Description

BEDSTONE C.P. BEDSTONE
SO 37 NE
8/6 Bedstone Court
- (Bedstone College
21.3.68 Main Building)
II
GV

Country house, now school. 1881 by Thomas Harris for Sir Henry Ripley
with minor later additions and alterations. Red brick and planted timber
frame with ashlar dressings; machine tile roofs. Complex multi-gabled
plan forming rough U-shape. 3 storeys. Wooden mullioned and transomed
windows throughout, some with leaded lights. Entrance front has prominent
full-height projecting gable, jettied to each floor. Oriel windows to
first and second floors, latter with elaborate plaster decoration to top.
Porch in projecting gable, approached by flight of 5 steps, has elliptical
centre arch with words "DULCE DOMUS" to lintel, flanked by round-headed
arches with Ionic columns and carving to spandrels, displaying a variety
of classical and Jacobean-style motifs; balustrade on low stone walls
to front and sides. Mosaic floor. Inner panelled door has raised lozenge-
shaped patterns; half-reeded and half-fluted pilasters to sides flanking
round-arched recesses. Gables to left and right of projecting gable,
left with large integral stack to right, which has terracotta armorial
device with Ripley family motto "DUMSPIRO SPERO" superscribed. Octagonal
wooden cupola to ridge with turned balusters to open balustrade has lead-
domed cap, surmounted by weathervane. External end stack to right has
tall star-shaped shaft with miniature stone gable approximtely one-third
of the way up, having armorial device with hanging garlands of fruit and
the date "1881" with "BED / STONE / COU / RT" in raised lettering to oval
medallion. Tall red brick stack to right of ridge to projecting gable,
which has brass sundial to apex. South front: has 7 gables with full-
height canted bay between second and third gables from left. Balcony
to first floor with vase-shaped balusters, partly protected by continuous
jetty of gables above and supported by slender wooden posts with Ionic
columns, runs from canted bay to sixth gable from left. 2-storey projection
to right capped by miniature twin gables. Initials "HWR" and date "1881"
to several rainwater heads. Rear elevation: displays some planted timber
frame but majority of gables are tile hung. On the courtyard (north)
side the main feature of interest is the 2-storey canted bay projecting
from a multi-light mullioned and transomed window. Interior. Main
staircase in panelled hall with painted ceiling has sturdy vase-shaped
balusters and deeply grooved ramped handrail; plain Ionic columns, those
to ends enclosed by unfluted pilasters. Stained glass in window behind
(including to canted bay) depicts labours of the months. Stained glass
showing parrots and butterflies in entrance hall (room to left of porch)
and stained glass also in upper lights of ground-floor windows to south
range. These depict figures from classical mythology, ancient history,
literature and illustrative of the feminine virtues. Several rooms on
this side of the house have plaster ceilings and friezes, the most notable
being in the former dining room (now library) at west end. Entrance
hall has carving of a well with the word "FARE" over the exterior door
and another carving of a well with the word "COME" over the door leading
to the main hall. Original panelled doors and fireplaces throughout,
including to first floor. The house is known locally as a calendar house
as it has 12 chimneys, 365 windows, 7 external doors and 52 rooms. Thomas
Harris was author of Victorian Architecture (1860) in which he sought
to define a specifically Victorian style of architecture. In Shropshire
he is best known for his design of Stokesay Court. B.o.E. p. 71; Barrie
Trinder, A History of Shropshire (1983) pp. 101-2; Roger Dixon and Stefan
Muthesius, Victorian Architecture (1978) pp. 24, 61, 196, 260.

Listing NGR: SO3675075452

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Bedstone Court at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4879440

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings