Description

FRESHWATER

SZ38NW BEDBURY LANE
1354-0/4/171 Farringford Hotel
18/01/67

I

Hotel, formerly house. Late C18 house in Gothick style built
by John Rushworth with extension of c1840, 1871 and C20. In
November 1853 the house was rented and in 1856 purchased by
Alfred Lord Tennyson who occupied it until his death in 1892
although from 1869 onwards he also had another house calld
Aldworth near Haslemere to avoid the summer visitors in the
Isle of Wight. Built of yellow brick with concealed slate roof
and brick chimneystacks. 2 storeys and attics. The north or
entrance front has 8 windows and 2 attic windows. Parapet with
elementary castellation. At the east end is a projection
containing 2 twin windows with 4 centred heads on both floors
set jointly in a four-centred head. To the west of this is a
shallow splayed porch with clustered wooden imitation bamboo
columns and an enriched frieze. This is continued to the west
in a verandah of 5 arches with depressed heads, keystones and
a castellated parapet over. There is an entre sol whose
windows open on to the roof of this verandah. The first floor
above this is cantilevered out with 1 small bay containing 2
pointed windows and a cove beneath. Some of the windows are
pointed, some only pointed in outline with wooden spandrels.
All have Gothick glazing bars. At the east end is a c.1840
ground floor Drawing Room addition in matching materials. This
has a twin window with 2 four-centred heads set in a third
four-centred head facing north and a false gable over.
Castellated parapet. The east front of this addition has a bay
window. The south front of the house was originally L-shaped.
The projecting south east wing has 2 twin windows with four
centred heads and the recessed portion of this front 3 smaller
windows. In 1871 Tennyson added a south west wing which makes
the south front now half-H shaped. This contained a children's
playroom or ballroom on the ground floor and his Library or
Study above, which previously had been in the south west room
on the second floor. This addition is in fairly matching style
with a bay window facing south, a hipped slate roof and an
octagonal turret containing a spiral staircase in the south
east corner. C20 ground floor hotel dining room to south. The
Staircase Hall has a late C18 staircase with 2 chamfered
balusters to each tread, scrolled tread ends and mahogany
handrail and a Gothick style cornice with imitation
machicolations. The Cocktail Lounge has a Gothick arched
doorcase with quatrefoil emblem and glazed Gothick fanlight.
The Morning Room has a late C18 cornice and the Drawing Room a
Gothick style wooden fireplace with iron firegrate. The 1st
floor of the 1871 extension contains Tennyson's Study with an
arched 6 panelled door and a late C19 wooden mantelpiece with
iron firegrate with the initials ALT and various Tennyson
memorabilia. Here Tennyson wrote "Balin and Balan" (the last
of the Idylls of the King) "Locksley Hall", "Sixty Years
After" and "Crossing the Bar". The turret staircase was a
useful escape route to the grounds when unwelcome visitors
called. Amongst visitors to Farringford in Tennyson's time
were the Prince Consort, Benjamin Jowitt, Algernon Swinburne,
Coventry Patmore, Edward Lear, Sir John Millais, Holman Hunt,
George Watts, Sir Arthur Sullivan and Garibaldi who in 1864
planted in the grounds a Wellingtonia given to Tennyson by the
Duchess of Sutherland. The house is Grade I for its historical
interest as the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Listing NGR: SZ3372786157

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Farringford House at Wikipedia
• Farringford House official website
• Wikidata IDs Q17529188 Q5436294

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

• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)