History

Iscoyd Park was built in the early C18 and was sold by Thomas Deaves of Whitchurch to William Hanmer in 1739. William Hanmer extended the original house by adding the present entrance range, while the original range is shown housing service rooms on a plan of the house dated 1772. During Hanmer's ownership, the earlier, or rear range, originally 2 rooms deep, was extended to include a first-floor library with bow window, which is also shown on the plan of 1772.

In 1780 Iscoyd Park was sold to Rev Richard Congreve (d 1782), and it remained the property of his descendants until it was sold to Philip Lake Godsal of Cheltenham in 1843. The Congreve family appear to have made few alterations to the house, although the park was extended in 1780-1 by diverting the public road. The house is shown, with a porch, on a plan of 1780, and on 2 other near-contemporary plans. An extension of the rear range to accommodate additional service rooms, including a game larder, is first shown on an estate plan of the 1830s. An advertisement of 1842 describes the house as having entrance hall, breakfast, dining and drawing rooms on the ground floor, and a 45-feet long first-floor library.

Philip Lake Godsal (d 1858) spent £2558 on building improvements by 1844, which included marble chimneypieces and possibly included the addition of a dining-room extension and the present 2-storey porch. Both are shown in an elevation of the building watermarked 1851. Other additions by his son Philip William Godsal (d 1896) were relatively minor. In 1872-3 a bay window was added to the drawing room by S. Pountney Smith, architect of Shrewsbury. Powell & Co of Prees, Shropshire, were the contractors. In 1893-4 an extension to the rear was built that housed lavatories and bathrooms. The contractor was J. Corfield of Whitchurch.

Exterior

A Georgian country house of 2 storeys and attic. It comprises a S-facing entrance range (of 1747) and a parallel rear range (the earlier house) offset on the R side. Both ranges are of brick with hipped slate roofs behind parapets, and have panelled brick stacks. The entrance range has angle pilasters, plat band, and double-pile roof. Its symmetrical 5-bay front has a 2-storey porch under a pediment, added by 1851. Steps lead up between double Tuscan columns under a Doric frieze. The 2-panel door is framed by a doorcase with cornice on consoles, and is beneath a round-headed radial-glazed overlight. The first-floor window has an apron of balusters in relief. This and the other windows have flat brick arches with painted keystones and moulded stone sills, and 12-pane hornless sashes. Three roof dormers have hipped roofs and small-pane windows.

Set back on the R side, in the angle with the rear range, is the single-storey 2-bay dining room added by 1851. It has similar detail to the entrance range, but with taller 12-pane sash windows and blind window in the return wall. Above it are 3 first-floor windows in the side wall of the entrance range, of which the R-hand retains glazing but the other 2 are blind with painted glazing bars. There are also 2 hipped roof dormers on this side of the entrance range. Behind the dining room the 3-bay rear range has sash windows similar to the entrance range.

In the L (W) side wall of the entrance range, originally 4 bays, are 2 bays to the R of centre with sash windows in original openings, and to the L a full-height canted bay window, added in 1872-3. It has rusticated stone quoins, a moulded stone band between storeys and dentil cornice. Windows have cambered heads with rusticated voussoirs and white-painted keystones, and are 15-pane sashes in the lower storey, 12-pane in the upper storey. The 5-bay rear (N) elevation has a central entrance with cornice on consoles, to a replacement glazed door. Above it is a tall round-headed stair window with small-pane sash. Bays to the R of centre and at the L end have 12-pane sash windows similar to the front, except for a blind lower-storey window in bay 4. The bay L of centre has a 3-stage tower, the bathroom block added 1893-4, which is polygonal under a hipped slate roof and has rusticated stone quoins and 6-pane sash windows.

The rear wing projects beyond the tower: its west garden front is of 1 3 bays, with the 1-bay library bay set forward slightly at the left, probably a late C18 addition to the early C18 house. In the lower storey it has a triple segmental-headed window in a rusticated surround with cornice. The upper storey has a Venetian window in a moulded architrave with plain brick apron. Further R the bays are narrower and have 12-pane sash windows in the lower storey, and 9-pane sashes in the middle storey and attic. In the rear wall of the rear range, also facing the garden, is a blocked round-headed arch in the lower storey, and 12-pane sash window L of centre, L of which is an external stack and a 1-storey projection.

The opposite side wall of the rear wing faces the service yard on the E side of the house. The library bay on the R is bow-fronted and rendered, and has 2 round-headed first-floor small-pane sash windows. 3-window range beyond, with entrance to left with panelled door and segmental-headed sash windows to its right. Beyond the projecting service yard buildings and wall, is a segmental-headed window with replacement glazing. Middle storey has three 9-pane sash windows and a small 2-pane window to the L end, and the attic has 12-pane hornless sash windows unequally placed.

A service range in 3 sections projects L of centre. The first 2-storey section has 2 windows in the lower storey with stone surrounds, and a casement in the upper storey. The lower middle section has a panel door on the R, then a shuttered opening, boarded door, 8-pane horizontal-sliding sash window and finally a fixed window to the end. The higher game larder is under a hipped roof on wide plastered eaves. Its upper section is supported on iron bars, and is infilled by renewed metal gauze. It has a half-glazed door.

Interior

The entrance range has a double-depth plan. A central entrance hall leads through a round-headed moulded arch with keystone, to the stair. The open-well staircase has turned balusters, and a cluster of 4 balusters forming a newel. The rooms on the L and R of the entrance have neo-classical plaster cornices, and the room on the R a neo-classical fireplace. The dining room further R has a rococo fireplace brought from elsewhere.

In the rear range is a C19 open-well stair with ornate Jacobean style balustrade. The principal room in the rear range is the first-floor library. It has doorcases with broken pediments, panelled wainscot and bracketed ceiling cornice. Its chief feature, however, is the ornate rococo fireplace.

The game larder retains a plastered interior and slate slab for butchering the meat.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* for its special architectural interest as an especially fine and well-preserved mid C18 country house with earlier origins, its historic character enhanced by a group of well-preserved C18 and C19 service buildings.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Iscoyd Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17744483

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Old House Care and Repair