The Trench

Details

HILDENBOROUGH COLDHARBOUR LANE (west side) TQ 54 NE 5/112 The Trench - GV II

Large house. Probably 1830s in origin, thoroughly remodelled in the later C19. Flemish and English bond brick with sandstone dressings and some tile- hanging; 1980s Sussex clay-tile roof; brick stacks. The late C19 phase, which predominates externally, is Tudor in style.

Plan: South-facing, overlooking the garden, with an entrance in the east elevation, which faces Coldharbour Lane. Overall U plan, the main block double depth with rear (north) wings to left and right. The core of the house seems to be an early C19 bow-fronted double depth house, 3 rooms wide with a stair to the rear of the main entrance hall in the centre. The south front was probably the main entrance elevation. This house was largely rebuilt in a Tudor style in the late C19, retaining the bow front, the stair and the overall dimensions of the original but adding a rear right (north east) service wing. The rear left wing is probably early C20, dating from a programme of internal refurbishment and some refenestration. The early C20 phase was probably complete by 1913 (photograph in the possession of the owner).

Exterior: 2 storeys and attic with a cellar. Windows with chamfered stone architraves, some painted. Gabled roofs. The Tudor style alterations predominate externally. Asymmetrical 4-window east (entrance) elevation with a massive 2-storey projecting C19 gabled porch in the centre, tile-hung with bands of scalloped tiles at first floor level and jettied out on vine-carved brackets with a moulded fascia beam to the jetty. C19 front door with lapped planks and strap hinges in a Tudor arched chamfered stone doorframe. The porch has a first floor curved oriel window, probably an early C20 addition, with ovolo-moulded mullions and small-pane timber casements. The gable has an attic window, a massive timber pendant and pyramidal finial at the apex and elaborate, moulded, pierced bargeboards. The porch has a diapered brick stack on the left return. To the right of the porch another C19 diapered stack projecting with set-offs, has had its shaft truncated in the early C20 and one first and ground floor window punched through it. Small 1-light window alongside the porch to its right. To the left of the porch a shallow ground floor bay with a 2-light transomed window and a 2-light small-pane casement above. The south (garden) elevation retains a probably early C19 3-window bow in the centre, flanked by later C19 gabled bays, each one window wide. The gables have elaborate pierced ogee bargeboards with pendants and finials at the apex and small-pane casement windows with chamfered stone surrounds and Tudor hoodmoulds to the ground floor. The bow also has casement windows and steps up to an early C20 French window in the centre; gabled attic dormer in the centre above the bow. The rear (north) elevation has tile-hung gables, the north east wing gable with ornamental bargeboards. Early C20 ovolo- moulded mullioned 2- and 3-light casements, the stair window transomed with a bellcote on the roof above it. Other windows are later C20. An Edwardian billiard room, converted to separate accommodation, adjoins the house at the north west and is not included in the listing.

Interior: The fittings are largely late C19, some imported from elsewhere, including a series of good panelled doors with diamond panels and reveals. Plaster cornices, some C19 and some early C20 survive in most of the ground floor rooms. The main structure of the stair is circa 1830 but probably a stick balustrade has been replaced with a heavy Edwardian balustrade with turned balusters and a moulded ramped handrail.

Trench is said to have been built for the trainer of Lord Derby's horses. Stabling, converted to housing and in separate ownership, survives to the north west.

An evolved C19 villa.

Listing NGR: TQ5769749546

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

179549

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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