Bloxworth House is a Grade I listed

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

just northwest of the village of

Bloxworth Bloxworth is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, within Wareham Forest on the A35 road west of Poole. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 80 households and a population of 200. Bloxworth Heath is home to Woolsbar ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. It was built in 1608 by George Savage and was the first brick building in Dorset.

History

Bloxworth House was built in 1608 by George Savage and was the first building in Dorset to be built mainly of brick.White, Steve, and Hannay, Clive (2014). ''In the Footsteps of Treves. Bere Regis, Morden and Bloxworth'' in: ''Dorset Life'', No. 426, Sep 2014 In 1689 it was bought by Henry Trenchard – whose family also owned

Poxwell Poxwell (; sometimes written Pokeswell) is a hamlet (place), hamlet and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England. It is located east of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth. The current population of the parish ...

Manor – and it remained in the Trenchard family until 1964. Over the last 100 years the house fell into ruins, was vandalized and then restored. The house was used as the Bathsheba Everdene's house in the acclaimed 1967 film adaptation of '' Far from the Madding Crowd''. It was considerably and sympathetically restored in the 1970s. The present owner,

horticulturalist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

Martin Lane Fox, acquired the house in 1997 and has considerably remodelled the garden. The house is currently being sold (2014).''8 bedroom detached house for sale. Bloxworth, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 7EF''
at www.rightmove.co.uk. Retrieved 21 Sep 2014.

Description

The two-storey building was first listed in 1959 and is described by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

as a "countryhouse". There is a date stone inscribed "1608" in the porch. The building originally had an E-shaped plan, but was altered during the 18th and 19th centuries. It has brick walls, with some burnt header decoration, on a stone plinth. The roofs are tiled with stone eaves courses and coped

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. There are brick stacks on the roof ridge and gables and the house has projecting gabled

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

at each end. Also separately listed are a stable block, a

pump house Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, ...

, a

brewhouse A brewhouse is a building made for brewing beer and ale. This could be a part of a specialized brewery operation, but historically a brewhouse is a private building only meant for domestic production. Larger households, such as noble estates, o ...

and an ice house.

References

{{coord, 50.754119, N, 2.172413, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Manor houses in England Country houses in Dorset Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Houses completed in 1608 1608 establishments in England