History

Built ca 1866-70 for John Dicken, an ironmaster, on the site of an earlier house. Later alterations towards the end of the century and modern conversion into a Youth Hostel.

Exterior

Tudor black and white style; totally asymmetrical and irregular in plan. Mainly 2-storey and attic; red brick with freestone dressings and gables and 1st floor of the main elevations have applied half-timbering with panelled ornamentation. Slate roof and stellar pattern red brick chimney stacks; gable finials and overhanging eaves.
4-bay front to N with large gable to left, small gable to right and 3-storeyed gabled porch to centre; the left hand bay also has splayed oriel. 2, 3 & 4-light stone mullioned windows; transomed to ground floor, one with cusping, another with stained glass and another ogee. Stilted segmental arched entrance with dropped keystone; panelled double doors with surrounding stained glass panels. 3-bay E side with advanced gabled bay to left and freestone squared bay to right with crenellated parapet and cusped lights with transom. Only half of the S side 1st floor is half timbered and includes a splayed bay and oriel; 4-light cusped stairwell window to left with stone mullions and transom.
2-storey red brick tower in angle to left with crenellated parapet. At an angle to SW extends a range with similar detail including black and white gable. Set back and stepped down beyond is a 2 storey red brick service range continuing on same axis with cross frame windows. The W side has futher black and white gables and a square 4-stage tower at the angle, also with crenellated parapets.
The NW side of the service range has small bell tower and one chimney stack with latticework banding to middle. Attached octagonal brick game larder/meat store with lucarnes to pyramidal roof.

Interior

The interior is rich in lavish detail. The 4-centred arched porch opens onto wainscotted hall lit by stained glass; Victorian flock wallpaper to frieze and floral plasterwork to panelled ceiling. French chateau style chimneypiece with stepped hood, foliage spandrels and segmental outer arch carried on detached fluted composite columns; red and gold tilework; putti at either end of grate.
Broad stairwell to rear, plinth pine staircase with pendants and plaster detail to underside of upper flight; cusped ogee arches to balustrade, panelled dado and more exuberant plaster ceiling; also elaborate frieze to left. Green marble chimneypiece to room to right of hall with Adamesque grate. Dining room to left is in a C17 manner with busily decorated plaster ceiling with varying ribbed patterns, deep stucco frieze with sub-Adamesque detail; chimneypiece with paired male and female terms to mantelpiece and fluted columns above. Simpler detail to drawing room which has alabaster chimneypiece with recessed fluted columns and classcial female figures in shallow niches. Mosaic detail to splayed sides with later C17 figures. Further stained glass to this room. Studded fireplace to rear office with tile detail. Massive chimneypiece to the 1st floor billiard room rising to ceiling level; terms above and below mantlepiece and cherubs hiding under scallop shells; Italianate style foliage carving.

Restoration in progress at time of inspection (February 1989).

Reasons for Listing

Graded II* because of the special intrest of the interior fittings.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17741952

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas