Details
990/11/112 SHEPPERTON ROAD
11-AUG-52 LALEHAM
(East side)
DIAL HOUSE AND No. 1 (DIAL COTTAGE) an
d no. 2 DIAL HOUSE GARDENS
(Formerly listed as:
SHEPPERTON ROAD
LALEHAM
1 AND 2
Dial House and Dial)
GV II
House, formerly briefly in use as a school, currently divided into three residential properties. Dial House is of c.1730, possibly built as a parlour wing to an earlier house to the east, refenestrated and with porch added in the early-C19 and some later-C19 bays on the south side. No. 1 Dial House Gardens (Dial Cottage) may have some C17 origin, altered in the C19. No 2 Dial House Gardens is early-C19 with C20 extensions.
MATERIALS: Dial House is of buff brick with red brick dressings, painted on three sides, with wooden modillion eaves cornice and hipped tiled roof with north-west end and east external brick chimneystacks. The other properties are of painted brick with slate roofs.
PLAN: Dial House is of three storeys and cellar with three windows to the west and south fronts. Internally the ground and first floors have two rooms either side of a central staircase and four rooms on the second-floor. No.1 Dial House Gardens is of two storeys with six windows. No.2 Dial House Gardens is a two storey three-bay pavilion.
EXTERIOR: The west side of Dial House was originally the entrance front. It has three symmetrically placed early-C19 sash windows with stone cills, with smaller six-pane windows to the second-floor and 12-pane sashes to the other floors. The central second-floor window is blank and contains a sundial with the date 1730 and initials H W. This is a copy made in the 1990s of the original, thought to have been removed by a previous owner. The central ground floor window was originally the main entrance but was converted into a window, probably in the early-C19. There are projecting brick bands between the floors. The south front has been painted and is wider than the west side, although also of three bays. The left side second-floor window is a blank. In the mid-C19 a single storey canted bay window was added to the left and a two storey canted bay added to the right. The projecting Tuscan porch is early-C19 and has a mid-C19 half-glazed door with incised decoration. The north elevation never had windows but has a blocked doorcase. The east side has a projecting external chimneystack and is partially obscured by the two storey former service range of painted brick with slate roof which has C20 sash windows in earlier openings.
Nos 1 Dial House Gardens (Dial Cottage) is a continuation of the service end of Dial House in painted brick and slate roof with six 12-pane sash windows and C20 porches.
No. 2 Dial House Gardens is an early-C19 two storey three window detached pavilion with hipped tiled roof and sash windows. It was either built as a purpose-built pre-1839 schoolroom or adapted from an earlier carriage house.
INTERIOR: Dial House has a ground floor western drawing room, adjoining staircase hall, smaller dining room and a kitchen to the extreme east. Entrance through the central door in the south elevation leads directly into the hall, which has dado-panelling and a deep moulded wooden cornice. A moulded plaster ceiling may survive under a later covering. The floor is multi-coloured Victorian tiles. The early-C18 dogleg staircase has moulded balusters, dado-panelling, a round-headed niche between the first and second flights and a cupboard with butterfly hinges, known as the bible cupboard. The western room has painted pine panelling with dado rail, deep moulded cornice, a wooden fireplace with eared architraves and a china cupboard with flat arch with keystone and serpentine wooden shelves, flanked by pilasters. The window shutters and window boxes survive. The dining room has a narrow moulded cornice, a wooden bolection-moulded fireplace and wide floorboards. A rear service corridor leads to the cellar, which has a ledged plank door, brick floor, coal shutes and brick and slate wine bins. The first-floor landing retains panelling to the south wall with moulded cornice and dado panelling. The western parlour has similar panelling to the room underneath, a fireplace with eared architrave but late-C19 tiled surround, flanked by two cupboards with L-hinges, one of which is panelled on the inside. There are shutters, windowseats and a two-panelled door. The eastern bedroom retains an C18 two-panelled door on L-hinges but the cornice is C20. The staircase between first- and second-floor is separate and not integrated into the lower part of the staircase but identical in form. The dado-panelling was replaced in the C20. The central corridor of the second-floor has a massive wooden beam and an early-C19 school cupboard with shelves still retaining the names of the pupils. The north western second-floor room has an early-C19 wooden fireplace with cast iron range, three C18 two-panelled doors survive and one ledged plank door. The roof has original rafters and purlins and retains a fixed wooden ladder, originally leading to the belvedere on the roof.
HISTORY:
The Dial House property formed part of the manor of Laleham, which was in the possession of the Reynell family between 1660 and 1745, when it changed to the Lowther family. The two storey block to the east of Dial House(No.1 Dial House Gardens) may have origins in the mid-C17 but the main three storey part of Dial House is dated 1730 with the initials on a sundial blocking the central window on the second floor of the west elevation. A brick near the corner on the west front is also inscribed H W. This possibly refers to the Walker family who are likely to have built the main part of Dial House in the early-C18. The Lowther family sold the property at auction in 1803 as Lot XVII where it is described as follows:
"A Brick and Tiled Dwelling House in the Village of Laleham, containing on the Ground Floor, a Dining Room in front, a Kitchen, small Pantry and Wash House behind; in the latter is a pump of good water.
On the First Floor, a Drawing Room in Front, and a good bed chamber behind, separated by a Passage or Landing to the Stair Case. In the Attics two bed chambers in front, a passage, and two Bedrooms behind.
Good cellaring under the house.
A Range of buildings adjoining the Wash House, containing a Stable for two horses, Chaise House, Knife House, Etc. part brick, part Boarded, and the whole Pantiled.
Yard and Garden...."
The deeds of 1816 suggest that the property was owned between 1803 and 1810 by James Simmons of Canterbury and that in 1810 Charles Walker of Old Jewry bought the property from the estate of James Simmons in June 1810 and it was tenanted by Webster Gillman followed by Mrs. Roebuck. In 1816 Dial House, including the yard, garden, outhouses and appurtenances was sold to Thomas Hartley of Horsleydown for £330. In October 1824 Hartley sold the complete property to James Fenton of Farnham for £430. Fenton converted part of the house and its attached building to the east into a private boys school, which probably operated until his death in 1838. No.2 Dial House Gardens is thought to have been used as a classroom. His widow Anne remained in occupation until 1867 and then the property remained in the joint ownership of the Fentons' two sons until 1878. In 1878 the property was sold to Dr. John Wyatt Barnard for the sum of £1,900. A late-C19 photograph shows roof railings to the former belvedere, which were no longer present by the 1930s. After Belfour's death in 1925 his widow Florence lived in the house until her death in 1953. In the 1950s the property was divided into four separate properties, currently called Dial House, no. 1 (Dial Cottage), no. 2 Dial House Gardens and no. 3 (Dial Croft). No. 2 was possibly originally a carriage house or purpose-built early-C19 school room. No. 1 was renovated in 1987 after the roof caught fire and no. 2 was extended in the 1980s.
SOURCES:
Forrester, H. The smaller Queen Anne and Georgian House. ps. 15-16.
Domestic Buildings Research Group, Surrey. Report no. 939. Dial House. 1976. This includes a transcript of the 1803 catalogue for the sale of the Manor of Laleham.
The Laleham Common Place Book. Published by Ian Allen (1995). ISBN-10:0-711019460
Adamson, Oswald R. Our Dear Laleham ISBN-100711008973
Stewart Darling, Alan M. A View of Laleham in 1899. 2009. Unpublished transcription of an article of 1899 stating that Dr. Thomas Arnold's school was not located in Dial House but on the site of the present vicarage in Laleham.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
* Architectural interest: 1730 three storey brick house with early-C19 sash windows and Tuscan porch, attached to a possibly C17 former service wing and an early-C19 school classroom.
* Interior: fittings to Dial House include a good quality early-C18 staircase from ground to first floor, two panelled early-C18 rooms and a possible plastered hall ceiling (covered over at time of inspection).
* Historic interest: operated as a private boys school in the early-C19 with survival of related fittings.
