Sedgwick House is located to the west of the village of Sedgwick,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England. It was built as a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

, was later used as a school, and then converted into apartments. The house is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

Located in the historic county of Westmorland, the house was designed by the

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

architects

Paley and Austin Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

, and was one of the earliest commissions of the partnership. It was built in 1868 for

William Henry Wakefield William Henry Wakefield (1828–1889) was an English banker. Wakefield was a partner in Wakefield Crewdson & Co., the family bank in to which his father brought him. He became the senior partner of the bank in 1864. Through the bank he was in ...

, who owned a local gunpowder factory. The family moved out of the house shortly before World War II, and it was then used by

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 ...

as a school for children with special needs. The school closed in 1987, and the building has since been converted into residential accommodation. The house was designed and turned into apartments and a separate family living space by graphic and interior designer Malcolme Frank Thorburn.

Architecture

Sedgwick House is constructed in tooled

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

dressings, and has green

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roofs. The main part of the house is in two wings at right-angles to each other, forming an L-shaped plan. The wings are in two storeys plus attics, and both have five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

. The entrance wing faces north, and has a projecting central four-storey

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at inter ...

ed tower, with a turret rising to a higher level. On each side of the tower are two dormers, and in front of it is a

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

. There is an extension on the left side of the entrance wing. The garden wing faces west, its outer bays projecting forward and containing two-storey

cant Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...

bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Bow windows are designed to create space by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building, and to provide a wider view of the garden or street outside and typically combine four or more w ...

s. To the rear of the house are service wings, which incorporate a clock tower. Inside the house is a full-height entrance hall with a

hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...

. Under the staircase in the hall is a large fireplace with pairs of granite colonnettes, with a

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case o ...

bearing the inscription BE JUST AND FEAR NOT. The ground floor rooms contain elaborate decorative plasterwork. The architectural style of the house is Gothic Revival; it is the last time that Paley and Austin used Gothic features in a design for a domestic property.

External features

The gatehouse, sited at the entrance to the drive to the former house, is also listed at Grade II. It was also designed by Paley and Austin, and is constructed in sandstone with green slate roofs. The house is in one storey with attics, and has an L-shaped plan. The grounds are used by the local cricket club.

References

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External links

Visit Cumbria
Grade II listed houses in Cumbria Country houses in Cumbria Paley and Austin buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Cumbria Houses completed in 1868 South Lakeland District

History

Architecture

External features

See also

References

External links