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Originally the ‘King’s Common Highway’ between Downton and Salisbury. The route of the modern road is much windier, having been diverted when deer parks were created at Barford Park and Standlynch.
The above postcard shows the Manor House.
EAST SIDE (from junction with Lode Hill)
Block of Garages
These buildings were formerly a blacksmith's workshop.
The Cottage
A grade II listed building, upgraded from Grade III.
Listing description: Detached cottage. Early C18, 1949 extension. Flemish bond brick, half-hipped thatched roof, brick stacks. Gable-end to road. 2- storey, 5-window front on right return from road. Inserted C20 door, three 2- light and two 3-light casements, blocked door has single casement. Right bay is 1949 addition in similar style. First floor has one 3-light casement and three eyebrow dormers with 2-light casements. Right return has C20 French windows. Rear C20 extension. Interior has chamfered beams with step and runout stops, open fireplace with chamfered lintel on brick jambs.
Former occupiers: Dr Brian L Whitehead, MRCS LRCP (1964)
Hamilton House
A grade II listed building.
Listing description: Detached house. Mid C18. Painted Flemish bond brick, tiled roof, brick stacks. L-plan. 2- storey, 5-window front. Door with 6- fielded panels and fanlight, with pediment on Ionic pilasters, to right of centre, to left are three 12-pane flush sashes, to right is one 12-pane sash. First floor has five 12-pane sashes; all windows with moulded wooden architraves. Moulded and dentilled eaves cornice. Two hipped dormers to roof with 2-light casements. Left return has 12-pane sash to first floor and 2-light casement to attic, rear wing has 4- light leaded casement to first floor. Rear has 12-pane sashes to ground and first floors; external brick stack to left, 2-light casement to hipped dormer. Mid-Cl9 extension to left has large C20 window to ground floor, C18 wing to right has 2-light casements. Interior has C18 newel stairs with turned balusters, some good fireplaces with Adam-style detail and moulded corniced mantels, north room has fielded panelling and dentilled ceiling cornice.
See also entry under Emma Cottage in Doctor’s Alley.
In February 1906, Doctor Whiteley of Hamilton House (actually a ‘Mister’ as he was a qualified surgeon) became the first car owner in Downton. The vehicle was a maroon 17/20 hp Scout tonneau, registration number AM 768. It was only the third car sold by the Scout Motor Company of Salisbury. His chauffeur was James Churchill.
Former occupiers: George William Whiteley (1885-1919); Brian Whitehead MC BA MRCS LRCP (Physician and Surgeon) (1935-1953); Major-General R A Bramwell-Davis CB DSO (1960s-1970s)
- Here is the junction with Doctor's Alley -
Wellesley Cottage
Formerly known as Plasket Cottage.
A grade II listed building, upgraded from Grade III.
Listing description: Cottage at end of row. Mid-C18. Flemish bond brick with vitrified headers, thatched roof with gable-end brick stacks. Entrance now to rear, blocked front doorway. 2- storey, 3-window front. 3-light casement to left, C20 sash in blocked doorway, 12-pane sash to right. 2- brick plat band to first floor; three 12-pane sashes. Moulded brick cornice and flanking brick pilasters to sides. Coped verges to roof. Right return has 12-pane sash to ground floor and casements to attic. To left is attached single-storey extension in timber-frame and brick, with hipped tiled roof. Rear has C20 door and porch and C20 metal casements. Interior said to have reeded fireplace surround with paterae and similar detail to cupboards, which are inserted in blocked open fireplace.
Former Occupiers: Major Edwards (1964).
Staddlestone House
1 Sims Cottages
2 Sims Cottages
2 Parsonage Cottages
Formerly known as 2 Parsonage Farm Cottages.
Formerly a grade III listed building, listed with 1 Parsonage Cottages as Pair of Cottages last on E. side of lane, opposite N. end of Vicarage garden. Former listing description: C18.
