Description

THE CLOSE 1. 1954 Nos 56A & 56B (Hemingsby House) [Formerly listed as No 56 (Hungerford Chantry)] SU 1429 NW 3/16 28.2.52. I GV 2. (Former Canonry). Probably 1st built early C14 by Alexander de Hemingsby. Enlarged C15, and enriched with panelling etc. about same time. Half of house rebuilt 1726-7. External appearance now like 2 houses, each of 2 storeys. The right hand part C14 and C15, and some slight modernisation, flint and stone, with a number of flat tiles laid herring fashion in parts of the walls, a projecting gabled wing at right hand corner with a large moulded stone pointed arched doorway on ground floor, now blocked, and a stone mullioned window over on 1st floor. The south wall of this wing is entirely of tile herringbone with 3 light renewed stone mullioned window. The main front has 2 gabled dormers with modern lead casements and tile hung cheeks, 2 2-light stone mullioned casements on 1st floor, 2 similar on ground floor and central ledged door (probably C14) with moulded cover fillets to junctions of boards, in C14 or C15 gabled stone porch with moulded coping, pointed moulded arched entrance with shields set in spandrels. This porch possibly reset, the right hand wing was perhaps original entrance to hall behind. Steep pitch gable end old tile roof to this part. The upper part of this block was formerly one large hall with a small room in the wing. The major part of the large room is in original condition with open timber roof, the north end has been partitioned off to form an additional room at a later date. Roof with collar beams on arched braces and 4 tiers of single cusped windbraces, principals single-cusped above collars. Wall plate with quatrefoils and inscription with the name of William Fideon, a Greek Scholar who escaped from Constantinople in 1453. He was Canon from 1457 to 1473. Reset C17 stair leads down to lower ground floor where the hall screen has been reset, 2 pointed entrances with delicate shafts and buttress shafts, carved finials. The linen fold panelling reset in later part of house, No 56B, probably put in by Fideon or Canon Nicholas Upton who enlarged the building 1445 to 1457. Canon Edward Powell, advocate of Catherine of Aragon and later hanged for denying the Act of Supremacy, lived here. The left hand part of house, No 56B, part rebuilt 1726 by Canon Joseph Sayer has #pper part of red brick with even chamfered stone quoins. Moulded stone cornice and frieze. Tall brick parapet with flanking stone-pilasters and stone coping containing 5 recessed panels over windows and door. The semi basement has older masonry in walling as do south and west sides, and is separated from upper brick part by stone band. 4 tall recessed sashes with flat rubbed arches, triple keystones and large central door of 8 fielded panels with arched radiating fanlight, in banded and chamfered stone surround, all on raised ground floor. The semi-basement has 4 blind windows. The door is approached by flight of steps with plain wrought iron rails. The west front to garden has modillion eaves cornice and hipped old tile roof. 4 windows and glazed and panelled central door on 1st floor with dogleg Cl9 iron stairs with delicate balustrade giving access to garden. Ground floor has 4 squat sash windows. The earlier part No 56A on this front altered fenestration, gabled dormer, but retains stone buttress. The interior of No 56B has suite of 4 large finely proportioned rooms, 1726, bedroom with reset very fine linenfold panelling from floor to ceiling, also in other rooms as dado panelling. This part has large stone cellars to east side, some reused mediaeval masonry. House set back with small formal garden to front and large garden down to river behind.

All the listed buildings in the Close form an outstanding group.

Listing NGR: SU1416629736

External Links

• Hemingsby House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17530006

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]