Summary
House. Designed in 1853 in a Jacobean Revival style by the diocesan architect for Hereford, Thomas Nicholson, for Rowland Jones Venables and his family. Mid-C20 alterations by country architect AG Chant and architect CH Simmons. C20 and C21 alterations.
Reasons for Designation
Oakhurst Hall, designed by the architect Thomas Nicholson, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an architecturally accomplished example of a small country estate designed in a sophisticated interpretation of the Jacobean Revival style;
* for its compositional design, use of good quality materials, and careful attention to architectural detailing;
* for its overall good degree of external and internal survival retaining the legibility of its original plan form and most of its historic fixtures and fittings.
Historic interest:
* built in 1853 it is a relatively early example of a small country house estate built for a member of the aspiring middle class and contributes to our understanding of mid-C19 domestic architecture and estate planning.
Group value:
* with the associated estate buildings, also designed by Thomas Nicholson, which together form a distinctive example of estate architecture.
History
Oakhurst is an example of a mid-C19 small country estate. The estate is thought to have C18 origins and there is a record of an ‘Upper House’ on the site being sold to the Revd Thomas Edwards who subsequently rebuilt the house in 1774 and renamed it as ‘Mount Sion’. The house was largely rebuilt again in 1830 by Revd Richard Maurice Bonner, and in 1853 the Bonner family sold Mount Sion to Rowland Jones Venables, a Director of the Great Western and Oswestry and Newtown Railway Companies. Venables immediately commissioned the diocesan architect for Hereford, Thomas Nicholson (1823-1895), to design the present house and its associated estate buildings to the south-west.
The estate is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map (1875) and its footprint accords with Nicholson’s 1853 plans but with the addition of the loggia to the east elevation. The loggia, which was built of cast iron with a geometric tiled floor and a roof covered in plain clay tiles, is shown on two drawings of the house by Stanley Leighton, dated 1884 and 1900, which also include the tall chimney stacks, as well as the original extent of the service range. Following the death of Mrs Venables in 1895 Oakhurst was inherited by her nephew Rowland George Venables (1846-1920), the son of Revd Joseph George Venables who was an early member of Shropshire County Council. By the early C20, the service range had been extended to the east and the north, and the 1926 OS map shows the addition of the two-storey canted bay to the east elevation between the principal and service range. This map also shows a square projection to the right-hand bay of the south elevation of the former morning room, to what has always been a blind window; this addition had been removed by 1969. In 1946 the estate was sold to the council, and the county architect, AG Chant, made a series of alterations to enable the conversion of the building to Oswestry Girls’ High School in 1948. In 1953 remedial works were carried out to the north-west wing by CH Simmons. The estate was purchased by a private owner in 1986 and used for residential and commercial purposes. The loggia was removed in the late C20 or early C21. It remains in private ownership (2021).
Details
House. Designed in 1853 in a Jacobean Revival style by the diocesan architect for Hereford, Thomas Nicholson, for Rowland Jones Venables and his family. Mid-C20 alterations by country architect AG Chant and architect CH Simmons. C20 and C21 alterations.
MATERIALS: constructed of coursed stone with ashlar quoins and dressings. The hipped roofs are covered in slate tiles with clay ridge tiles. Stone chimney stacks (truncated), and stone mullion windows with timber casements (some modern). Square profile cast-iron downpipes with hoppers dated 1854, with some aluminium replacement.
PLAN: of two storeys, with cellar, the principal house has a rectangular footprint with an axial corridor running west to east with the principal rooms to the south, and the staircase and dining room to the north. The service range to the north comprises a series of service rooms, such as the Butler’s Pantry, arranged around a courtyard. It retains its south passage with its service stair and access to the cellar but has been reconfigured and extended and the east side of the service range has been converted to form a separate house.
EXTERIOR: the principal elevations feature shaped gables to the outer bays, semi-circular ornamented frontons above the principal first-floor windows, and a continuous plat band with a patera and fluting detail. To the three-bay entrance (west) elevation is a central stone porch comprising a moulded round arch with imposts and keystones, flanked by pilasters raised on plinths. The pilasters are ornamented with strapwork and multi-faceted stone carving (prismatic ornamentation of the C16 and C17 style). Above is a balustrade with interlocking quatrefoils. The five-bay south elevation features a full-height canted bay to the centre with scrolled and fleur de lye ornamentation to the top. The three-bay east elevation formerly featured a cast-iron loggia which has now been removed, and between this range and the extended service range, a canted bay with sash windows has been added. The service range has been extended to the north and the east; these later extensions are of brick, with the east elevations faced in stone.
INTERIOR: the principal open-well staircase, separated from the main entrance hall by a pair of round-headed arches with keystones, comprises tapered and pierced newel posts with multi-faceted detail, and balusters with moulded and ramped handrails. Throughout are decorative cornices; joinery including panelled doors, architrave, and window and door shutters; mid-C19 fireplaces of various styles, including Louis XIV and Regency.
The service range is plainer and more altered. It retains some of its original joinery including the service stair with chamfered newel posts and stick balusters, and the brick cellar features arches and slate shelves. The east side of the service range has been largely remodelled and reconfigured and the joinery and plasterwork is late C20 to early C21 and is of lesser interest. The first floor is less altered retaining its mid-C19 fireplaces.
