Sedgwick House, Westmorland
| Sedgwick House | |
| Westmorland | |
|---|---|
 Entrance front of Sedgwick House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD510870 |
| Location: | 54°16’35"N, 2°45’14"W |
| Village: | Sedgwick |
| History | |
| Built 1868 | |
| For: | William Henry Wakefield by Paley and Austin |
| country house | |
| Gothic Revival | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to flats |
Sedgwick House stands to the west of the village of Sedgwick in the south of Westmorland. It was built as a country house, was later used as a school, and then converted into apartments.
The house is designated a Grade II listed building.[1]
History
The house was designed by the architects Paley and Austin of Lancaster, and was one of the partnership's earliest commissions. It was built in 1868 for William Henry Wakefield, who owned the local gunpowder factory.[2]
The family moved out of the house shortly before Second World War, and it was then used by Lancashire County Council as a school for children with special needs. The school closed in 1987, and the building has since been converted into residential accommodation.[3]
Architecture
Sedgwick House is constructed in tooled sandstone, with ashlar and granite dressings, and has green slate roofs. The main part of the house is in two wings at right-angles to each other, forming an L-shaped plan. The wings are in two storeys plus attics, and both have five bays. The entrance wing faces north, and has a projecting central four-storey battlemented tower, with a turret rising to a higher level. On each side of the tower are two dormers, and in front of it is a porte-cochère. There is an extension on the left side of the entrance wing. The garden wing faces west, its outer bays projecting forward and containing two-storey canted bow windows. To the rear of the house are service wings, which incorporate a clock tower.
Inside the house is a full-height entrance hall with a hammerbeam roof.[1] Under the staircase in the hall is a large fireplace with pairs of granite colonnettes, with a lintel bearing the inscription 'BE JUST AND FEAR NOT'.[4] The ground floor rooms contain elaborate decorative plasterwork.[1]
The architectural style of the house is Gothic Revival; it is the last time that Paley and Austin used Gothic features in a design for a domestic property.[2]
External features
The gatehouse, sited at the entrance to the drive to the former house, is also listed at Grade II. It was also designed by Paley and Austin, and is constructed in sandstone with green slate roofs. The house is in one storey with attics, and has an L-shaped plan.[5]
The grounds are used by the local cricket club.[6]
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 National Heritage List 1336058: Sedgwick House School
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James: 'The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin' (English Heritage, 2012), pages 129–131, 223; ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
- ↑ [http://www.parish-council.com/SedgwickParishCouncil/index.asp?pageid=263688 'A History of Sedgwick' (Sedgwick Parish Council)
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland, 1967 Penguin Books
- ↑ National Heritage List 1086586: Gatehouse to Sedgwick House School
- ↑ Sedgwick Cricket Club
