Woodland House, Llanyblodwel, Llanyblodwel, Shropshire

Summary

A house, probably of late-Georgian date, which was converted to use as a vicarage in phases between 1845 and 1857 to the designs of the vicar, Revd. John Parker. It reverted to use as a private house in the 1980s.

Description

MATERIALS & PLAN: the house is built of Gault brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. It has two storeys and a cellar. The main block runs north-south. The service wing is at the southern end and extends to the east.

EXTERIOR: the entrance front faces east and has an E-shaped portion at right, with a porch wing flanked by projecting wings, all of which have shaped gables of moulded bricks. There are panels of projecting bricks to the centre of the gables and a hood mould over the door which has a Tudor arch. Windows are wooden-framed sashes. To the left of these five bays is an entrance lobby with Tudor arch and wide ground floor window. At left again is the projecting service wing which has a blind gable end with central projecting stack. Its north flank has two, three-light, ground-floor windows with chamfered mullions. To left at first floor level is a two-light gabled dormer, with moulded coping, which bears the date '1845'.

The south flank has two, paired, shaped gables. The service wing projects at right and has a similar, gabled dormer to that seen on its north flank.

The north flank has two bays, that at right is defined by buttresses with offsets to the far right corner and to right of centre. These both have colonettes to their corners with carved foliate heads. At left is a gabled bay which projects slightly and has two lights divided by a chamfered mullion to the ground floor and a plate glass window to the first floor with a simple traceried head. Above this window is a segmental hood mould with carved label stops. Rainwater heads to the right and left of the gable both bear the date '1852'. The bay at right has a projecting corbel at ground floor level with a carved stag head in relief. Above this is a small, lancet window.

The west front facing over the terrace and gardens, down to the River Tanat, has a projecting gabled wing at right with shaped gable and a star pattern of raised brick. A recessed bay at right of this has a three bay ground floor window and a cross window to the first floor. The recessed bay at left has the conservatory to the ground floor, with a cross window to the first floor. At left again is the staircase window, set at mezzanine level, and at left again is the projecting drawing room wing, which has buttresses with offsets to each corner and a three-light, mullioned window to each floor. Above the ground floor window an inscription across its lintel reads 'BEGUN:1852:COMPLETED:1857'. The first floor window has a central light with pointed head flanked by two lights with round heads. It has a heavy hood mould with attached deeply-carved bosses.

Chimneys across the roofs are of cut and moulded brick and survive to their full, original height.

A battlemented garden wall leads away from the far left corner of the house on its north side. An arched gateway is set into the wall and its head is inscribed (on its east side) 'IN:THE:YEAR:OF:OUR:LORD:1853' and, on its west side, 'SALVATION BELONGETH TO THE LORD'. This wall extends for c. 50 feet at a height of c. 10 feet and then falls to c. 4 feet in height and extends for approximately another 50 feet.

INTERIOR: the ground floor service rooms at the southern end have clay tiled floors and whitewashed or painted brick walls. Both staircases are dogleg, with stick balusters and a mahogany handrail. Ceiling roses and cornices have been inserted on both floors and all of the fire surrounds are also replacements of lost originals. The drawing room has a panelled ceiling with stone corbels supporting arched and cusped braces which connect to the ceiling beams. Joinery is in Parker's idiosyncratic style, with sinuous lines and large-scale dogtooth ornament. Stencilled ornament survives on the spandrels of the arch which crosses the room, similar to that in Llanyblodwel church. Similar joinery is in the principal bedroom above the drawing room.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the C20 conservatory attached to the western side of the house is not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

The former vicarage at Llanyblodwel stands to the west of the church and is in a late-Georgian style. The site chosen by John Parker for his new vicarage was set a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the church. It appears that he adapted an existing late-Georgian house with three near-symmetrical bays facing west, overlooking the valley of the river Tanat and a plan with a central staircase hall. Parker's adaptation appears to have started on the service wing which is dated 1845 by an inscription above a first floor window. The existing house was then clad in a loosely Jacobean style, and shaped gables, moulded chimney stacks and a porch wing were added. The drawing room wing appears to have been the last addition and is dated by an inscription over its west window to 1852-57. On the battlemented garden wall which extends to the north of the house is a date of 1853.

Stone dressings on the newly built portions of the house are sizeable. This was also the period when Parker was rebuilding his own church of St Michael at Llanyblodwel (Grade I) and also advising on the additions to St Michael and All Angels, Alberbury (Grade II*) and probably at St Michael, Cardeston (Grade II), both paid for by his brother-in-law, Sir Baldwin Leighton. It seems at least possible that the slightly arbitrary nature of some of the carvings and their placing on the drawing room wing and the garden wall may be the result of their re-use from other projects with which Revd. Parker was involved.

The house ceased to be a vicarage in 1950 and a conservatory with canted end was subsequently added to the centre of the west front. The roof covering of asbestos tiles has recently (March 2017) been replaced with slates and other work is ongoing.

Reasons for Listing

Woodland House, Llanyblodwel, Shropshire, probably late-Georgian in date, with alterations in phases between 1845 and 1857 to the designs of Revd. John Parker, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the house, which is of various dates, was augmented by two wings added by the talented amateur architect, Revd. John Parker, and remodelled externally to form an effective, picturesque grouping. Despite some changes to bathrooms and service areas, the plan and many of the details of the house can still be clearly seen and its original functioning can be readily understood;

Historic interest:

* the vicarage forms a good and relatively early example of the form of aggrandized church house that developed from the 1840s in line with the enhanced status of the parish priest at that time.

External Links

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