The Dower House

Details

SARSDEN SARSGROVE WOOD SP32SW 8/199 The Dower House 1.5.85 GV II*

House, latterly divided into 5 cottages now one house. Circa 1825 by G.S. Repton for the spinster sisters of James Haughton Langston of Sarsden House (q.v.); altered mid-C20 and again in process of restoration at time of resurvey (August 1987). Coursed and squared limestone rubble; stone slate roofs with stone chimneys (some replaced in blue engineering brick in later C19 but now being rebuilt in stone). Picturesque cottage orne style with complex plan and elevations. Main rooms grouped in compact 2-storey block with gabled projections to north-east (hall), south-east (dining room, now study) and south-west (drawing room); principal bedrooms over. From this a 1 1/2-storey L-plan block steps down slope to north-west, then extends north-east into comparatively large service block terminating in one-storey annexes and walled yard. All elevations have casement windows with leaded lights or glazing bars; the roof overhangs substantially at gables and verges. North-east side. Gabled projection to right of centre with 3-light window to ground floor, 2-light window to first floor and cusped bargeboards. To right, main entrance (boarded door) with 2-light window over to left. Projecting chimney stack terminating in 2 diagonal brick shafts, partly obscrued by loggia with lean-to roof, hipped to left, supported on primitive order: 5 irregularly-spaced timber columns with square abaci carrying bark-covered lintel. Main roof hipped to right with ridge stack of 3 enriched round shafts. South-east side. Gabled projection to right with 2-storey 5-light canted bay window; cusped bargeboards over. Above lower lights is stone-tiled canopy carried on thin curved brackets. To left, single-storey projection in angle with roof, half-hipped to left, extended as canopy on brackets (as bay); casement doors with overlight beneath. Above gabled half-dormer with 2-light window and scalloped bargeboards. South-west side. To right gabled projection with cusped bargeboards. On ground floor circular bay window in 5 bays defined by rustic 'fluted' columns carrying square abaci and bark-covered lintel, each bay with 2-light casement window. Conical roof truncated with lead platform forming balcony (originally with iron railing) reached by 3-light casement with stone slated canopy on brackets above. To left building steps down slope in 3 stages, roofs hipped to left, the final stage of 1 1/2 storeys with hipped half-dormer. Interior. Drawing Room has shallow elliptical groined vault with elliptical arched recesses on all sides. Until mid-C20 these had chiaroscuro murals of the muses painted on paper. Main bedrooms and passages also have plaster vaults. Some neo-classical chimney pieces and other details introduced mid-C20 when new dining room created on ground floor of service range. Staircase has stick balusters to carved open string, circular newels and ramped handrail. Originally known as Sarsgrove Cottage, the house was divided into 5 estate workers cottages in later C19 and was returned to one house in mid-C20. Much of the interior decoration is similar to that at nearby Sarsden Glebe (q.v.) also designed by Repton. Repton's drawings are in the RIBA drawings a collection (K2/14.1-3) The ground plan is shaded to show 2, 1½ and 1 storeys, leading to the misconception that he enlarged an earlier building. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire p753; Colvin (1978), p679; Connoisseur, Vol 138 (1956), pp.222-5; Nigel Temple: 'Sarsden, Oxford- shire': Journal of Garden History: Vol 6, No 2 (1986), pp89-lll (esp pp. 108-109)).

Listing NGR: SP3055924376

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

254097

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 753
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978), 679
Garden History in Garden History, Vol. 6, (1986), 89 111
The Connoisseur in December, Vol. 138, (1956), 222 5

End of official list entry

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