1 Parsonage Cottages
Formerly known as 1 Parsonage Farm Cottages.
See also 2 Parsonage Cottages.
Christmas Cottage
The Oak House
Cemetery
WEST SIDE (from junction with Lode Hill)
St Laurence’s Church Hall and Car Park
This building was previously used as a school – its car park was the playground. The first National Girl’s School was built here in 1830. A National Sunday and Day School for 230 children was built in 1846 and enlarged in 1850 by Mrs Clarke, widow of the former Vicar. The school was taken over by Wiltshire County Council and by 1920 was known as the Church of England School. Until 1938 it remained an elementary school for all ages, up to 14 years, but after that date it was used for infants and juniors, with the children aged over 11 years going to the school in Gravel Close. In 1964 all remaining pupils were transferred to the Gravel Close school and in 1975 the buildings were converted into the Church Hall.
School House
Former occupiers: Miss D J Wicks (1935)
- Here is the junction with Snail Creep -
Tower View
Former occupiers: Kenneth Hughes (1964)
Chalkhill House
Formerly The Vicarage.
A grade II listed building, formerly listed as The Vicarage.
Listing description: Detached house. C17 rear range with front range of 1784. Flemish bond brick, tiled roof, brick stacks. L-plan. 2-storey, 6- window front. Centre 2 bays break forward, half-glazed door with 12- panel sash to left, to right and left are two 12-pane sashes. First floor has six 12-pane sashes. Pediment over two centre bays, dentilled eaves. Reset datestone at base of wall: 1640/I.C. probably dates the rear range. Right return has two blind windows to first floor, and external stack, C17 range has 3-light and 2- light chamfered mullioned windows with hoodmoulds and one 4-light casement, first floor has 16-pane sash and 3- light sash, one hipped dormer to roof with 2-light casement. Left return is windowless, quoin at base of wall is inscribed TL/1784. Rear has scattered fenestration, mainly sashes. Interior has late C18 newel stairs with stick balusters, marble fireplace to first floor has corniced mantel, internal shutters to front windows.
PEVSNER: Vicarage, NE of the Church. C18, brick, six bays with a two-bay pediment.
From Downton Parish News, May 2008:
Chalkhill House was the vicarage in
Downton for over three hundred years
until 1975, when the present vicarage
was built in the old walled vegetable
garden. A stone set into the east wall
of the house bears the inscription
1640/JC. This was John Chalkhill who
built that part of the house. The list
of vicars in the church records shows
that he held the benefice from 1637-
41.
The first vicar to live there was
Samuel Coxe, appointed to the living
of Downton by the Warden, fellows and
scholars of Winchester College 1641.
There had probably been an earlier
building on or near the site of that
house.
The present south facing building was
built in 1784 by Thomas Lear. Thomas
Lear was the longest serving vicar in
Downton. A memorial to him is to be
found on the south wall in St
Laurence’s Church: ‘during a period of
nearly fifty years, the beloved
Minister of this Parish’. His building
was of pleasing symmetrical Georgian
design, with stout brick walls, which
in places are two feet thick. The
mortgage for the house at that time
raised to £450, a large sum of money.
A wing on the west side was demolished
in the early 1950s. The main rooms are
spacious with lofty ceilings, and
several of the doorways are unusually
broad, apparently in order to allow
free passage for the voluminous skirts
and crinolines worn by the ladies of
former times.
During the next century the living of
St Laurence’s Church was often given
by Winchester College, who held the
patronage, to wealthy men who did not
live in Downton. They were probably in
London and left their responsibilities
in the hands of a curate with a
minimum stipend and nothing for the
upkeep of the vicarage. The house fell
into poor repair and the roof leaked.
Moreover, when the Church
Commissioners came to sell the
vicarage to the present owner, it was
found that no documents or papers or
even deeds had been preserved.
At the back of the house are a number
of outbuildings which used to be the
stables. In 1959 they were converted
into a parish room with kitchen and
lobby, and a club room above reached
by a staircase built by Mr Steve
Horner.
