Summary
C16 smoke-bay house, substantially extended in the C18 and with several later phases. From 1955 to 2016 it was the home of artist and potter, Mary Wondrausch.
Reasons for Designation
Brickfields, a C16 smoke-bay house extended in the C18 and with later phases, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a rare example of an unusually small smoke-bay house of likely C16 date, subsequently extended;
* for its legible phasing, revealing in its plan and form evolving modes of occupation, heating technology and vernacular construction;
* for the interior enrichment given by elements of Mary Wondrausch’s decorative scheme.
Historic interest:
* as the home of the noted artist and potter, Mary Wondrausch from 1955 to 2016.
History
Brickfields is a house of multiple phases, the first of which is believed to date from the late C16. The house was recorded in 1978 by the Domestic Buildings Recording Group (Surrey) (DBRGS), which concluded that the eastern part had originated as a small smoke-bay house. The report identified the early building as having been of two bays: a larger bay providing a low-ceilinged principal hearth room, and a smaller bay containing a framed smoke hood and the likely position of a ladder up to a room in the roof. The outshut behind the smoke bay is thought to be contemporary (though subsequently altered and extended to the rear). At the time of the recording more early fabric was visible than is currently the case (2018). However it is assumed that this fabric still survives, some of it now behind later finishes or less easily accessed.
The report notes that at the time of its writing, the early house was one of the smallest yet identified in Surrey. Unusually, its form has remained relatively legible, with later phases tacked-on, so what now makes up Brickfields is a two storey, double-fronted house containing the principal rooms, with the early house acting as a service range to one side. The tall, and slightly odd, proportions of the later house and its brick construction suggest an early C18 date, but the character of the exposed floor frame on the ground floor, which differs in its construction from the floors above, plus the altered roof frame, may indicate several phases of construction are represented.
By about 1840 it is known that the house and neighbouring land was owned by James More Molyneux of the Loseley Park Estate, and the plots adjacent to the house were operating as a brickfield. The Tithe map shows the site on which Brickfields stands as including two outbuildings to the east, the smaller of the two had gone by the late C19, but the larger of the two, a brick-built structure described by Wondrausch as a stable, survives in modified form. Between 1896 and 1913 an L-shaped range was added to its north, this low timber-framed, partially open-fronted, store also still survives. In 1950 the house was sold with its garden and, curiously, just the westernmost bay of the outbuilding. The house, with its bit of outbuilding, was sold again in 1955 to Mary Wondrausch, who in 1976 bought the remainder of the outbuilding and the small parcel of land associated with it, converting the outbuilding to a pottery and small shop in the mid-1980s. Wondrausch left her artistic mark on the building: the roof over the former shop has cat finials and on the wall is a ceramic mosaic depicting the semi-silhouette of a potter at her wheel. The building also features a glazed plaque commemorating its conversion and there is a decoratively painted door (the paint now faded) into the L-shaped store.
Mary Wondrausch (1923-2016) trained first as a painter before turning to ceramics in her forties. She studied at Farnham College of Art and after a few years of practice set up a pottery workshop in Godalming in the mid-1970s, bringing her work to Brickfields a decade later. Wondrausch is best known for her slipware – lead-glazed earthenware, decorated with a coloured ‘slip’ (a mix of clay and water) before firing. This decorative technique was widely used in the C16 and C17 and she became a skilled practitioner of the technique as well as a historian and author on the subject, and a collector. She developed a distinctive style, combining lettering and imagery, and produced many commissioned commemorative pieces which she sold directly, as well as through retailers including Liberty and Harrods. Wandrausch became an Honorary Fellow of the Craft Potters Association and in 2000 was awarded the OBE for service to art. A piece of her work is held by the V&A and she recorded the story of her life for the British Library's Life Stories Collection in 2007.
Brickfields was the centre of Wondrausch’s life for over 60 years. At various times she welcomed students, opened the garden to the public and ran courses, as well as raising three children. The garden was a source of food, cultivated and foraged, and a space for art: Wondrausch constructed eccentric sculptures and fountains from found objects. The house was filled with collected items of kitchen-ware and ceramics, and the interior was decorated with tilework and bright hand-painted and stencilled patterns inspired by European folk art. The decoration is believed to date from the 1980s. Wondrausch captured the interiors in a number of painted canvases and in 2004 she published a richly illustrated book, ‘Brickfields’, which is a portrait of the house and garden, and her artistic and culinary life within it.
Details
C16 smoke-bay house extended in the C18 and with several later phases. From 1955 to 2016 it was the home of artist and potter, Mary Wondrausch.
MATERIALS: the earliest part of the house is timber-framed, with walls now of red brick. Subsequent phases are predominantly of red brick construction with some tile hanging and small areas of galletted stone. Windows are timber, all casement type but of varying date, most having square leaded lights. Doors are also timber and the roof is tiled.
