Eastleach House

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Eastleach House
Gloucestershire
Location
Grid reference: SP20340518
Location: 51°44’42"N, 1°42’25"W
Village: Eastleach Martin
History
For: Sir Thomas Sebastian Bazley
by Walter Cave
Country house
Information

Eastleach House is country house in Eastleach Martin, in Gloucestershire, close by the Oxfordshire border.

The house was designed by the architect Walter Cave and completed in 1900. Today it is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

The property in Eastleach Martin was built by the Bazley family late in the 19th Century on the site of an earlier 19th-century farmhouse. Sir Thomas Bazley built the house for his daughter as a wedding present, using stone from two ruined local houses: Blunsden Abbey (which in particular supplied the mediæval grotesques which decorate the wings of the west elevation) and Paul's Castle, and it was completed in 1900: a date-stone above the fireplace gives the initials "GSB 1900", for Gardner Sebastian Bazley, Sir Thomas's son who had received the estate by that year.

The house was originally called 'Ravens Hill'.[2] until the name was changed by the present owner.

The architect was Walter Cave, and stylistically the house is described as Cotswold manor house, Jacobean Revival. The exterior is constructed of coursed rubble oolithic limestone with ashlar and a stone slate roof.

The interior is decorated, in the arts and craft style, with simple panelling and boldly projecting, simplified mouldings. The fireplaces, though classically derived, have attenuated column mantelshelf supports rather similar to Charles Voysey's designs; the central hall fireplace has a carved datestone: 'GSB 1900'. The involved shape of the oak staircase in the central hall forms a half-landing above the main entrance lobby.

The stable and coach house were built for the previous house on this site.

The house is not open to the public.

Gardens

The creation of the current gardens began in 1982 when the house was acquired by Stephanie and David Richards. The gardens cover fourteen acres and include a walled garden, a garden with a stone rill running through it, the south-facing lawn, and a ten-acre park. Designed to follow the natural contours of the land, the gardens present the different and contrasting aspects--from the smooth lawns to the avenue, parkland and arboretum--of a traditional country garden.[3] The gardens are currently open only upon request.[4]

References

  1. National Heritage List 1302791: Easstleach House
  2. Kelly's Directory 1935
  3. Description of garden at gardensguide.com
  4. Eastleach House