Abbey House With Attached 5 Bay Arcade, Incorporating Dovecote

Details

BUILDWAS C.P. WENLOCK ROAD SJ 60 SW (west side) 5/20 Abbey House with attached 5-bay arcade, incorporating dovecote GV I Abbot's lodgings and infirmary, later farmhouse and small country house, now private club house. C13 and C14, re-modelled in C16/C17 with considerable additions and alterations of second half of C19. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; plain tile roofs with stone ridge and end stacks. Earliest part is to west comprising a first-floor hall aligned north-south over a vaulted undercroft; at right-angles to west on south is the late C14 parlour wing and to the east a 5-bay range considerably altered c.1850; further C19 additions in a medieval style in north-east angle with service ranges added to parlour wing. 2 storeys and attics; first- floor hall: has three C19 paired lancets and one single lancet to first floor with a slightly pointed moulded doorway to right; ground floor has round-headed arch (late C12/early C13) with jamb shafts to right of centre and the blocking of another larger arch to right; C19 segmental brick arch to centre and one C16 and one C15 window to left; doorway to far left has a carved tympanum which may be re-set; left gable end timber framed to apex, C19 lancets and blocked openings below; right gable end has one original paired lancet with cusped trefoil opening above and a single lancet to east; an arcade of 4 cusped lancets linked by continuous hoodmould (partly destroyed by C20 fenestration) is continued into first bay of 5-bay range projecting to east: the pointed arcade of this is now blocked and has C20 casements in stone surrounds to first floor surmounted by C19 trefoil and quatrefoil openings, prominent early C20 canted bay window to left on ground floor; doorway to centre with blocked lancet and narrow trefoil-headed doorway to right, gable end has a prominent C19 oriel; to north the C19 additions include a twin-gabled range with a rectangular tower behind and a lean-to projection forming entrance passage-way; parlour wing: has blocked doorway to left and 2 segmental openings to centre, one with foliated boss, further blocked doorway to right; 3-light late C19 leaded casements with segmental heads and gabled dormer in roof slope to left; gable end has coped verges supported on moulded corbels to corners and an arrangement of statue niches to centre, the principal one of which rests on a carved stone head; below is a hatched opening and on the ground floor a wide C19 segmental arch with C20 folding glass doors. Attached to north-west corner of house is an early C13 arcade of 5 pointed arches on short circular piers aligned east-west: the 2 western arches are now blocked and a gabled brick dovecote (probably C16 or C17) protrudes between third and fourth bays from east; this is of pinkish brown brick on a coursed limestone plinth, the top heightened in C19 red brick and with a plain tile roof; round- headed doorway on its south side (possibly monastic in origin) is now incorporated in a mid-C19 stone lean-to (not of special architectural interest). The arcade probably formed part of the north range of the infirmary court to Buildwas Abbey (q.v.). Interior: considerably altered in C19 and C20; first-floor hall has a pointed doorway with dogtooth ornament at south end and decorated corbels formerly supporting roof structure; round-headed arch with jamb shafts at east end of 5- bay projection (possibly re-set) has a recessed doorway with shouldered arch; on the ground floor of this range is a fine late C16 plaster ceiling similar to that at Belswardyne Hall (q.v. under Cressage C.P.) and the plaster work at Old Hall, Hughley (q.v. under Hughley C.P.); parlour-wing has arch-braced collar beam roof in 7 short bays with cusped windbraces; roof of first-floor hall now C16 or later, but the tie beams of an earlier roof have been reversed and re-used in its construction. A detailed inspection of the interior was not possible at the time of re-survey (1985) and the building merits fuller study and interpretation; q.v. under Buildwas Abbey. B.o.E., p.90; V.C.H. II (1973), p.58; The Builder, Vol.79 (1900), Pp.292-4; H.M.S.O. Guide to Buildwas Abbey (2nd edn. 1978).

Listing NGR: SJ6436804356

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

258802

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Guide to Buildwas Abbey, (1978)
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Shropshire, (1973), 58
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958)
The Builder in The Builder, Vol. 79, (1900), 292-4

End of official list entry

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