PLAN: the building’s orientation is such that the principal elevation faces north-east, but for ease of reference it will be referred to as the north elevation. The plan can be divided broadly by date, the small C16 house being to the east, and the later house being to the west. The stair rises from within the later house to the first floor and then continues to attic level in the old house, the differing floor heights of the respective parts needing an ad-hoc arrangement, and their linear adjoinment creating a rather rambling plan with circulation space carved out as necessary.
The later house is tall and two-storied and presents as the principal dwelling. It has a pitched gable-ended roof, a large external stack to the rear, and a smaller external end stack to the west. Internally the plan comprises two unequally-sized rooms on each floor. On the ground floor this is a larger hearth room to the east, and a smaller parlour to the west; there are bedrooms and a hallway above. The three-bay roof space is habitable, with a modified structure. Beams (supported permanently by first-floor props) tie the north and south elevations together over the heads of the first floor windows, providing an attic floor level well below the eaves. Broadly speaking the roof is a staggered butt-purlin type with pegged rafters and queen-post trusses. However, there have been a number of changes with the removal and addition of timbers, probably first to improve the habitable space and then to counter the structural problems that resulted.
The early house is low, being a single storey plus attic. The original hearth room adjoins the east end of the later house, and the now sealed smoke hood is to the east. The outshut, now kitchen, wraps around the south and east sides of the early house, its roof plate lifted to give greater head height.
EXTERIOR: the front elevation is painted, with the later house having polite aspirations. It has a string course and a symmetrical frontage arranged around a central six-panel door (the panels now replaced with glass) with a flat hood over. To each side of the door at ground and first floors is a casement window with stone sill and gauged splayed brick arch. A skylight has been inserted into the roof slope. The earlier house has a strong vernacular character with small segmental-headed ground-floor windows and off-centre pitched-roof dormer above. The outshut provides a secondary access at the front of the house, entering directly into the kitchen through a six-panel door with the upper four panels now glazed.
The remaining elevations are idiosyncratic, formed of a selection of red bricks, their pattern and character, and the iron strapping of the large rear stack, hinting at various phases of repair or alteration. Flat-headed roof dormers in the later house, a lean-to brick shed behind the rear stack and a lean-to greenhouse are all C20 additions. The roof of the early house is deep, undulating and rather irregular with a gablet to the east. A distinctive feature is the small blind dormer near the ridge, this has been created to give enough headroom for the stairs into the attic and may once have been glazed.
INTERIOR: aside from Wondrausch’s artistic contribution to the house, which is covered below, the interior is reflective of a modest, rural, multi-phase house which has undergone relatively little alteration in the C20. Wall finishes are of painted plaster and some structural timber is exposed. There are both plank-and-ledge and simple panelled doors with early fittings. The flooring is a mixture of stone and brick, with timber floors above.
The hearth room of the early house has a very low ceiling, with the frame exposed. There is a heavy spine beam with an ovolo moulding and carved stop and some of the joists are also chamfered and stopped. There is a hearth beam and some of the framing of the smoke hood can be seen; the opening has been bricked up but it is believed that much of the smoke hood still survives behind. The hearth room of the later house has higher ceilings but the floor frame is of similar, if more regular, construction, with chamfered and stopped spine beam and joists. The wide fireplace opening is lined in exposed brick and there is a high hearth beam. The parlour is thought to have been panelled at one point. There is more elaborate joinery here, probably dating from the early C19, with panelled and reeded window linings holding folding shutters, and deep moulded architraves. A blocked window in the west wall has had display shelves inserted.
WONDRAUSCH DECORATION: this takes the form of both painted decoration and ceramic tilework. A feature of particular note is the fire surround in the parlour room. This is formed of bespoke tiles in shades of red and green on a cream ground, together forming a stylised and very loosely Classical frame design. The surround is both an architectural intervention and is a distinctive example of the style, materials and techniques for which Wondrausch is best known. Tiles in the bathroom which feature the names of Wondrausch and her children are evocative of the connection between the artist and her long life in the house. Other examples of Wondraucsh’s ceramic work include tiles depicting chickens and quinces, both subjects familiar to her work but less personal, executed in her distinctive style.
The most richly decorated room is the later hearth room, known by Wondrausch as the drawing room. The ceiling beams are painted with a wheatsheaf design, the north wall and chimney breast are brown with a creamy-yellow stencilled semi-abstract block pattern. Other walls have friezes of brightly-coloured repeat patterns featuring women in folk costume, vases of flowers, horses and abstract patterns. The scheme is strong, but fragmented in parts as it was painted to fit around large free-standing pieces of furniture, as well as door and window openings. Wondrausch’s former bedroom has a fire surround which was built for her and which she painted with brightly-coloured still life compositions and several of the internal doors are painted with simple decoration and quotations. Other wall paintings include a small piece of stencil-work in the kitchen, and a tasselled frieze painted around Wondrausch’s bedroom at the wall head which has failed in parts.