A lovely tulip tree still stands
beside the house and has withstood
recent gales. It was probably planted
in the middle of the eighteenth
century with various other flowering
trees in the garden. It may be one of
the oldest tulip trees in the country.
Every year it is in flower at the end
of June, at the time of the Church
fete.
Former occupiers: Reverend Robert Garland Plumptre MA (1893-1910); Reverend Lenthall Greville Dickenson MA (1910-1917); Reverend George Edward Salmon MA (1917-1923); Reverend John Robinson MA (1923-1939); Reverend Alan Birch DSO MA (1939-1947); Reverend Alfred Henry Purcell Fox AKC (1947- 1955); Reverend John Eric Overton MA (1955-1960); Reverend Charles Arnold Simister MM (1960-1963); Reverend Donovan Victor Evening (1963-1972); Reverend David John Letcher RD (1972- 1975).
Prebendal Cottage
Former occupiers: Canon Hayes (1964)
Vicarage
Constructed in 1975 within the walled garden of the former vicarage (see entry under Chalkhill House).
Former occupiers: Reverend David John Letcher RD (1975-1986); Reverend Michael Collins Francis Gallagher BA (1986-2003).
Manor House
Formerly known as Parsonage Manor.
A grade I listed building, upgraded from grade II*
Listing description: Detached house.
Early C14 and C17 with C19
alterations. Rendered flint stone
rubble, brick and timber frame, brick
stacks. L-plan. C14 hall house with
attached chapel. One storey and attic
with basement, 5 windows. Central
ledged door in moulded case, with 2-
storey porch on posts, to either side
are two 3-light mullioned 'and
transomed windows, to right are two
chamfered lights to basement and
blocked 2-light ogee-headed window.
Attic has two gabled dormers to left,
2-light casements to gabled porch over
door, one dormer to right with 2-light
casement. Chapel projecting to right
has C19 3-light window with hoodmould,
left return has cusped lancet to first
floor and small chamfered light to
basement. Right return has two cusped
lancets, single chamfered lancet to
ground floor and blocked one to right
first floor and chimney with corbel
table. To right is chamfered doorcase
with planked door to basement, C20
windows to first floor. Rear has
chimney on corbel table, 3-light
casement, two chamfered lights to
basement, two C19 3-light windows to
ground floor and C20 door with flat
stone hood on bracket, C20 French
windows to right. Three dormers, one
hipped, to roof. Wing to right has C19
3-light window and 2-light casement to
attic.
Interior: All has inserted floor and
oak panelling of c1600, oak fireplace
surround with fluted pilasters and
overmantel with Raleigh arms on
panels. Chapel has inserted floor of
c1600 and bolection-moulded fireplace
and panelling of late C17, pointed
barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling. Chapel
is off northern, upper end of hall.
Timber framed partition to closed
truss of low end of hall. Newel stairs
inserted c1600. 4-bay C14 or C15 roof
over hall has chamfered arch-braced
collar trusses, curved windbracing to
tenoned purlins. Chapel roof has
eleven pairs of common rafters and
collars with arched braces. Manor was
an endowment to Winchester College by
William of Wykeham in 1380, later
leased by Elizabeth I and occupied by
brother of Sir Walter Raleigh in early
C17, who improved the house.
The Manor House is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in the south of England. The original house on this site was built circa 850AD and was used as a rectory. The building then consisted of a barn with cellars underneath, a private chapel and a loft area where the priests slept on rushes.
There were considerable alterations in Elizabethan times. The house and all its land was let to the queen at a cost of £84 5s (£84.25) per annum. She installed John Wilkes, Secretary to Her Majesty’s Council, but he died a year later and the house was then occupied by Sir Carew Raleigh.
