Description

POOLE

SZ0398 CANFORD MAGNA, Canford Magna
958-1/9/222 (East side (off))
14/06/54 John of Gaunt's Kitchen, Canford
School
(Formerly Listed as:
MAGNA ROAD
Canford School)

GV I

Formerly known as: Canford Manor.
Kitchen block of former medieval manor house. C15
incorporating C14 work and wall to E, altered early C16 when
sub-divided horizontally, and restored C19 and C20.
Coursed squared limestone with courses of carstone to top and
bottom of walls and limestone dressings. Plain-tile roof with
verge of stone slates to S side, stone ridge stack and massive
internal stacks to N side. 2-unit plan, the larger room
approximately twice the size of the other.
Tall single-storey, 6-bay range. Main front to S, within
present service court of Canford School (qv), has small
1-light window to right of centre at ground-floor level with
chamfered stone lintel and window of similar size to upper
level above, with hollow-chamfered stone surround. Pair of
tall 2-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned windows to right
with 2 transoms. Pair of similar windows to left of centre.
Chamfered plinth, just visible above courtyard surface and
moulded stone eaves cornice with deep hollow chamfer framed by
roll moulding below and sunk quadrant moulding above. The
hollow chamfer is punctuated at regular intervals by worn
grotesque heads.
Left end wall is covered by buildings of Canford School, to
which it is joined. C14 right (E) end wall has diagonal
buttresses, that to S largely cut away, original doorway,
formerly internal, with chamfered depressed, 2-centred head
and 1-light window to gable with pointed trefoiled head; wall
shows scar of steeply pitched roof of former adjoining
building.
N front has massive projecting stack to right of centre with
offsets to sides and original louvred chimney of limestone
ashlar. Similar smaller stack to left of centre. Blocked
window to far left with continuous hollow chamfer and wave
moulding, and 4-centred head. Similar doorway to right of
larger stack. 3-light, hollow-chamfered stone mullion window
to ground floor far right, and 2-light hollow-chamfered stone
mullion and transom window above. Similar window to left of
left stack at similar level and small 1-light window to centre
at high level with chamfered stone surround. Massive quoins
chiefly of carstone to buildings and projecting stacks. Slight
batter to plinth and half hip to left end of roof. Ridge stack
has original double louvred chimney of limestone ashlar.
INTERIOR: main kitchen has 2 very large fireplaces, that to
the N wall larger than the other, with chamfered, cambered
heads. Smaller fireplace now holds full-length effigy of 1st
Baron Wimborne by Rosamund, Viscountess Ridley removed from S
chancel chapel of the Church of St John at Canford Magna (qv).
Early C16 roof with 5 tie beam trusses on wall posts with
arch-braced collars, vertical struts to ridge piece, flanked
by diagonal struts, and 2 tiers of wind-braced purlins. Wall
posts sit on stone corbels.
Either side of stack dividing rooms is a small chamber at
1st-floor level entered by doorway with 4-centred head. Below
chamber to S is a stone-vaulted passage leading to smaller
kitchen entered by doorway with 4-centred head. Smaller
kitchen or scullery has 2 large fireplaces, that to dividing
wall larger than the other, both with hollow-chamfered and
wave-moulded cambered heads. 2-bay roof of similar
construction to that of larger room. Doorway to end wall has
pointed-arched head and 2 orders, the inner moulded, the outer
chamfered.
John of Gaunt's Kitchen is the only surviving portion of an
important medieval manor house, referred to in 1221 when it
was owned by William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury.
(RCHME: County of Dorset (South East): London: 1970-: 192-5;
Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Newman J: Dorset: London:
1972-: 127-128).

Listing NGR: SZ0339598937

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529348

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

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey