Sharsted Lodge

Details

DODDINGTON

366/0/10005 TICKHAM LANE 07-FEB-07 (South side) SHARSTED LODGE

GV II Lodge, c 1875 in a Jacobethan Revival style. Former north lodge to Sharsted Court [Q.V.].

MATERIALS: brick, timber framing, tile roofs.

PLAN: Small T-shaped building with additional porch to the east. C20 single storey lean-to extension to the west. Three-up three-down plan.

EXTERIOR: Pitched tiled roof. Central tall chimney stack with linked decorated chimneys in red brick. Half timbered upper floor. Shallow jettied gables to the north and south with decorated barge boards. Lavishly carved east oriel window with balcony under its own pitched roof. Carving includes: two panels beneath the window decorated with Hippocamps (companions of Neptune which have horse heads and serpentine tails); three heads beneath the foliate columns (possibly Neptune or other water gods). Two identical beasts form brackets supporting the window: these are possibly Simurghs, a mythical Persian guardian and healing creature with a dog head and bird body. Front door in the east elevation protected by a porch with pitched tiled roof and decorative barge boards. Cast iron decorative door furniture in an Arts and Crafts style. Windows are diamond-leaded casements. Later single storey lean-to kitchen extension to the rear (west).

INTERIOR: Front door opens into hall containing central staircase up to first floor which is wooden with turned spindles. Fireplaces in all rooms other than rear bathroom and kitchen; those to the bedrooms appear original with wooden mantles and iron grates. Wooden plank doors and internal wooden partitioning appear original. Two back doors off the kitchen although only one, to the south, remains functional.

HISTORY: Census and historic map evidence indicate that the lodge was constructed between 1871 and 1881. John and Sarah Anne Knight and three children are recorded as being in residence in 1881. Mr Chapman Faunce-de-Laune was the then owner of the Court and is presumed responsible for the commissioning of the lodge at the northern entrance to his estate. The Court was extended in the 1880s and a number of other improvements to the estate were made at the same time including the erection of brick gates and walls, alterations to the stables and the construction of a gardener's cottage to the north of the Court. The lodge and gardener's cottage are in the same style, undoubtedly by the same architect. A photograph of Sharsted Lodge from the early 1900s shows a low hedge flanking the road and topiary within its garden. The M2 motorway now separates Sharsted Lodge from Sharsted Court.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Sharsted Lodge, the former north lodge to the Grade I Sharsted Court, is a c 1875 lodge built in a Jacobethan Revival style. Although it has experienced some minor alterations, it is a high quality example of late Victorian lodge architecture with decorative principal elevations, most notably the elaborate and skilful carving to the east oriel window which is decorated with mythological beasts. Simple well-executed fixtures and fittings in good materials enhance the interior and the three-up, three-down historic plan-form remains largely intact with its modest accommodation typical of this type of building. The lodge is also linked with the contemporary Grade II listed Gardener's Cottage at Sharsted Court, as both buildings were constructed in the Jacobethan style as part of the late C19 enhancements to the estate.

SOURCES: Mowl, T & Earnshaw, B, 1985, Trumpet at a Distant Gate: The Lodge as Prelude to the Country House. http://www.doddington-kent.org.uk/historicalbuildings_files/sharstedcourt.html http://www.doddington-kent.org.uk/ahpostcards_files/ahpostcards.html#sharstedcourt%20in%20postcards

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

496347

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Mowl, T, Earnshaw, B, Trumpet at a Distant Gate The Lodge as Prelude to the Country House, (1985)

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