Description

ST61NE MILBORNE PORT CP LONDON ROAD (South side)

5/147 Ven House

24.3.61

GV I

Country House. Begun 1698, completed c1730 by Richard Grange for James Medlycott; altered and extended by Cubitt and
Decimus Burton in 1836. Red brick, Flemish bond, with Ham stone dressings; hipped Welsh slate roof behind balustraded
parapets; brick chimney stacks with moulded stone caps. Rectangular plan of 7 bays by 5 bays, with curved sweep walls
to pavilions (qv). 3 storeys with basement; 7 bay North elevation. Rusticated plinth; stone pilasters with Corinthian
capitals to corners and between bays 2/3 and 5/6 carrying cornice; panelled pilasters to each bay of second floor
carrying string course and balustrade, with terra-cotta urns above principal pilasters. 12-pane sash windows to
basement, behind railing-type grilles; 8-pane sashes to ground floor and 18-pane sashes to first-the latter with thick
glazing bars set in keystoned architraved surrounds, of which those to the 3 central bays are heeled and shouldered;
12-pane sash windows to second floor set in simpler surrounds with deeper keystones; to central ground floor bay a
projecting flat roofed porch with 3 steps up to a pair of 5-panelled doors set in stone surround with attached
Corinthian columns carrying an entablature and swan neck pediment with central cartouche bearing the Medlycott arms
with eagle crest. Sweep walls to full height of plinth plus balustrades; each of 5 bays on quarter circle curve with
one end and one return bay. The South elevation similar, except that the central french doors are flush with the wall
and have fluted quasi-Doric pilasters and a segmental pediment on an entablature as a surround; the side elevations are
simpler, with plain plinth, brick band course above first floor level, and brick apron panels to windows; the West
elevation has a central glazed door in keystoned architrave with pediement hood on console brackets; the East elevation
partly concealed by 1836 outbuildings. The interior was a little modified in 1836, when a large two-arm staircase
behind the hall was replaced by a cantilever stair with cast iron balustrade in the middle of the East side: the hall,
centre North side, of two storeys, with stone fireplaces to both sides, flanked and surmounted by overmantales with
Ionic pilasters and pediments, and at back a gallery on stained timber Ionic columns, curving back in centre; stone and
marble floor, and applied plasterwork ceiling with complex centre panel featuring a painting of 'Time and Beauty'. The
salon or great drawing room South of the hall is higher than other ground floor rooms and has a moulded plaster ceiling
with acanthus coving, mostly C19 joinery, and some scagliola work. The South West corner room has an applied plaster
ceiling, plainer cornice, C19 joinery and a marble fireplace; the centre West room has a plain ceiling, field panelled
walls with fluted Tuscan pilasters, metopes to some parts of frieze, and a marble bolection mould fireplace with over
mirror, one of several C18 mirrors in the house. The North West corner room has shallow fielded panelling to the walls,
with semi-circular headed recesses to either side of a marble fireplace of c1740; the ceiling has applied plasterwork
decoration above a heavy moulded wood coving: the North East room has plain walls, console bracketted coving to ceiling
with a C18 centrepiece, C19 joinery; the South East corner room has a moulded ceiling with console bracket coving, C19
joinery and a wood and gesso fireplace, and Chinese style handpainted wallpaper. The bedrooms to first floor plainer:
the South East bedroom has moulded covering, and good C18 fireplaces with pine egg and dart shouldered surrounds and
carved overmantels with marble lining and early C19 grates, and there are similar fireplaces to the North East and
central South rooms: those to the three rooms on the West side have been removed and said to be in store. (Country
Life, June 24th, 1911; also description of garden and its features, Country Life, October 29th, 1898).

Listing NGR: ST6804518430

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Ven House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q631548

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability