Details
SJ 51 NW; 7/4
ASTLEY C.P. , ASTLEY, Astley House with adjoining screen wall and
coach house
(formerly listed as Astley House 13.6.58 and Lodge attached to Astley House)
29.01.52
GV
II*
Small country house and adjoining coach house. Circa 1830, probably
a remodelling of a late C18 house. Rendered brick on painted sandstone
ashlar plinth. Roof of main block not visible, plain tile roof to rear
wing. T-plan. Remodelled in a Greek Revival style in the form of a temple.
3 storeys with 2-storey rear wing. Chanelled rustication to ground
floor with plinth, cill band to second floor, giant Corinthian order
to first and second floors with paired unfluted pilasters, full entablature
with moulded dentil cornice, and coped blocking course sloping up to
central one-bay section of balustrade. Integral rendered brick end
stacks. 1:1:1 bays, with central break; glazing bar sashes, those
on first floor with rectangular-panelled aprons and that in centre on
first floor with triangular pediment on consoles above. Central half-
glazed door with 2 lower flush panels and rectangular overlight, and
Doric porch with paired fluted columns (and unfluted pilasters behind)
supporting full entablature with blocking course. Gable ends treated
as temple fronts with paired pilasters to first and second floors
supporting entablature and triangular pediment. Timber framed conservatory
adjoining to left, with brick plinth and gabled roof, curved at eaves;
3 x 5 bays, each with pierced cast-iron spandrels and 3 segmental-headed
lights; central pair of half glazed doors in gable end to front. Two-
storey service ranges to rear with dentil brick eaves cornices, brick
ridge stacks, and boxed glazing bar sashes with painted stone cills
and lintels. Screen wall and coach house adjoining to right. Rendered
brick with slate roof. Screen with plinth, frieze, moulded cornice
and blocking course 3 bays; pair of segmental-arched openings with
wrought-iron balustrading and projecting centre with stepped blocking
course to finial and gateway with plain pedimented hood above (right-
hand arch collapsed at time of survey - January 1987). 2-storey coach
house with plinth, entablature, triangular pedimented gables to front
and back, integral rendered brick end stack to front and rendered ridge
stack to rear. Pair of Doric columns in antis to front (unfluted now
but with evidence of former fluting) and central round-arched panel
with moulded architrave, continuous cill band, rectangular panelled apron
beneath, and raised half-H panel above. 3-bay left-hand return front
with pair of tall round-arched panels. Rear with tripartite panels
divided by pilaster strips. Right-hand return front with pair of large
boarded doors and other openings, but partly collapsed at time of survey.
Interior of house: largely complete early C19 fittings and decoration.
Entrance hall with acanthus-enriched dentil cornice and central ceiling
rose. 3-flight rectangular-well staircase with winders, rising 2 floors.
The flights to the first floor appear to have been altered in the later
C19, with closed string turned balusters and square newel posts, but
the early C19 upper flights remain, consisting of an open string, shaped
brackets with guttae end moulded tread ends, stick balusters (2 per tread),
columnular newel posts, and ramped handrail. Left-hand ground-floor
room: dado rail with plain plaster panels below and plaster panels
above with reeded borders, and plaster cornice with bead and reel enrich-
ment. Enriched plaster ceiling with husk borders and wreaths at corners.
Fireplace with fluted pilasters, frieze with central urn, husk swags
and paterae, and cornice with bead and reel enrichment. Right-hand
ground-floor room: fireplace has fluted pilasters with masks above,
enriched surround and frieze with medallion in centre. 6-panelled
doors throughout and reeded architraves with paterae at corners. Double
doors to right-hand ground-floor room. B.o.E., p.62.
Listing NGR: SJ5280718640
