Description

HILDENBOROUGH LONDON ROAD (south west side)
TQ 54 NE
5/141 Sackville School
-
GV II

School, converted from a country house called Foxbush. 1866, built to the
designs of G. Somers Clarke. Red brick with blue diapering and stone
dressings; brick stacks; peg-tile roof. High Victorian Gothic externally,
showing a C15 French influence; interior an eclectic mixture including
Jacobean and Renaissance.

Plan: Almost identical to Mountains (q.v.), adjacent to Sackville and built
in 1865 to the designs of the same architect. Double depth plan on a west
east axis; entrance on the north side. Long, asymmetrical, approximately
rectangular arrangement with a front left (north east) chapel wing. Corridor
on the long axis, with the principal rooms facing south. Garden door from the
corridor at the west end, matching the arrangement at Mountains. Entrance
into a large heated hall containing the stair. Service wing to the left
(east) with a service stair off the axial corridor.

Exterior: Externally the house is more irregular than Mountains, consisting
of 3 staggered blocks plus the chapel wing. The middle block is a crosswing.
2 storeys, 3-storey crosswing, single-storey chapel. Steeply-pitched hipped
roofs; brick chimney shafts with corbelled brick cornices and moulded vertical
ribs. Stone mullioned windows throughout with moulded stone lintels, some
with high transoms others with engaged shafts with carved capitals, all glazed
with plate glass sash windows which may be original. Long 2:5 bay entrance
(north) elevation, the 2-bay to the crosswing, the chapel wing projecting to
the front at left (east). One-window projection to front right. Battlemented
projecting porch to right of centre with diagonal buttresses and a 3-centred
moulded stone doorway with a hoodmould and carved label stops. A carved stone
rebus panel in the central merlon depicts a fox under a bush. Flanking the
porch but slightly set back from it a single-storey flat-roofed projection,
like a narthex (2-bays to the left, one-bay to the right) has 3-light windows.
The stair window, to the left of the porch, breaks the eaves with a tall
gable. 2-light transomed stair window with a 2-light traceried roundel in the
head. 3 first floor 2-light gabled dormers. The front right projection has a
finial at the apex of the hipped roof, a 3-light ground floor window with
shafts with carved capitals and a 2-light gabled dormer above. The 3-storey
crosswing to the left has 2 gabled dormers and 2- and 3-light windows. The
inner (west) return of the chapel wing has 2 gabled dormers which act as a
clerestory and 3 ground floor windows. The north end of the wing has a
pyramidal roof with lucarnes and a lead finial. 5:2:4 bay garden (south)
elevation, the 2 windows to the crosswing. Polygonal projecting bay to left
of centre with a faceted conical roof and tall finial. To the right (east) of
the main block a single storey projecting bay with a hipped roof and 4-light
window. Other windows are 1-, 2- and 3-light with 4 gabled dormers to the
main block, one to the crosswing and 2 to the service block at the right
(east) end. Various lower-roofed service blocks adjoin at the east end round
a service courtyard which is entered on the north side through a moulded
archway east of the chapel wing. The west end of the house has a stone
doorway into the axial corridor, the doorway with a deeply-moulded lintel and
an overlight below the hoodmould.

Interior: Well-preserved. The inner door of the porch has a heavy moulded
lintel with an original panelled door into the lobby, which has-a glazed roof.
The doorway from the lobby into the hall has irontwist shafts and a large
overlight. Panelled hall with moulded ceiling beams and a massive Tudor style
chimney-piece with panels of carved armorial bearings. Original stair with
turned balusters. The westernmost of the principal rooms is panelled in an
early C18 style with a good plaster cornice and white marble chimney-piece.
The centre south facing principal room is panelled with engaged Corinthian
columns, a plaster cornice and marble chimney-piece with Ionic columns. The
drawing room, to the east, is fitted out in a Jacobean style with exposed
ceiling beams, panelling, panelled doors and a stone chimney-piece. The
chapel has a timber barrel ceiling. The first floor principal rooms have good
cornices and chimney-pieces, the first floor westernmost room with a
particularly striking High Victorian chimney-piece of green marble and
alabaster. The first floor includes a former bathroom, entirely lined with
circa 1920s coloured marble.

A High Victorian Country house very complete externally and with interesting
internal features. Group value with The Lodge (q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ5633848693

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q99937488

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy