Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 22/06/2020

SO 56 SE
5/7

BOCKLETON
Bockleton Hall

(Formerly listed as Bockleton Court, BOCKLETON ROAD)

GV
II
House 1866-69 by Henry Curzon for Arabella Prescott. Brick with ashlar dressings, plain tiled and slate roofs behind parapets with decorative ridge tiles, gable-end parapets with kneelers and grouped tall chimney stacks of cogged brickwork with overhanging cap courses. Asymmetrical plan with multi-gabled elevations and substantial service wing to north.

Two storeys and attic with chamfered plinth, dripmoulds to all storeys and first floor sill string. East entrance elevation: main part of house from left composed of gable end of south range, projecting entrance/water tower with adjoining gable end of central wing, recessed stair hall and secondary entrance. Gable end of south range has two ground floor French windows with transom lights, two first floor single-light windows with transoms and two loopholes in the gable apex; the windows of each storey flank an external chimney. The ground floor windows are obscured by a lean-to conservatory.

The tower is of three storeys with an additional storey at third stage sill level. There is a pointed archway of two orders, the inner on semi-circular responds, has a hoodmould with foliated stops and is surmounted by a shield. The second stage has a single-light window with a transom. On the third stage is a pointed opening with a mullioned and transomed window flanked by finialed hooded projections which conceal drainpipe outlets. The machicolated parapet rises above a Lombard frieze and has quatrefoil relief decoration and dragon gargoyles at the corners. (The tower originally had a steeply pitched pyramidal lead roof). Within the porch is a quadripartite vault, the ribs of which rise from foliated corbels, and a pointed doorway with double doors. The adjoining gable end to right has a five-light ground floor window with two transoms, a pair of large first floor single-light windows with transoms, a three-light second floor window with a transom, and a loophole in the gable apex. The gable is surmounted by an owl finial (the symbol of the Prescott family). There is a three-light ground floor window with two transoms in the right angle. The stair hall range has a large five-light window with four transoms and above it a two-light second floor window and a loophole in the gable apex. To the right of the large stair window is the secondary flat-roofed entrance porch with a pointed archway and a six-panelled door within. Above the porch there is a three-light window on both upper floors.

The service range adjoins to the right and is of L-shaped plan with similar window types. However the east wing is probably a late C19 addition and has a roof with swept eaves, a moulded brick eaves cornice and is of a single storey and attic with dormer windows.

Interior: the house retains most of its original fittings and decorations and is a virtually complete example of a planned Victorian domestic interior. Of particular note is the galleried central hall with its pointed arched arcading on marble columns, painted frieze of hunting dogs by J H Wallis of Chiswick Mall, ornate Gothic stone fireplace and large lantern roof. Adjacent to the hall is the open well oak staircase lit by a window with glass by Kempe. The Morning Room, Drawing Room and Library have marble fireplaces from Clarence House, Roehampton. The Library fireplace has Egyptian demi-figures and is decorated with hieroglyphics. The frieze of classical figures in the Library and the Lobby also came from Clarence House and were painted by E J Parris in 1841.

(Hancock Cox and Whiting: Bockleton Court, 1986, City of Birmingham Education Department).

Listing NGR: SO5873462200

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26361020

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)