Listed Building: JOHN OF GAUNT'S KITCHEN, CANFORD SCHOOL (412433)

POOLE SZ0398 CANFORD MAGNA, Canford Magna 958-1/9/222 (East side (off)) 14/06/54 John of Gaunt's Kitchen, Canford School (Formerly Listed as: MAGNA ROAD Canford School) GV I Formerly known as: Canford Manor. Kitchen block of former medieval manor house. C15 incorporating C14 work and wall to E, altered early C16 when sub-divided horizontally, and restored C19 and C20. Coursed squared limestone with courses of carstone to top and bottom of walls and limestone dressings. Plain-tile roof with verge of stone slates to S side, stone ridge stack and massive internal stacks to N side. 2-unit plan, the larger room approximately twice the size of the other. Tall single-storey, 6-bay range. Main front to S, within present service court of Canford School (qv), has small 1-light window to right of centre at ground-floor level with chamfered stone lintel and window of similar size to upper level above, with hollow-chamfered stone surround. Pair of tall 2-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned windows to right with 2 transoms. Pair of similar windows to left of centre. Chamfered plinth, just visible above courtyard surface and moulded stone eaves cornice with deep hollow chamfer framed by roll moulding below and sunk quadrant moulding above. The hollow chamfer is punctuated at regular intervals by worn grotesque heads. Left end wall is covered by buildings of Canford School, to which it is joined. C14 right (E) end wall has diagonal buttresses, that to S largely cut away, original doorway, formerly internal, with chamfered depressed, 2-centred head and 1-light window to gable with pointed trefoiled head; wall shows scar of steeply pitched roof of former adjoining building. N front has massive projecting stack to right of centre with offsets to sides and original louvred chimney of limestone ashlar. Similar smaller stack to left of centre. Blocked window to far left with continuous hollow chamfer and wave moulding, and 4-centred head. Similar doorway to right of larger stack. 3-light, hollow-chamfered stone mullion window to ground floor far right, and 2-light hollow-chamfered stone mullion and transom window above. Similar window to left of left stack at similar level and small 1-light window to centre at high level with chamfered stone surround. Massive quoins chiefly of carstone to buildings and projecting stacks. Slight batter to plinth and half hip to left end of roof. Ridge stack has original double louvred chimney of limestone ashlar. INTERIOR: main kitchen has 2 very large fireplaces, that to the N wall larger than the other, with chamfered, cambered heads. Smaller fireplace now holds full-length effigy of 1st Baron Wimborne by Rosamund, Viscountess Ridley removed from S chancel chapel of the Church of St John at Canford Magna (qv). Early C16 roof with 5 tie beam trusses on wall posts with arch-braced collars, vertical struts to ridge piece, flanked by diagonal struts, and 2 tiers of wind-braced purlins. Wall posts sit on stone corbels. Either side of stack dividing rooms is a small chamber at 1st-floor level entered by doorway with 4-centred head. Below chamber to S is a stone-vaulted passage leading to smaller kitchen entered by doorway with 4-centred head. Smaller kitchen or scullery has 2 large fireplaces, that to dividing wall larger than the other, both with hollow-chamfered and wave-moulded cambered heads. 2-bay roof of similar construction to that of larger room. Doorway to end wall has pointed-arched head and 2 orders, the inner moulded, the outer chamfered. John of Gaunt's Kitchen is the only surviving portion of an important medieval manor house, referred to in 1221 when it was owned by William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury. (RCHME: County of Dorset (South East): London: 1970-: 192-5; Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Newman J: Dorset: London: 1972-: 127-128). Listing NGR: SZ0339598937

Record last edited

Mar 31 2011 3:51AM