Church Street, Mill Road and Crane Bridge Road

Church Street, Mill Road and Crane Bridge Road

(495) Clovelly Hotel, of two storeys with brick walls and slate-covered roofs, was built in 1830. The five-bay E. front has plain sashed windows in each storey; the doorway is modern.

(496) Cottage, of one storey with brick walls and a slate-covered roof, is of the first half of the 19th century.

(497) Fisherton Rectory, demolished in 1972, was of two storeys with attics and had brick-faced walls and tile-covered roofs. On demolition the S.W. part of the house was found to be mainly of timber-frame construction and probably of 16th-century origin. During the 17th century the building had been cased in brickwork and extended northwards, giving it a class-T plan with a symmetrical W. front of five bays. In the 18th century the house was again enlarged, the plan becoming square and of class U. After a fire in 1834 the interior was remodelled and the entrance was transferred from the W. front to the E. (V.C.H., Wilts. vi, 192).

Inside, the S.W. ground-floor room had a N.—S. ceiling beam with double ogee mouldings supporting lateral beams with run-out chamfers. The N. and E. walls in this room and in the chamber above were of timber framework. A jowl-headed post supported a large beam in the attic floor; the roof contained one blade of a cruck. A large chimneybreast and the remains of a bread-oven (o) show that the S.E. room of the 18th-century house was the kitchen. In the 17th century the kitchen had probably been on the E. of the N.W. room.

(498) Cottage, of two storeys with brick walls and a slate-covered roof, was built early in the 19th century.

(499) House and Cottages, subsequently combined as one dwelling, are two-storeyed with attics and have brick walls and tiled roofs; they were built about the middle of the 18th century. The house at the S.W. end of the range has a symmetrical S.W. front of five bays with a central doorway and plain square-headed casement windows. The three cottages in the N.E. wing are each of one bay. Inside, the house has a class-T plan; that of each cottage is class S. Some fireplaces have brick jambs and plain timber bressummers.

(500) Mill House (the adjoining Mills were demolished c. 1970), beside the R. Nadder, is in fact in Harnham (below, p. 169), but it is listed here for convenience of perambulation. Mills appear to have been on the site since Domesday, (fn. 1) but nothing seen today is earlier than the three-storeyed house, with brick walls and tiled roofs, which dates from about the middle of the 18th century. The three-bay S.E. front has moulded brick plat-bands and cornice, and a brick parapet divided into bays. The square-headed windows have plain sashes and the doorway has a panelled door-case flanked by fluted pilasters which support an arched and moulded hood. Inside, the main rooms retain original fittings and have panelled dados and moulded plaster cornices.

A range of mill buildings which formerly adjoined the house to N.E. (photographs in N.M.R.) was three-storeyed with attics and had brick walls and slate-covered roofs. Although of 18th-century origin it was later than the mill house and appears to have been of two periods, the three English-bonded western bays being earlier than the two Flemish-bonded bays on the east. A similar range of mill buildings extended N.W. from the mill house, parallel with the river, and was of the 19th century, but earlier than 1843 (Tithe Map). A third demolished range, in the same alignment as that last mentioned and of similar character, is probably the 'new-erected mill for machinery' which was advertised in 1806, (fn. 2) it appeared, however, to make use of 18th-century walls.

(501) Harcourt House, formerly 'Fisherton Cottage', (fn. 3) is of two storeys with attics and has brick walls and tiled roofs; it was built late in the 18th century. On the Reform Act map of 1833, land on the N. is named Harcourt's Garden. The S. front is symmetrical and of three wide bays with a round-headed central doorway under a small pedimented hood, a plain sashed window above it and wide windows of three sashed lights in the other bays. To the E. is an extension with bow windows in both storeys. Inside, the original plan was of class T, but the house has been incorporated in a large modern building and all the original fittings have gone.

(502) Harcourt Cottage, of two storeys with brick walls and a low-pitched slate-covered roof, was built early in the 19th century.

(503) House, No. 6 Crane Bridge Road, has characteristics similar to the foregoing. On O.S. 1880 it is 'Lavington Cottage'.

(504) Cottage and Outbuilding, demolished c. 1965, were two-storeyed with brick walls and tiled roofs and were built about the end of the 18th century. Part of the outbuilding was used for malting and part appears to have been stables.

(505) Bowling Green House, of two storeys with attics, has brick walls, partly rendered, and tiled roofs and appears to have been built early in the 18th century. A house is shown in this position on Naish's map of 1716. The S.E. front is symmetrical and of two bays with a central doorway. Inside, no notable features are seen.

(506) Crane Lodge, demolished in 1963, was of two storeys with attics and had brick walls and tiled and slated roofs. The main rooms in the N.W. part of the house were of the 18th century. Later in the same century the S.E. service wing was added or rebuilt, and c. 1800 the N.E. front of the main range was partly refaced and a two-storeyed porch bay was added. Other extensions were of c. 1900.

The symmetrical five-bay N.E. front was of red brick with a white brick plat-band and a moulded plaster cornice. From the use of different brick bonds and from minor changes in level it appeared that the two W. bays were original (with later windows) while the octagonal porch and the facing of the two E. bays were of c. 1800. The central door-case and fanlight were good examples of their period. The S.W. elevation was tile-hung and to a large extent masked by modern additions (not shown on plan).

Inside, the oval vestibule of c. 1800 had shallow round-headed recesses. The apsidal staircase hall, presumably of the same date, had a frieze of palm-leaves and sunflowers. The dining-room had a wood chimneypiece of c. 1800 (Plate 94) with a pastoral scene carved on the frieze. The staircase had been rebuilt c. 1900 and there were no other notable features.