Listed Building record MDO13284 - Chettle House, Chettle

Chettle House, has two principal storeys, with basements and attics, and with a three storeyed pavilion. The walls are generally of finely coursed red brickwork with ashlar dressings of Chilmark Stone and roof-coverings of lead and slate. Built for George Chafin (1713-1747) the architect being Thomas Archer. The house was remodelled in circa 1845 for Edward Castleman and restored in 1912. It was converted into flats following the property being inherited in 1946 but was subsequently converted back into a single property following the sale of the property in 2015.

(ST 95141318) Chettle House (NAT). <1>

CHETTLE HOUSE, of two principal storeys with basement and attics, and with a three-storyed central pavilion, has walls generally of finely coursed red brickwork with ashlar dressings, and roof-coverings of lead and of slate The house was built c. 1710 for George Chafin, M.P. 1713-1747, the architect in all probability being Thomas Archer.

After the death in 1818 of George Chafin's son, the Rev. William Chafin, the house stood empty for many years. It suffered severely while vacant and in restoring it, c.1845, the new owner Edward Castleman, remodelled the lower main floor and removed the N. and S. bays in the upper storey; it is said that he also removed a cupola which formerly crowned the central pavilion. J. Pouncy's view of the house as it was c.1856(a) shows the rounded bays rising only one storey above the basement, the curved walls then being capped with parapets and urns. In 1912 the rounded upper storeys were reinstated; they were furnished with balustraded parapets in imitation of the parapets of the central part of the building, features which they cannot have had in the original design since the remains of the original parapets are still seen above the roofs, returning on the line of the outside pilasters of the main fronts. <2>

Chettle House Country House, now divided into flats. Grade I. <4>

Additional reference. <3>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 11-12, Plans, Plates 36-37, No 2 (Monograph). SDO99.

‘(2) Chettle House (95141318), of two principal storeys with basements and attics, and with a three-storeyed central pavilion, has walls generally of finely coursed red brickwork with ashlar dressings, and roofcoverings of lead and of slate (Plate 36). The house was built c. 1710 for George Chafin, M.P. 1713–1747, the architect in all probability being Thomas Archer (Oswald, 153). An 18th-century drawing once belonging to Colen Campbell and now in the R.I.B.A. Library, here reproduced, shows the original plan of the lower main floor. (fn. 1) That the rounded N. and S. end bays originally occurred in the upper storey, as well as at the level shown, is indicated by the description of the house in a Bill of Sale dated 1825, where 'four circular-fronted dressing rooms' are listed on the bedroom floor. After the death in 1818 of George Chafin's son, the Rev. William Chafin, the house stood empty for many years. It suffered severely while vacant and in restoring it, c. 1845, the new owner, Edward Castleman, remodelled the lower main floor as shown on the plan above, and removed the N. and S. bays in the upper storey; it is said that he also removed a cupola which formerly crowned the central pavilion. J. Pouncy's view of the house as it was c. 1856 (Dorset Photographically Illustrated, III, pl. 3) shows the rounded bays rising only one storey above the basement, the curved walls then being capped with parapets and urns. In 1912 the rounded upper storeys were reinstated; they were furnished with balustraded parapets in imitation of the parapets of the central part of the building, features which they cannot have had in the original design since the remains of the original parapets are still seen above the roofs, returning on the line of the outside pilasters of the main fronts.

Architectural Description—The W. front (Plate 36) is symmetrical and of nine bays, the three central bays projecting in a rounded pavilion one storey higher than the lateral bays. The basement storey forms a podium with a moulded stone capping and has windows with ashlar architraves; above, the bays of the façade are defined by brick pilasters which support an ashlar entablature above the window heads of the upper main storey. The pilasters bases are of brick; the capitals are of Chilmark stone and of unusual pattern, having astragals decorated with guttae, and fluted rectilinear bells wider at the bottom than at the top. The entablature has a plain frieze with modillions. The tall sashed windows have segmental heads of gauged brickwork and those of the first floor have brick aprons. Above the entablature the attic storey of the central pavilion is crowned by a balustraded parapet with finials representing castles, the rebus of the Castlemans. The lateral bays have solid parapets interrupted by balustrading in correspondence with the windows; the bill of sale of 1825 implies that these parapets masked dormer-windowed attics containing servants' bedrooms. The doorway in the central pavilion has a stone surround with Roman-Doric enrichments, a round archivolt, and a large scrolled keystone supporting a cornice.

