Description

GLOUCESTER

SO8218NE LONGSMITH STREET
844-1/7/195 (South side)
23/01/52 No.55
Bearland Lodge

GV II*

Town house, now offices. c1720 for William Lane, barrister;
c1970 alterations and additions at rear. Brick, painted on
front elevation, stone details,slate roof. Double-depth block,
with entrance hall and stair to left.
EXTERIOR: two storeys, attic and cellar. Front of four bays
with brick plinth, projecting band at first-floor level, and
crowning wood modillion cornice surmounted by a cross gable
pediment above the two central bays; the tympanum of the
pediment sculpted in high relief by John Ricketts: in the
centre the figure of Perseus, in a billowing cloak and wearing
a helmet, sitting on the back of a lion with a winged cherub
to right, a staff in his left hand and, in his right hand, his
shield reflecting the head of the Medusa.
On the ground floor the entrance doorway in second bay from
left, with two stone steps to threshold, is framed by slender,
fluted Corinthian pilasters and entablature with pulvinated
frieze with a segmental pediment above. Sashes with glazing
bars to either side of doorway and four sashes to first floor
(3x4 panes), in openings with flat-arched, rubbed brick heads.
Rear of house remodelled c1970.
INTERIOR: entrance hall, panelled to full height with panelled
archway with basket arch at rear leading to stair well and
rear passage; dog-leg staircase rising to attic with closed
string, square newels, toad back handrail and barleysugar
balusters; front room to right, the former parlour, has dado
of fielded panels capped by moulded chair rail, full height
fielded panels above and a moulded cornice; in the rear wall a
full height, apsidal niche framed by fluted Corinthian
pilasters standing on panelled pedestals at dado level, with
capitals supporting moulded panel blocks on each side of the
head of the niche; shelves within the niche are supported on
richly carved, pierced acanthus brackets; late C18
chimney-piece on canted angle to right of niche believed to be
replacement of lost original. On the first floor the front
room divided by later partitions and its original C18
chimney-piece now visible within a passage.
HISTORY: William Lane of Apperley (Deerhurst) was a barrister
of the Middle Temple who,in 1746, transferred the lease of the
house to his close friend Capel Payne, Town Clerk of

Gloucester from 1723 to 1764. The pediment with its sculpture
is not consistent with the facade of this small 4-bay house,
and the sculpture probably came from Ladybellegate House (qv),
where a similar pediment is depicted in Kip's view of 1712.

Listing NGR: SO8295718563

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537618

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

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)