Description

HOLME LACY

1426/0/10008 HOLME LACY COLLEGE
23-MAR-11 BOWER HOUSE

II
A C17 farmhouse, with an early-C18 façade and an early-C19 interior, with alterations.

MATERIALS: Red brick elevations to the façade and east flank, rubble sandstone elevations to the rear and west, with timber roof structure and clay tile coverings. There is timber joinery and floorboards, and late-C19 tiling in the hall.

PLAN: A two-storey principal range with cross-wings at either end. The cross-wings have an attic floor. There is an attached two-storey range to the rear of the main range, which connects with the west cross-wing range. The three ranges form a rectangular plan. To the north-west is a single-storey outshut with a catslide roof.

EXTERIOR: The façade is an early-C18 red brick re-fronting, across four bays, under a steeply-pitched roof with projecting, gabled end bays. The central, two-storey bays are recessed with a round-arched door and fanlight to the right, and three C18 window openings with flat, sandstones arches and raised keystones. Disturbed brick between the first-floor openings is probably the location of a former opening. The wide gabled bays either side break forward, having a single C18 window opening to the ground, first and attic floors, all with sandstone arches and keystones. Three of the windows are timber sashes, one with no horns. The other window frames across the building are late-C20 uPVC or timber units. There is an interrupted, three-course, brick storey band at first-floor level, which is replicated on the east flank wall. The east wall is mainly of red brick with a varied arrangement of modified openings. To the north it is tied into the rear range with large sandstone quoins. The rear range, orientated east/ west is built of rubble sandstone under a hipped roof. Visible above the hipped roof is a stone gable, the rear of the east cross-wing.

The rear range is two storeys in height, with some disturbance in the stonework at upper levels, and brick cogging under the eaves. The window and door openings are irregularly placed and have been altered in the C19 and C20. At the west end is a single-storey stone outshut with catslide roof, which is attached to the west cross-wing, also constructed of rubble stone. The west cross-wing range is two-storeys with attic, and has irregularly-spaced openings to the east flank. The brick elevations show evidence of a former lime-wash, mainly at ground floor level. There are four brick stacks, principally of C19 date, in the roofslopes. The roofs are covered in C20 clay tile.

INTERIOR: The main door leads into a narrow hallway with later-C19 tiled floor and an early-C19 stair to the right. The stair retains its decorative string, and conceals the former location of an earlier winder stair. A large proportion of the joinery across the house dates from the early-C19 reordering/refurbishment of the house, including skirting boards, door architraves, rebated shutters, cupboards inserted in internal walls, covered fireplaces and some doors. The principal room to the left of the stair has an early-C19 alcove cut into the north end walls, and other fittings of this period, including shutters, floorboards, and a later-C19 fireplace. The partition wall between this room and the hall dates to this period.

Other rooms on the ground and first floors have generally been refurbished in the later C20 for office use, with some partitioning, and a number of doors have been replaced or covered for fire protection. The rear range has a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops in the west room, with other examples possibly concealed within later ceilings. Other ceiling beams across the ground and first floors are chamfered with no stops. The west cross-wing has a sealed inglenook in the north room, with an intact bread oven to the left. The spine wall between the re-fronted range and the rear range is of a substantial depth.

The attic floor is accessed from the west range. The main roof structure above the central bays of the south elevation has two large trusses, with some carpenter's marks, below an offset ridge beam. The roof structure contains substantial double purlins and rafters, modified with the insertion of brick stacks and a concealed dormer in the rear slope. The structure has been further adapted at either end to accommodate the cross wings projecting to the south, using substantial timbers. The west range has four, evenly-spaced trusses with large purlins. The rear range roof contains three pegged king-post trusses and chamfered purlins. The attic floor retains a number of C18 plank doors with iron fittings, and iron ceiling hooks.

HISTORY: The Holme Lacy Estate is historically linked with the Lacy family, and later with the Scudamore family. By 1663 the Scudamores were the principal landowners in Herefordshire, and the second Viscount Scudamore built Holme Lacy House in 1674. Bower House was the focal point of one of a number of tenant farms on the estate, and was constructed during this mid- late-C17 period. The building evolved during its farm use, and was refronted and otherwise adapted in the early C18. A century later, in the early C19, the building was refurbished and internally reordered. The building is shown on its current plan on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1888, although the projecting gables on the south elevation are not marked. The Holme Lacy Estate was sold in the early C20, by which time it comprised 18 tenant farms and many other holdings and buildings. A large part of the estate, including Bower House, was bought by Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth Bart., who sold it on to F. Noel H. Wills in 1924. In 1934 Herefordshire council took over the estate and ran the farm until the 1960s, when a college was established on the site. Bower House was converted to office use in the later C20, and remains in this use.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Bower House, Holme Lacy, a C17 farmhouse, re-fronted in the early C18, and updated in the early C19, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Intactness: the pre-1700 and circa 1700 fabric of the farmhouse are largely intact, despite some alterations, and its phased layout and use is plainly legible
* Architectural: the principal facade is a good example of early C18 brick refronting.
* Interior fittings: quality fittings such as early-C19 joinery including doors, architraves and shutters, cupboards, bread oven and floorboards in some rooms. There are C18 doors and fittings in the attic.
* Historical: the building forms the focus of an historic C17 farmstead with close links to the Scudamore family's Holme Lacy Estate

SOURCES
Pevsner, N. The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, 2003, p194
Roseff, R. Holme Lacy College: A Landscape History, 1999, pp 6 & 11

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26535673

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.

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