The E. front (Plate 37) is similar to that on the W.except that the central pavilion does not project, and in the two principal storeys it has round-headed instead of segmental-headed openings; the piers between the windows are rusticated, bands of ashlar alternating with brickwork. The central doorway is approached by double flights of balustraded stone steps leading to a terrace. The attic storey is crowned by a balustrade, as before, with finials in the form of eagles. Pouncy's view shows these birds on pedestals flanking the W. doorway.

The S. elevation is of five bays (including the rounded corner bays). The three central bays are set between square pilasters and have capitals, entablatures and parapets as described above, but of Ham Hill instead of Chilmark stone. In the basement and lower main storey the brickwork is original; above first-floor level the brickwork of 1912 is less closely jointed and less regular in colour than the original work. Carved on the stone window heads of the lower main storey are the dates 1710, 1845, 1912. The N. elevation is similar to that on the S., with rebuilding of 1912 in the upper storey. The lower main storey appears to have been partly rebuilt during the 19th-century restorations.

Above roof level, masked by the parapets of 1912, the original N. and S. parapets are partly preserved. They are balustraded as on the E. and W. fronts and they return, at right-angles to those fronts, above the pilasters which divide the curved end bays from the flat part of the façades. The returning parapets are only one bay long finishing in brick piers. The interrupted mouldings of the coping suggest that the parapets continued straight through from E. to W.; a turn to bring them out to the plane of the N. and S. fronts cannot be ruled out, but the wall-thicknesses below argue against this. In any case the quadrant rooms, if not the whole of each end bay, must originally have been roofed at a level below the main entablature; the form of the roofs is unknown.

Inside the house, the basement storey, containing the kitchen and other service rooms, has brick vaulting throughout. On the ground floor, the West Hall has bolection-moulded panelling and architectural details of the Roman-Doric order, probably of c. 1846; the doorways here and in the E. hall have tympana with bas-reliefs reputedly by Alfred Stevens. In the two-storeyed East Hall (Plate 40) the original stairs are preserved; they are of oak and have turned balusters, three to each tread, and newel posts in the form of small fluted columns. The stairs rise in two flights to meet at a landing on the W., whence a single flight leads to a circular billiards room on the first floor above the W. hall (Plate 37). According to the 18th-century plan, another flight of stairs originally connected the E. side of the same landing with the gallery at first-floor level on the E. side of the hall. The sale-bill of 1825 records that 'the sides are painted to resemble a rich cornice, frieze and fluted pilasters dividing the panels', but no trace remains of this decoration. The first-floor galleries on the N. and S. of the hall are of c. 1846.

The passage between the E. and W. halls is flanked by circular stone staircases which rise from the basement to the attics. In the S. staircase the stone stairs and iron handrails are preserved; those on the N. were removed c. 1846.

The large Drawing Room was formed by removing a main cross-wall in the original plan and resiting other walls; it has a mid 19th-century marble fireplace surround with caryatid pilasters. According to a tradition in the Castleman family the wall paintings were executed by Alfred Stevens's father. Generally, except for the stairs, the fittings and embellishments throughout the house are of the mid 19th century.’

<2.1> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Dorset Photographically illust 3 pl 3 (Index). SDO14738.

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 149-51 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> DOE (HHR), 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: North Dorset District (Scheduling record). SDO17732.

<5> Dorset Historic Buildings Survey (Index). SDO12541.

Surveyor notes: 'Good [condition]. Access refused to survey. Condition information supplied by JL [John Lowe, Dorset County Council].'

<6> Dorset Building Material Survey (Index). SDO12542.

Surveyor notes: '2 main floors over high-standing basement. Attic storey over centre bay. 1½ storey outbuilding wing to north: not listed. Roof of house not visible from ground level: probably lead flat. Rounded corners of centre bay, west front smaller radius than to south front: built in header bond. Gauged arches to windows. That at SW corner of centre W. bay FF level redone in coloured mortar render. Stone plinth at ground level to basement, apparently on brick footing levelled up with floor quarries and roofing tiles. Bricks in N. wall of house more glazed than in other frontages. String course at ground floor level linking bases of pilasters. Stone pilaster capitals, cornice, balustrate, doorcase. Said to have been built by the Bastard brothers of Blandford (RCHM extract in exhibition in basement).'

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 210093 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 14 2023 11:20AM