Details
SP 01 NW DOWDESWELL LOWER DOWDESWELL
5/36 Eight Gables House
23/01/52
the entry shall be amended to read:
SP 01 NW DOWDESWELL LOWER DOWDESWELL
5/36 The Eight Gabled Home
(Formerly listed as:LOWER
DOWDESWELL, Eight
Gables House)
23/01/52
GV 11* (star)
Large detached house. Late C16 with extensive restoration mid
C20. Coursed squared and dressed limestone, stone slate roofs,
ashlar stacks.
PLAN: An unusually regular square plan, with twin gables to each
elevation; a long central staircase hall is entered from the
north side, flanked by a square room each side, and with a thick
fireplace wall running transversely across the full width, but
the flues gathered to one central stack. The ground floor has
beyond this wall a full width room, probably divided in the
original layout, and at f1rst floor are four near-square rooms,
open to the roof structure, but with a bathroom inserted in the
C20 in part of the south-east room.
EXTERIOR: The elevations are also regular, all windows at ground
and first floors are recessed hollow-chamfer stone-mullioned
casements with stopped hood moulds, and in each gable is a
single round-headed light, without hood-mould. The entrance
front has a central 2-light flanked by 2-light, and the ground
floor has a 4-light each side of the 4-centred doorway in broad
flush surround to a plank door; a continuous hood mould is
raised slightly over the doorway. The other fronts are similar,
but with a 3-light centrally to the first floor, and with
3-lights to the ground floor, and with individual hood-moulds;
the west front has had a large late C20 glazed doorway inserted
to the end of the ground floor long room. All gables have
saddle-back copings, and the central stack has two conjoined
shafts, with moulded capping. To the left of the entrance front
is a well, set against the corner of the building which is
splayed at the ground floor above it. INTERIOR:
Entrance hall, with a stone-flagged floor, is flanked by
full-height timber-framed partitions, mainly in close studding,
but with some square framing to the first floor. Ground floor
rooms have broad beams with stopped chamfers, and exposed,
mainly original beams. The kitchen, to the left, has a stone
floor, a central beam, and a modified wide fireplace with a
cambered wood bressumer. The room to the right, at a slightly
lower level has a central and 2 cornice beams, very wide
fireplace with large bressumer on chamfered stone cheeks and
bread oven, with, to its right, a rounded recess with cobble
floor, possibly a former curing chamber. The transverse end room
has a C20 oak plank floor and 4 beams, one of which may have
been repositioned, as they are not evenly spaced; this .room has
the large inserted glazed French doorway. The staircase has a
balustrade with heavy handrail, splat balusters, square newels
with open finial cappings, one of these a C20 replacement, and a
solid string; there is no string or housing on the partition
side, and the staircase has a somewhat improvised appearance.
The bedrooms have revealed principals, with rough and heavy
tie-beams at approx 1.8m from floor level.
The house seems to have been designed with regularity of
appearance as an important aspect, which would make it a very
early example inthis region of Renaissance-influenced design;
the cross-gables are not fully framed to the roof structure as
is normal. The building is part of an important group including
the Church of St Michael (qv) and the Dovecote (qv).
(Verey D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: The
Cotswolds, 1979)
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DOWDESWELL LOWER DOWDESWELL
SP 01 NW
5/36 Eight Gables House
23.1.52
GV II
Detached house. C16, restored mid C20. Coursed squared and
dressed limestone, stone slate roof, stone stacks. Rectangular
plan. Symmetrical twin gables on each facade of house. Two, 3 and
4-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned casements to ground and
first floors. All first floor windows with stopped hoods. Single
lights with moulded stilted-headed surrounds towards apex of each
gable. Entrance front on north with central C20 plank door with
strap hinges within flat-chamfered 'Tudor'-arched surround, hood
over flanking windows continued over door. Well with surround
built up against north-east corner. Roof; 2 parallel gabled
ridges with twin gables at right angles on north and south.
Interior: fine C17 staircase with balusters and large pyramidal
finials. Close-studded partition walls. (David Verey, The
Buildings of England: The Cotswolds, 1979.)
Listing NGR: SP0009719882
