Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6684 CHURCH STREET, Upwey
873-1/6/529 (West side)
12/12/53 Westbrook House

GV II*

Country house in its own grounds. Partly of 1620 for Sir
Thomas Freke, substantially modified and extended c1740-1750
by William Freke, or the new owner (from 1741), John Floyer;
some alteration c1806, when NC Daniel acquired the property.
Portland ashlar, some rubble, slate roofs.
PLAN: the original L-plan house with central hall and
projecting porch to the W enclosed by new blocks to the S and
E, with a matching unit to the W to give a symmetrical S
front. The principal staircase opens from the NE corner of the
early hall, and links with a block to the N which is difficult
to explain, but may be part of the early C19 work. All is
generally in 2 storeys with attics; no cellar is recorded.
EXTERIOR: the E front, facing the river, is in fine ashlar, in
3 bays, with 12-pane sashes in plat band surrounds on stone
sills. There are 2 flat-roofed small-pane 2-light casement
dormers, above the outer bays. A central 6-panel fielded door
has a radial fanlight in a moulded arch with keystone and
responds to pilasters contained in a Roman Doric entablature
doorcase on half-columns. Small plinth, moulded cornice,
blocking course and parapet, returned at the ends, which
contain a single matching 12-pane sash at each level, and a
dormer above, matching those to the E.
The S front was reorganised in 1740 to create the principal
facade. The central 3-bay block, in fine ashlar with
rusticated quoins, steps forward, having been planted on the
front of the earlier hall, and has 3 very deep 15-pane sashes
at the first floor, reaching to floor level, above 12-pane
sashes, with central unit as 3 over 9-pane as a door; all
these in moulded architraves, and with very slender glazing
bars, probably part of the 1806 modifications by Daniel. The
returns each end have 12-pane sashes in moulded architraves,
but these are blind windows. The steep hipped roof is set
behind a high parapet on moulded cornice.
Set back to the left the added wing matches that to the right
(the S end of the E front), with matching dormer above a
12-pane sash and a 24-pane light as a door. Stone stacks rise
at the rear and ends of the centre block.
On the return to the W, which continues in rubble, the hipped
block has 12-pane sashes with plat bands facing S, and to the
W the small hipped C17 projecting porch, with a wave-mould

stone mullioned 2-light casement above an ashlar arch with
keystone and imposts, cropped to the right by later
alterations, over a 6-panel door in bold plat band surround
with key.
The N front, mainly in rubble, has, to the left, a 2-storey
hipped unit with a wide flush-panel door in the N face, and a
sash on the E return; it is linked to the back of the original
hall, and a partially blocked doorway is set to the S return.
The 1620 building is exposed here, and in the return wing to
the right, is a blocked doorway with a flush chamfered
4-centred arch on dressed quoins at the N gable end; a 6-light
window has been inserted under the arch. The back of the hall
has a fine 8:12:8-light Palladian window, set tight to the
projecting E block. The wing to the right, probably part of
the original L-plan has various lights, and continues to the W
as a 2-storey attached cottage.
INTERIOR: the C17 hall is on a Portland stone slab floor, and
has a fine original plastered ceiling with flowing intertwined
moulded ribs and various enrichments, including rosettes,
dragons, crowns and thistles. The fireplace, in Portland
stone, is an unusual Gothick design of c1760. At the E end is
a triple opening, the centre arched one from the entrance
lobby, flanked by doorways to the study and sitting rooms,
each with moulded cornices and C18 fire surrounds. The drawing
room has a pair of fluted Ionic columns, without entablature,
inserted to flank the central doorway, a dentil cornice, and
white marble fire surround. Ground floor has original window
shutters to most openings, and many 6-panelled C18 doors in
moulded architraves.
There are two C20 secondary staircases, but the grand mid C18
stair opens from the NE corner of the old hall. It is a
generous open-well quarter-landing stair in polished oak, with
open string to enriched panel ends, very slender turned
balusters, 3 to each tread, and a moulded and wreathed
handrail, stopped to a bold enriched wreath, and with fluted
Corinthian newels. A dado with fielded panelling, and
anthemion cornices. The stair is lit by an elliptical skylight
with radial bars.
The first-floor front room, the principal salon, is very
lofty, and has a white marble fire surround with delicately
fluted pilasters and frieze with 3 panels carrying carved
goddesses; a large tripartite rococo mirror with fine Adam
detail surmounts the whole. This room has an anthemion
cornice, but adjoining rooms have bold egg-and-dart cornices.
In the small room over the C17 porch the window has wave
moulded members inside.
The rear extension adjoining the main staircase, and
accessible from the first quarter landing, formerly had a

large free-standing stack, with a service stair behind, but
this area is now modified.
This is a rich house, carefully maintained in the C20; a
covered swimming pool has been added, attached to the W side
of the C17 porch, with a lobby covering the previously exposed
C17 doorway in external walling (qv). (Valuable information
from study of the house by Katherine Geddes).
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 367).

Listing NGR: SY6659484364

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554214

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas