters, and the central opening to the bay has one section of shuttering which is pulled up from an under-floor pocket. The second room is similar, with a wood fire surround. It has a frieze with egg-and-dart, and rosettes. The house belonged in the late C19 to Revd Charles William Grove (donor of the Grove organ to the Abbey (qv)), and later to the Healing family. During the Second World War it was a hospital for US troops. The subsequent division into 2 ownerships has not harmed the building externally and it has retained the best of the internal layout and detail. An engraving by George Rowe of c1840 shows that the S front already had the slight extension to the right hand end, suggesting that the major extensions were undertaken in the early C19.

Listing NGR: SO8915833918

External Links

• Wikidata Q26496907

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

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)