White Lodge, St Mary's Convent, Wantage, Oxfordshire

Summary

A priests’ house of 1898-1899 designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott for the chaplains to the Convent of St Mary, Wantage.

Description

A priests’ house of 1898-1899 designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott for the chaplain to the Convent of St Mary, Wantage.

MATERIALS: brick walling with colourwashed render, stone dressings and a plain tile roof covering.

PLAN: the house occupies a gabled range which runs from north-west to south-east. The entrance front is to the north with service rooms facing in that direction and a service yard with low wall at the western end. The sitting room and dining room face over the garden to the south and are divided by wide doors which allow the space to be joined. A study also faces this side and a small chapel on the north is oriented with the altar to its eastern end. The building has two floors and an attic.

EXTERIOR: the building has an exposed brick plinth, above which the walling is roughcast. Mullioned windows have flush stone surrounds, leaded lights and metal-framed casements. Ground floor windows are wide, of four or six lights with staggered joints to the lintels of the widest openings. Walls are gently battered and chimney stacks are tapered.

The entrance front, facing north-east, has a cluster of three overlapping gables to its centre. The entrance door is at left of this feature, with a sunken semi-circular panel above. Windows at the ground floor level have two or three lights with a six-light, kitchen window, which dips lower. First floor windows are of one, two and four lights and there is a two-light attic casement to the right hand gable. The chapel at far left has lower eaves than the house and a three-light window. Its eastern gable end is surmounted by a stone cross. Rainwater hoppers are moulded with emblems which are symbolic of the dedication of the convent to St Mary; lilies on the entrance front and the letter 'M' on the southern garden front.

The garden front has a recessed portion at left which has a lower ridge and connects to the service yard wall. Projecting at right of this is the main front. The deep roof of the gabled wing at left of centre extends down to ground floor level and covers an external porch with a door to the dining room. Both the dining room and library have square bay windows with flat roofs. Timber mouldings at their forward edges have deep cyma profiles. Three prominent, lofty chimneys to the ridge at left, on the right gable end and projecting from the garden front, are features.

INTERIOR: the entrance door on the north leads to a lobby with a further door to the house flanked by internal windows with stained glass panels showing stylised plants. Here and throughout the house, the doors have original beaten copper lock plates and metal door handles.

The sitting room has a stylised inglenook hearth with a fixed settle and Delft tiles behind a beaten copper fire hood. A small stained glass window showing plant forms is set on the south side of the hearth. A plate shelf circles the room, and ties the different elements together. Moulded double doors connect to the dining room which has a window seat built into its projecting square bay. The ingle nook on its western wall has fixed seats at either side with cut-out heart shapes. The hearth has a semi-circular opening and a beaten copper fire hood.

The study to the east also has an ingle fireplace with copper fire hood and a firebasket and fire dogs which appear to be original and designed by Baillie Scott. All three of the copper fire hoods at ground floor level have a central heart surrounded by flowers and leaves, emblematic of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The chapel or oratory has a panelled ceiling with wooden beams and a tiled floor to the chancel. Its eastern window represents the Virgin and Child in stained glass, designed by Florence Camm or Bailiie Scott.

The wide staircase is separated from the sitting room by a wooden screen which has repeating cut-out flower designs and a segment-headed opening. Newel posts have tall, tapering finials and there are further, decorative cut-outs flower patterns to the balustrade.

The principal bedroom has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and a panelled bed alcove with glazed cupboards to either side. The fire surround is of stone with an inlaid diamond panel of grey-green stone with a chequerboard border of black and white.

The kitchen and store rooms and the small study to the right of the entrance hall, which was formerly a pantry, have been altered from their original appearance, but their overall plan has been little changed.

History

The Community of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV) was founded in 1848 by William John Butler, then Vicar of Wantage but later Dean of Lincoln, following the spiritual revival in the Church of England known as the Oxford Movement. CSMV was one of the first Anglican Religious Communities to be founded in England since the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.

From the beginning there was an emphasis on simplicity of life, the first Rules being drawn up in 1854. These were revised in 1863 but the fully printed Rule and Constitution did not appear until 1896, from which time the sisters took explicit vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as they continue to do to this day. The Community grew over the years and was active in both social missions in the UK and overseas.

The original Convent building by G E Street was built in 1855-1856, with the Chapel of St Mary Magdelene also by Street constructed in 1858-1861. The Convent was extended by the addition of a long wing to the right in 1860; the refectory was added in 1866, extended 1871-1872 and altered in 1900. Butterfield added a Noviciate to the north of the Street’s buildings in 1878 and the construction of a larger chapel by J L Pearson began in 1887, lengthened in 1900, the east end of which was reconfigured by Sir Ninian Comper in 1923.

White Lodge was designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott in 1898-1899 for the chaplains attached to the Convent of St Mary, Wantage. It remains in the ownership of the convent and has been used as a centre for religious retreat in recent years. Service areas have been updated, but the building remains in largely original condition. Baillie Scott is regarded as one of the foremost architects of the English Arts and Crafts tradition. His early work, executed while he was living on the Isle of Man, went through a transition in the period around 1896-1897 and, influenced by Voysey and others, his designs became purer and simpler in their combination of geometric forms and vernacular traditions. White Lodge is an early example of this and, in the words of the Buildings of England volume for Berkshire, 'one of M H Baillie Scott's best houses.'

Reasons for Listing

White Lodge, St Mary’s Convent, Wantage, a house by MH Baillie Scott, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building is notable for the quality of its design and planning and the retention of many of its original, Arts and Crafts fittings;
* the house marks a turning point in Baillie Scott’s career and his entry into his mature style.

Historic interest:

* the house is a notable example of the style of vernacular revival and free-flowing plan which attracted international interest in English architecture.

Group value:

* with the other buildings on the convent site, including St Mary’s Convent, by GE Street, JL Pearson and W Butterfield (Grade II) and the Chapel attached to St Mary’s Convent by JL Pearson and Ninian Comper (Grade II*).

External Links

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