Description

OTLEY HIGH HOUSE LANE
TM 25 SW
(North side)
8/111
16/3/66 High House
- II*

Manor House. Mid C16. Probably built by a member of the Gosnold family
which owned the land. Timber framed with colourwashed render and brick
with plain tiled roof, perhaps originally thatched. Two storeys with
attic. L-shaped plan. Road front: brick walling to the ground floor where
the jetty has been underbuilt. Doorway at right of centre which has a 4-
centred head with fern and flower motifs to the spandrels. The door has
moulded muntins and lintel. Three-light casement to right of this and a 5-
light range at left with a further 5-light window to the far left. The
first floor has 2 five-light and 2 four-light casements and one 3-light
window below the stack. All these windows are C20. To the attic are two
2-light hipped dormers and there is a ridge stack at left of centre with 6
clustered octagonal flues with cogged heads. Left hand gable end: close
studding with arched braces and brick nogged infill. To the ground floor
is a central 6-light C20 mullioned window and at either side are 4-light
casements. The first floor is jettied with a moulded bressumer and
supported by curved brackets. The walling here has arched braces. The
gable was also formerly jettied as revealed by mortice holes for the
brackets and the sawn-off wall plates. Right hand side: gable end of the
main range at left with a projecting central C20 staircase turret with a
hipped roof and an outshut to its right hand side. Two-light window to
ground floor level at left of the turret and a 2-light attic window at
right. Extending to the right is a later lower wing which has at ground
floor level two 2-light, a 3-light and a 5-light casements with a doorway
at right of centre. The first floor has a panel of close studding with an
arched brace and three 5-light casements to right and a 3-light window at
left, all with diamond-section mullions. Rear: the gable end of the later
wing is at left with two ground floor 2-light windows divided by a king
mullion and at first floor level an 8-light window. Close studded gable
with a 2-light casement. The right flank of this wing has a 4-light, a 3-
light and two 2-light casements, all C20 replacements with diamond-section
mullions. To the first floor are three 5-light windows and a 3-light and a
4-light window, all with diamond-section mullions, some of which have been
replaced. To right extends the axial range which is close studded with
brick nogged infill. This has, to right of centre, a staircase tower with
a bowed end to accommodate the spiral stair. At mezzanine level is a
window of 4 lights. The right flank has a blocked doorway with 4-centered
head and there is a 2-light window to first floor level. The left flank
has one 4-light ground floor window. At right of the tower are two further
blocked doorways with 4-centered heads to ground and first floor level,
indicating that a further wing probably projected here. To left of the
turret is a ground floor hall window of 6 lights which falls low and has
moulded mullions and at left of this is a window to the upper walling of 9
lights. The first floor has a canted oriel at right with a heavily moulded
sill, 4 central lights and single lights to the angles. To left of this
are a 2-light and a 5-light window, also with moulded mullions.
Interior: the dining-room has a massive chamfered ceiling beam and
chamfered joists with die-out end stops. The hall has a crossed
arrangement of richly-moulded heavy beams. The cross-axial beam is
supported on jowled wall posts, the jowling having brattished enrichments
from which spring arched braces connecting to the beam. The joists have
double quirked beads. Cambered chimney bressumer with a series of roll
moulds and ribbon and floral motifs to the top. The sitting room has 2
moulded cross beams with a dragon beam extending through to one corner.
Similar double-quirked joists to those seen in the hall. The staircase
turret has a centre circular newel post to the winder staircase and its
original treads. The newel diminishes by broaches to an octagonal body,
with a moulded, stepped cap. One first floor room has a cambered ceiling
with a crossed arrangement of beams and 3 slender axial beams with joists
that have quirked beads. Wall posts with arched braces. Four-centred
doorheads to most first floor rooms, mostly of C20. One further first
floor room has a 4-centred arch to the fireplace with moulded surround and
stepped end stops. Red plaster overlays the brick and is grooved in
imitation of brickwork with fine lines of white plaster bedded into it
creating an impression of immaculately laid gauged brick. All the rooms in
the axial range have close studded walling. The first floor of the later
wing forms one large room of 3 bays with massive jowled wall posts carrying
arched braces which connect to the cambered tie beams. Central chamfered
beam and plain joists. The house has several features in common with Otley
Hall, Otley (qv) also built by the Gosnold family.

Listing NGR: TM2123454940

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545851

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)