Summary
Country house, built circa 1820 by Colonel Thomas Weston on the site of an earlier manor house. It was restored between 1963 and 1969 after a fire in 1963 and again in the mid-late 1970s following a fire in 1975. The late-C20 interior is not included in the listing.
Reasons for Designation
Poslingford House, a country house of circa 1820 date, with restorations following fire damage in 1963 and 1975, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reason:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of an early-C19 country house with a sophisticated neoclassical design.
History
Poslingford House was built circa 1820 for Colonel Thomas Weston on the site of an earlier manor house. On completion it comprised a main range with a Greek Doric portico, a flanking north wing and a small service wing. In 1963 the main range suffered a fire caused by an electrical fault in the roof. The resultant damage included the loss of the roof and all the windows and the complete gutting of the interior. Only its external walls and damaged portico were left standing. Restoration work took six years to complete and included a new roof, chimney stacks and windows and the repair of the portico. The interior was completely rebuilt and a number of C19 fixtures and fittings originally made for local houses of Herringswell Manor and Moulton Paddocks were bought at auction and installed as part of the refurbishment.
In 1973 the north wing also suffered a fire which was again started by an electrical fault in the roof. As well as destroying the roof and gutting the interior, the north wall and the east wall of the adjoining service wing were structurally damaged. Restoration work included the complete rebuilding of the interior and the fire-damaged external walls and the replacement of the original, M-shaped roof with a hipped roof.
Details
Country house, built circa 1820 by Colonel Thomas Weston on the site of an earlier manor house. It was restored between 1963 and 1969 after a fire in 1963 and again in the mid-late 1970s following a fire in 1975.
MATERIALS: of stuccoed brick, scored to imitate ashlar, with C20 asbestos slate roofs and C20 brick stacks.
PLAN: the two-storeyed house is rectangular on plan with a north to south alignment. At the south end is the five-bay main range to which a smaller, five-bay wing flanks it on the north side. To the north again is a small service wing.
EXTERIOR: the house is of a restrained neo-classical style with its principal elevation facing east across a large lawn. As it was extensively restored in the 1960s and 1970s following two separate fires, all the windows, unless otherwise stated, are replacement, timber-framed, double-hung sashes with plain reveals and stuccoed lintels. Its main range has a shallow plinth, stuccoed plat band and a moulded and stuccoed sill course. A flat-roofed portico, distyle in antis, with Greek fluted Doric columns, projects from the centre bay. Its returns appear to retain their original triglyph friezes while the plain entablature on the east front, along with its moulded wooden cornice and bituminous felt roof, are all C20 replacements. The half-glazed entrance doors are believed to be original. Flanking the portico on each side are two six-over-three pane sashes carried down to floor level. To the first floor there are five six-over-six pane sashes of which the central window has a moulded surround. The hipped roof is a C20 replacement with oversailing eaves and small gables to the return centre bays. A C20 replica of the original, glazed, circular cupola surmounts the roof.
Set back to the right-hand side of the main range, and with a lower ridge line, is the smaller, five-bay north wing. From left to right, its ground floor has four two-over-two pane sashes while the fifth bay has a projecting porch with a sloping roof line and blocked window opening. It is accessed from a small service courtyard on its north side. To the first floor there are five two-over-two pane sashes. Its right-hand return, which forms the courtyard's southern boundary, is of C20 English bond brick. The ground-floor has a round-headed doorway to the right-hand side and a two-paned casement with cambered head to the left. Above is a two-over-two pane sash with cambered head. Both windows have concrete lintels. Its hipped roof with oversailing eaves is a C20 replacement.
Set back again to the right-hand side of the north wing, and forming the western boundary of the courtyard, is the service wing. Its ground floor is of stuccoed brick with a round-headed doorway to the right-hand side and a two-over-one pane sash with cambered head and stone lintel to the left. The first floor is of C20 English bond brick with a three-over-three pane sash with cambered head and concrete lintel to the centre. The hipped roof to this range is believed to be original although it was re-covered in the late C20 with asbestos slate.
Projecting from the right-hand end of the service wing, and forming the courtyard's northern boundary, is a late-C20 double garage. It is stucco rendered with planked doors set beneath a gabled roof of corrugated asbestos.
A screen wall of stuccoed brick runs from the north side of the north wing to the south side of the garage. It has a central gateway set between plain pilasters and forms the east side of the courtyard.
The left-hand return of the main range is of three bays with the centre bay set beneath a small gable with C20 plain barge boards. To the right-hand side of the ground floor there is a six-over-three pane sash carried down to floor level and to the centre bay there is a blocked window opening. At the right-hand side there is a late-C20, lean-to glasshouse with the former window opening behind now converted to a doorway. On the first floor, the right-hand bay and central bay each has a six-over-six pane sash. To the left-hand bay is a blocked window opening.
At the rear, the main range has a single-storey, bowed, central bay with three six-over-three pane sashes carried down to floor level. Its flat roof is hidden behind a parapet with a moulded string course. Identical sashes flank it on each side. To the centre of the first floor there are two three-light casements inserted in the 1960s to replace fire-damaged sashes. They are flanked on each side by single six-over-six pane sashes.
To the left is the north wing whose ground floor has a late-C20 porch and three two-over-two pane sashes. On the first floor there are three two-over-two pane sashes, a blocked window opening and a small, square casement window.
To the left again is the service wing which has a Flemish bond brick ground floor with a two-light casement on the left-hand side and two blocked window openings to the right. Its first floor is of stuccoed brick with four two-over-two pane sashes and a small, square casement window. Its two floors are divided by a stuccoed plat band.
INTERIOR: after being gutted by fire in 1963 the interior of the main range was completely rebuilt between 1963 and 1969 and does not retain any original fixtures and fittings. The lounge, library, oval room and pool room have been similarly restored with the principal decorative features being cedar panelled window reveals and papier-mâché moulded ceilings and cornices. The lounge has a C19, classical-style fireplace from Moulton Paddocks while the woodwork to the doorway between the Oval Room and Pool Room was initially installed in Herringswell Manor. In the attic the truncated stacks from the original house are still visible.
The interior of the north wing has also lost the majority of its original fixtures and fittings after being damaged by fire in 1975. Surviving features include a large, six-panelled door to the entrance corridor at the north end and a small number of six-panelled doors with C20 hardboard facings to the individual rooms. In the attic the scorched outline of the original M-shaped roof is visible on the party wall with the main range. A small fragment of the original roof, with a shallower pitch, still survives in the attic's north-west corner. The adjoining service wing retains six-panelled doors to the first floor rooms.
Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that the two, late-C20, three-light casements windows on the first floor of the rear elevation and the rebuilt late-C20 interiors are not of special architectural or historic interest.
