Description

BRIDGWATER

ST3138 BATH ROAD 736-1/4/3 (North West side) 24/03/50 Sydenham Manor House

II

Manor house. Early/mid C16 to left return wall and projection, refronted and rebuilt after 1613. Blue lias roughly coursed limestone rubble, Ham Hill stone dressings, C19 Welsh slate roof with carved kneelers to moulded coping; stone stacks to diagonally-set ashlar flues. L-plan with stair projection at angle with rear right service wing: front (north) block has left gable-end stack and porch to left of large external lateral stack heating hall: rear block has gable-end stacks. 2 storeys and attic; north front is 5-window range. Moulded string courses and stone-mullioned ovolo-moulded 4-light windows to ground floor and 3 lights above; similar 2-light mid C19 ground-floor window to right of the 3-storey porch which has a moulded architrave to a hollow-chamfered basket-arched doorway with the arms of the Perceval and Cave on the foliate spandrels; reset C16 round-arched inner door with lozenge stops to the label mould and mid C19 cornice and foliate boss inside the porch. To the right of the porch is a large external lateral stack. The right return, left gable end and rear are in similar style with similar windows, a Tudor-arched doorway with sunk spandrels adjoins a stair turret; to ground-floor rear is a reset early/mid C16 three-light window with 4-centred arch heads, roll-moulded mullions and casement-moulded architrave with lozenge stops to the label mould. A projection to the left return of 3 storeys has similar early/mid C16 two-light windows, one to the first floor with a dragon and a dog to the label stops; a similar 4-light first-floor window above a restored chamfered 3-light window with a label mould to the left return which has chamfered square-headed window, C16 lancet above with sunk spandrels to a 4-centred arch, two C19 inserted larger lancets to rear and C16 quatrefoil light to the attic; early C20 one-storey extension to the front. INTERIOR: heavily remodelled late C19/early C20 with panelled walls and doors. Earlier features include the following. The former hall to the front has a herring-bone tile fireback and ovolo-moulded architrave to a 4-centred arch with sunk spandrels, now painted and with C19 overmantel. A passage from rear door of hall (opposite the porch) to rear room, has 2 chamfered 4-centred arched doorways to kitchen on left with a chamfered beam. The rear room has a similar fire surround with 'primitive' caryatids to the overmantel. The restored early C17 plaster ceiling has lozenge and quatrefoil panels with thistles, rosettes, fleur-de-lys and moulded cornicing; some reset C17 panelling. The early C17 closed-string, dogleg stair has a moulded handrail, pyramidal caps and pendants to heavy turned newels: restored and rebuilt in 1928 with chestnut wood, only the heavy turned balusters are of the original oak. To the first floor is a C17 hollow-chamfered 4-centred arched doorway and a stop-chamfered arched wooden door frame with C17 planked door to the wing on the left. Fireplace to room above kitchen has a Tudor arch to a moulded surround with foliate spandrels and a late C19 enriched cornice. A small room to the right has an ovolo-moulded fireplace. No.access to the room to rear. The second floor has a chamfered-arched doorframe to right. Roof trusses not available for inspection but probably of collar-truss type. History: The original building of c1500 was built for Thomas Percival. A late C16 oak lantern finial from the old staircase is in the Blake Museum (qv). A remarkably centralised plan form for the early C17, the stair turret being placed at the angle with the rear wing. (Ward-Jackson C H: An Account of Sydenham Manor House and some of its former owners: ICI Sydenham Manor: 1986-).

Listing NGR: ST3112238396

External Links

• Sydenham House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q21061844

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: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House