History

A hunting lodge built in the late C17 for Richard Fowler of Harnage, Shropshire. Part of the house has been used as a Methodist chapel since 1818.

Exterior

A rubble-stone house of 2 storeys with attic and basement, renewed slate roof on projecting eaves, with skylights, and slightly splayed gable stacks, each with 3 diagonal shafts. The original entrance is in the NW side, where there is an added porch concealing a shaped wooden door head and original boarded door with strap hinges. Vertical joints in the wall R and L suggest former windows, but the only surviving fenestration is an inserted upper-storey window to the R and inserted basement window lower R of the porch. The NE gable end has 2-light wood-mullioned windows flanking the stack, each of which is blocked behind the frame, except upper R where the window has been removed and infilled with rubble. The 3-window SE, rear elevation, where the ground is lower is near symmetrical. Wood-mullioned windows under stone segmental heads are late C20 replacements in original openings. The central basement doorway is in a later added porch. It is flanked by windows on each side. The lower storey has similar windows R and L, larger to the R, and a similar window upper L, but the upper R-hand window is slightly higher and beneath the eaves. In the centre are 2 narrower stair windows, the upper of which is beneath the eaves. The SW gable end has a half-glazed lean-to porch to the R, to a boarded basement door. In the lower storey is a replacement window to the L.

Interior

The house retains its original symmetrical plan, which was exceptional for the late C17. The entrance opens to a stair hall. The full-height dog-leg stair has fret-cut balusters with square newels and oversized tapering finials. A plainer stair leads down to the basement. Timber-framed partitions are mostly concealed, but close-studding is exposed at attic level. The room L of the entrance has a triangular door head and boarded door with strap hinges. Its fireplace has ovolo-moulded stone jambs and wooden lintel. Two spine beams have run-out stops. The room directly above also has a triangular door head. In the basement kitchen is a wide segmental-headed fireplace with chamfered voussoirs, 2 spine beams, which are corbelled over the fireplace, and a wooden window seat. In the wall of the basement porch is a re-set grave slab to Sarah Griffiths (d1825) and Thomas Griffiths (d 1853) of Ty Faenor, by Stevens.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as a fine C17 house especially notable for the retention of its original plan form and detail.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17743708

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)