Description

HAWKESBURY C.P. SWANGROVE
ST 78 NE
4/176
Swangrove House,
17.9.52 garden walls a 4
corner pavilions and gate
piers

G.V. I

A 'maison de plaisance'. Dated "1703", byWilliam Killigrew of Bath. Fine
ashlar, render to side and near elevations; slate roofs with coped raised
verges; diagonal ashlar stacks with moulded cornice. Cotswold vernacular
style but handled with considerable skill and with Palladian overtones. 2
storeys, cellars and attics in 2 steep, coped, stone gables with a flat roofed
room between; lower 2 storey wings; embattled parapet, formerly with a
balustrade to the wings. 1 : 3 : 1 bays; tall cross windows on first floor
of centre; 2-light casements elsewhere; keyed oval windows in apex of gables;
continuous string over ground and first floor, stepped up over first floor
windows in centre; lead cresting to centre of string course. A straight flight
of steps (with balusters, arms on the posts and a moulded handrail) leads up
to front door on the first floor; 6 panel door under a 2-light overlight and
in a bolection moulded surround; all under a segmental pediment which rises
from the string course. Lead downpipes at the junctions between the centre
and wings; portcullis badge and date '1703' to the rainwater heads. Rear
elevation. Ground floor: 3 doors in bolection moulded surrounds, flat
entablature over outer doors (left one blocked), pediment to central door.
First floor: 3 cross windows under drip moulds. 4 detached corner pavilions;
ashlar with pyramidal Cotwold stone slate roof with ball finials and moulded
eaves cornice; single storey; plank doors in blection surrounds; one keyed
oval window to each side. Low coped rubble walls join the pavilions and the
house and enclose the site: ashlar gate piers with ball finials south.
Interior: Ground floor: stop chamfered and moulded beams and cornice; oak
staircase with turned balusters. Closed string and moulded handrail -
the staircase continues up to the attic. First floor. Central blue room,
fully panelled with raised and fielded panels; on the west wall is a bolection
moulded fire surround and to either side is a cupboard with glazed doors; that
to the right contains a buffet, a marble basin set on a pedestal and recessed
in a marble niche which has the mask of a mandarin with a tap in his mouth over
the basin (connected to a cistern above and fed by a pumphouse in the adjacent
wood). Attic. Central panelled room of great importance as an intact and
unrestored example of early C18th marbling and japanning; the door and dado
cornice have gold leaf chinoiseries insects, birds and background on a black
background; the wall panels formerly held paper or brocade. The designs for
the chinoiserie may be traced to Stalker and Parker. A treatise of Japanning
and Varnishing, 1688. (Lisa White, personal communication). Country Life
16.XII,1939. Gomme, A forthcoming publication in the Journal of the Society
of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.

Listing NGR: ST7970585752

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Swangrove at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17530294

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.

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