History

Doldowlod was purchased by the engineer James Watt of Soho, Birmingham, in 1803, and was developed as a country residence by his son James Watt junior (1769-1848). The Watt family gradually acquired a substantial country estate that continued to expand up to the time of James Watt Gibson-Watt (1831-91). The Green was created as a farm in the mid C19. The 1889 Ordnance Survey shows the house with attached L-shaped farm range and a barn opposite enclosing the farmyard. Subsequently the house was extended by creating a new front, the outbuildings were extended to enclose the yard on 3 sides, and the original farm range was converted to a sawmill. This later phase is shown on the 1905 Ordnance Survey.

Exterior

A L-shaped house, of which the rear wing constitutes the original house, and with sawmill and farm buildings attached to the rear in a U-shaped plan of W, N and E ranges around a central yard. The S-facing 2-storey, 3-window house is rubble-stone with blue-brick dressings, slate roof and brick stacks. The central entrance has a half-glazed panel door with overlight, under a slate lean-to canopy on wooden brackets. A small segmental 4-pane sash window is above it. To the R and L are 4-pane segmental-headed sash windows, of which the upper-storey windows are in a half-dormer to the R and a gable (effectively the gable end of the original house) to the L. The R gable end has a 2-light segmental-headed cross window to the R in the lower storey. The rear wing comprises the earlier 2-storey, 2-window house and retains its original front facing the yard to the E. It is of rubble stone with projecting, plastered eaves. It has a shallow gabled, open porch with round-headed, tooled stone entrance, and boarded door inside. Two-light casement windows have segmental heads in the lower storey and flatter cambered heads in the upper storey. The rear (W) of the wing has enlarged windows, a half-glazed back door to the L in a flat-roof porch, and C19 2-light window above.

The sawmill (W range) is lower, of rubble stone, and slate roof. Openings have blue-brick dressings that date to its conversion as a sawmill. It has a boarded door with overlight to the L, a large window beneath the eaves with vertical panes, then double boarded doors with overlight and a similar window to the R end. The N range is rubble stone, later extended on the R side with weatherboarded front. It has double boarded doors to the L, with weatherboarding above, an inserted 3-light blue-brick segmental-headed window, and a boarded door under a cambered stone head. In the later R-hand section are double boarded doors and a loft window. The barn forming the E side of the block is higher. It has late C19 replacement double doors with diagonal boarding, and overlight within a full-height opening. Ventilation strips are to the R and L and in both gables. The R (S) gable end has an open timber-framed lean-to. The rear is obscured by a late C20 shed. The N gable end has a lower rubble-stone projection sown on the 1889 OS, later widened on the W side and integral with a lean-to behind the N range. Its E wall has a pair of double full-height boarded doors. At the R end of the lean-to is a gabled projection with replacement double boarded doors, and a boarded door in its side wall. Further R the N range has a full-height vertical joint indicating 2 phases of construction, and a weatherboarded W gable end with boarded door and window, and loft opening. The rear of the saw mill has 2 windows similar to the front, 2 added lean-tos and a tall brick stack.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its special interest as a well-preserved farmstead and estate sawmill retaining definite C19 quality and character.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29505794

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)