EAST AND NORTH SIDE (from junction with The Borough)

Entrance to car park of The White Horse

See separate entry under 62 The Borough.

The Court House

Originally the Borough Manor and formerly also known as Borough House.

A grade II* listed building.

Listing description: Detached house. Dated 1673 on stone corbels on front and rear walls and interior. English bond brick, tiled roof, gable-end brick stacks. L-plan. 2-storey, 2- window front. Planked door with moulded architrave and cornice, to left of centre, to right are two 2- light recessed chamfered mullioned windows and to left is one 2-light, all with hoodmoulds. 3-brick plat band to first floor; three 2-light recessed chamfered mullioned windows. Wooden modillioned eaves cornice. Two 2- light casements to raking dormers. Coped verges to roof with kneelers. Stepped brick stacks. To right is single-storey projecting extension; C18, with half-hipped roof. Left return has late C17 lean-to extension with pair of leaded windows, first floor has two leaded oculi. Right return has one 2-light mullioned window to ground floor, 3-brick plat band to first floor and attic level; oculus to first floor and attic. Rear has three 2-light mullioned windows to ground and first floors, 3-brick plat band is carried over moulded stone oculus lighting stairs. Modillioned eaves cornice. Two 2-light casements to raking dormers. Lean-to to right has 2-light mullioned window to ground floor and pair of leaded lights to first floor.
Interior retains good C17 features; large stone Tudor-arched fireplace in large room to right of door, open fireplace in smaller room has chamfered timber lintel with bar and runout stops. Central stairs are boxed- in by fine oak plank and muntin partitions which rise to attic, vase- turned balusters to landing. Planked door with strap hinges to attic. 5-bay roof has two tiers of butt purlins. Stone corbels inside the west and east walls of large room correspond with those on exterior walls; 1673 Burgh Manor. Founded by Sir Joseph Ashe as a grammar school for twelve boys, in 1673, endowed with ?100 and the profits from two sheep fairs in Downton.

PEVSNER (referring to 'Borough House'): ‘Dated 1673. Brick with stone dressings. Two-light windows. Doorway with moulded surround. In the N gable two vertically placed oval windows in oblong slabs. Eaves with brackets at the ends’.

In 1697 the building was donated by Sir Joseph Ashe Bart., Lord Lessee of the Manor of Downton, as a school and dwelling house. The profits from two fairs and an endowment maintained the building and paid for a schoolmaster to instruct 12 boys. The fairs were held annually on 23 April (The original Cuckoo Fair) and 2 October. The original trustees to the school were Giles Eyre, William Coles, John Snow, Nicholas Farr and Alexander Welstead.

By 1833 it had become an elementary school and for a time extra boys were educated there at the Vicar's expense. In 1840 the school came under the Diocesan Board of Education. The last schoolmaster was Charles Hyatt, appointed in 1872. The school closed in 1890 and the buildings were sold in 1891. The boys were probably then transferred to the British Boys School (see entry under The Memorial Hall, The Borough).

Former occupiers: Mrs E Simcoe (1935); Henry Downer (1953).

Downton Baptist Church

A grade II listed building.

Listing description: Baptist Church. 1857. English bond brick with diapers in vitrified headers, Welsh slate roof, limestone ashlar bellcote. Nave and chancel with north west porch. West end lean-to porch to left with double panelled doors and fanlight. West front has large round-arched 2- light windows with margin panes and rose window, either side are round- arched margin-pane windows, vertical division of facade by pilasters with raking plinths. Deep eaves on wooden brackets, gabled bellcote to west gable. Left return has porch and round window over, to left are two pairs of tall margin-pane windows, same pilasters as front. Right return has three pairs of tall margin-pane windows. Rear is east end with gabled roof with round windows, lower roof levels for church rooms with C20 windows. Interior not accessible but arrangement of rooms has been altered. Unusual bold design, replacing a late C18 church on same site.

The following structures within the churchyard are also grade II listed buildings in their own right:

Barling monument in the churchyard, about 4 metres west of Baptist Church
Chest tomb. Early C19. Limestone. Moulded plinth, fielded panel to main sides with corner paterae, reeded corner pilasters, moulded flat top with partly illegible inscription.

Taunton monument in the churchyard, about 3 metres north of Baptist Church
Chest tomb. Mid C19. Limestone. Plinth, two fielded panels with beading to main sides, and to ends, moulded flat top. John Taunton died 1841.

Railed enclosure, in the churchyard about 6 metres west of Baptist Church
Railed enclosure with chest tomb. Mid C19. Good cast-iron railings with anthemion heads and urn finials. Tomb not visible or accessible; overgrown with vegetation.

Railings to front of Baptist Church
Railings on dwarf wall. Mid-C19 railings reset on C20 wall. Good cast- iron railings with elaborate spear heads and finials to intermediate posts. Reset on C20 brick walls with concrete coping.

When the General Baptists of Gravel Close changed to Unitarianism in 1734 a group left the congregation to form a Particular Baptist meeting. They were meeting in South Lane around 1738 with a regular minister and were in a flourishing state. In 1791 they built a chapel on this site and in 1801 appointed a permanent minister.

By 1857 the chapel was proving to be too small and a new one was built on the same site. At the same time The Manse, the Minister's house, was extended. The Particular Baptists reunited with the General Baptists in 1894, although the latter continued to use their own chapel in Gravel Close until about 1939 when it closed. Both congregations then worshipped at the Particular Baptist chapel in South Lane, which is now known as Downton Baptist Church.

The Manse

A grade II listed building.

Listing description: Detached house, now manse to baptist church. Late C18 with addition to south of 1857. Flemish bond with diapers in vitrified headers to C19 part, tiled roof to C18 part, Welsh slates to C19 build. 2- storey 3-window. C20 door to right, to left is 2-light casement and to right is blind window with segmental head and keystone, C20 outshut to left, first floor has 2-light casement to left and 12-pane sash and blind window to right, both segmental-headed with keystones. Dentilled eaves to C18 build on left. Right return has 9-pane and 12-pane sashes with keystones, first floor has flush vitrified band and two 16-pane sashes. Pilasters to sides. Left return has 1 and 2-light casements. Rear has 16-pane sashes to ground floor and first floor has 16- pane and 9-pane sashes. Interior not inspected. Similar C19 details to Baptist Church of 1857.

The Reverend Arthur Coombs’ (of The Manse) son, Lieutenant Henry Whittaker Coombs of the 18th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers died on 2 July 1916 of wounds he received on the preceding date – the first day of the Somme. By cruel coincidence, Aubrey Dickenson, son of the Vicar, had died on the previous day of wounds received at the same battle.

Former occupiers: Reverend Arthur H Coombs; Reverend Stanley R Almond (1935); Reverend Keith N Missen BA (1953); Reverend T Rogers (1964).

Baptist Church Field

Rhodes House

Meadows

The Willows

A thatched cottage formerly stood next to the Bunny in what is now the front garden of The Willows. It burnt down in 1912 when a child threw a fire cracker into the thatch (by accident!) Ed Green’s grandparents bought the plot in the 1930s for £30. It is said that the old cottage was the original meeting place for the Baptists.

South Lane Cottage

Cow Bridge

Beyond the bridge the lane turns into a track known as Ham Lane.

WEST SIDE (from junction with The Borough)

The Moorings

Pumping Station