Description

SU 94SE BRAMLEY C.P. MUNSTEAD HEATH
ROAD

4/50 Orchards
9/3/60

GV I

House. 1896-1899 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, his first major work, for Sir William and
Lady Chance, with additions and alterations by Lutyens in 1909 and 1914. Coursed
sandstone blocks with tile-on-edge decoration, some tile hung gables and ashlar
stone surround to door. Plain tiled roofs, some hipped,with brick stacks.
Quadrangular plan around a courtyard with one side prolonged to the west to form
an L shaped entrance, linked by an arch. Two storeys with attics under hipped
roof dormers, the east side of the quadrangle single storey. Entrance front:-
Gabled end of former stable and coach house projects to left with battered
buttresses to angles and along the east wall. Two storeys and attic with three
nipped dormers and four casements across the first floor. Leaded casements and
two doors to ground floor. Entrance range to right has two dormers, one over
the large throughway passage and lights only the rafters. Huge panelled doors
with massive hinges and furniture. Massive corbelled stack to left, double
diagonal stacks to rear right and front stack to left in re-entrant angle with
stable wing. Eight-light window to ground floor left and three massive studio
windows to right. Courtyard Entrance Front:- Two storeys with central gabled
two storey entrance porch. Four stacks high up on left balancing two diagonal
stacks lower down to right. Wood-framed, leaded casement fenestration with
almost continuous fenestration under the eaves across the first floor, including
a six-light window across the first floor of the porch, under a timber gable.
Ground floor casements flank central porch with ashlared surround and four centred,
arched entrance. Stone rib and brick vault to porch and ribbed door. Right hand
Court Range:- Single storey and arcaded, with three broad arched openings, flanking
ones with tile coped plinth walls. Central arch open at base. Tile on edge
"sunburst" pattern to arches and breathers alternate. Left hand court range:- two
storeys and attics with leaded,wood-framed casement fenestration and side door.
Garden Front:- Large gable off centre, smaller tile hung gable to left with double
stack between wood-framed, leaded casement fenestration with a row of seven lights
over five lights to first floor of main gable. Gable end attic windows and double
arched openings to ground floor of right hand gable end with flanking large stacks.
Single storey service buildings project from the left hand return front - (North
East) facing the formal gardens.
Interiors:- Study - Fireplace of blue and white tiles decorated with cats and
a plan of the house with a dedication - "Built by Thomas Underwood for William
Chance, Edwin Lutyens Architect". Designed by Lady Chance (nee Julia Strachey)
with side cupboards and 4 centred arch to front. Lambs tongue stops to front
lintel. Fine doors with restored escutcheons and door furniture. Hall - remains
of white marble fireplace, oak floors and screen-reconstructed using old materials.
Kitchen - reinstated in imitation of original.Corridor and staircase - fine stair-
case based on C17 manor house type with square newel posts and small well. Half-
way up a subsidiary stair leads off to a small landing and further corridor.
Carved joists to staircase and spaces between supporting joists of top treads
is left open so that the user has gaps in it. "Studio" room flanking through-
way entrance - Massive brick fireplace, running full height of room. The house
is set in a Gertrude Jekyll, II* garden which, like the house is undergoing
thorough restoration at time of re-survey, and is noted in the Register of Parks
and Gardens of Special Historic Interest - Part 40.

PEVSNER: BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND, SURREY(1971) pp. 378-80.
L WEAVER: HOUSES AND GARDENS BY E. L. LUTYENS (1913) pp.23-35.

Listing NGR: SU9925843282

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Orchards at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15979219

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

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)