Little Offley

Details

OFFLEY LITTLE OFFLEY TL 12 NW 4/111 Little Offley 9.6.52 GV II*

Country house. Late C16 origin as timber framed H-plan house of Spicer family; refronted in Jacobean period (Drapentier engraving published in 1700 shows centre heightened to 2-storeys and attics, elaborate 2-storeys frontispiece, cupola with '1688' on vane and sash windows only to 1st floor of wings); present new brick front and small gabled wings projecting to SW and SE at outer corners of wings dated '1696' by rainwater head on SE small wing. Restored and extended at NE and NW c.1913 by Geoffrey Lucas and Arthur Lodge for C.E. Johnston. Timber frame now exposed only at rear of W wing. Red brick in Flemish-bond chequered with black headers. Light red brick to angles and openings. Red rubbed brick at front for plinth, plat band, and whole projecting central bay. Steep old red tile roofs with wooden eaves cornice and pediment with slate roof. A large 2-storeys cellar and attics house facing S. Present narrow through passage from front door in position of screens passage of original house with hall to W with large external rear wall chimney and parlour crosswing to W. 2 service rooms bay to E of passage with rear passage to kitchen in E wing. C17 changes involved adding 2-storey passage around the back of the hall chimney, a 2-gabled stair tower to rear of E crosswing and service extension to E of it beyond its massive E gable chimney, 2-storeys small outer gabled wings at SE and SW and passage access to principal rooms on the 1st floor. Symmetrical S front has 2-storeys 5 windows centre, flanked by 2-storeys and attics 2 windows wide gabled projecting wings, themselves flanked by narrow 2-storeys 1 window wide gabled outer wings. Flush box sashes with 12/12 panes to 1st floor of the centre, 6/6 panes elsewhere. Modillioned painted eaves cornice to centre returned to adjoining sides of wings. Triangular pediment to shallow, 1 window, central projection with elaborate enriched bolection moulded carved oak doorcase with carved swelled frieze, consoles, and segmental broken pediment with swags and fruit-carved key-block. Doorcase moved out to front of rubbed brick, flat topped, single-storey, rectangular porch with sash windows in the sides, after 1917. Casement windows to kitchen on ground floor of E wing. Moulded gable parapets to wings and outer wings. Small leaded single-light windows to attic in wing gables. Rectangular E kitchen chimney with small gabled bellcote on its E face. Square shafts set diagonally to rear wall of central range and W side of W wing. SW outer wing altered and widened probably in C18 and canted bay window of later C19. 2-storeys c.1913 nursery wing at NW facing W has timbered loggia below 2 gables with cross windows. Rear entrance by half-glazed door under semi-circular fanlight with panelled spandrels below a flat hood on shaped brackets with guttae as corbels. Twin gabled parapet to E of stair tower with stepped plat-band and original cross windows with iron casements and rectangular leaded glazing. Flat gauged arches. Timber framing of rear of W wing shows 2 clasped-purlins to each slope. Interior has much bolection moulded panelling and doors, notably in through passage with arch flanked by panelled pilasters on bases and with eared architrave to rear. Room on E of entrance has full panelling with bolection moulding to fire surround, walls 3-panel doors with case locks, and moulded cornice. Similar room with contemporary panelling on 1st floor. Jacobean arcaded overmantle to W parlour with 4 carved caryatid figures and inlay bands. Barleysugar twisted balusters and bolection wall panelling to staircase, but now rises from rear lobby rather than former rear service passage. Clasped-purlin roof to main range at same height as that of wings, has supports for former cupola. Kitchen has old chamfered crossed ceiling beams but refitted as a parlour with oak plank doors and stone fireplace c.1913. Chamfered 4-centred C17 brick fireplace on 1st floor. (RCHM (1911)161: VCH (1912)39: Country Life 24 Feb 1917: Pevsner (1977)265-6: RCHM Typescript) .

Listing NGR: TL1296228502

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

163121

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 265-6
Country Life in 24 February, (1917)

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

End of official list entry

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