The Raleigh family continued to use the house for almost 100 years. According to legend, in 1586 they had to improve the house at short notice for a visit by the Queen, who was on her way to visit the then newly built Breamore House, and Sir Walter sailed a boat up the Avon, beached it near The Tannery and used its timbers to provide paneling and better roof beams.
A portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh was hidden behind oak paneling at the house, possibly when he fell from favour. It was found about 150 years later by the then resident farmer, who was facing bankruptcy. He gave the painting to a Salisbury agent, Rawlence and Squarey, in lieu of a debt, and it was sold to the National Portrait Gallery for 100 Guineas (£105) in 1857. It was the first item they had actually purchased, the previous five having been donated. It is now the best known picture of Sir Walter.
The Manor was the birthplace of Sir Roger Curtis, who commanded the gunboats at the siege of Gibraltar.
Former occupiers: Ralph G Jebb (1935); Sir Robert Perkins (1964).
Manor Cottage
A grade II listed building.
Listing description: Cottage. Circa
mid to late C17 with C18 and C19
alterations and additions. Timber-
framed, faced in red brick, lower
courses are random bond with Flemish
bond above. Plain tile roof with
gabled and half-hipped ends. End
stacks with brick shafts. L-shaped on
plan. 2-room plan front range, left
hand wing behind the right hand room
appears to be of a different build
either later or earlier and later
faced in brick. Circa early C19
outshut behind left room. One storey
and attic. 2 window east front. Circa
early C20 2 and 3-light casements,
attic windows in small hipped dormers
above eaves. Doorway to right inside
C20 conservatory-porch. Large C20
raking brick buttress at centre of
front. Roof at rear carried down as
catslide over brick outshut. Lower
rear wing with half-hipped roof. C20
metal-frame casements and hipped
dormer on north side.
Interior: Exposed timber-framed
partition between 2 rooms in front
range, the tie on jowled wall-post at
back. Both rooms have thin chamfered
beams with convex stops, the left
axial, the right hand a cross-beam.
The left room has large fireplace with
chamfered timber lintel, the chamfer
running into jambs, and brick-lined
oven. The right hand room has simple
C19 chimney piece and winder staircase
in rear corner against partition. Rear
wing has large chamfered axial beam
with run-out stops. Roof space
ceiled.
Badgers Rake
Parsonage Farm House
Formerly a grade II listed building.
Former listing description: C16-17, some early C19 alterations. Two- storeys, brick, old tile roof. The E. front which is rough-cast has a central projecting gabled porch, the upper part of which has a C18 2-light casement window and is carried on two square posts with small cornice beam forming a large porch with modern ledged central door. To the right-hand of the porch there are two 6-light mullioned and transomed windows high in the wall with gabled 4-light mullioned and transomed semi-dormers over. To the left-hand are two 6-light similar windows at lower level with two 4-light semi-dormers over. At the right-hand end of the front there is a two-storey gabled wing with 6-light ground floor window and 4-light upper window. This wing was altered early C19. Interior may be of interest.
PEVSNER: ‘NW of the Church. Gabled E front with a gabled porch and, to its right, mullioned and transomed windows. C16 to C17.’
Former occupiers: Wlliam Pigott Shuckburgh (19th Century); Walter John Barrow (1935-1953); Edmund J Bishop (1964).
Acorns
Electricity Sub-Station
Parsonage Farm
The modern bungalow effectively replaced Parsonage Farm House (see separate entry). The Granary at Parsonage Farm is a grade II listed building:
Listing description for the granary: Granary. Early C18. Timber-framing with brick nogging to square panels, half-hipped tiled roof, on staddlestones. Central planked door with strap hinges. Interior not accessible.
Gatesgarth
The Gables
Hope Cottage
Meadowcroft
Formerly a grade III listed building. Former listing description: Late C18- Early C19.
Pops Cottage
Formerly a grade III listed building. Former listing description: Late C18- Early C19.
Dovecote Cottage
Formerly known as Anchor Cottage.
Formerly a grade III listed building. Former listing description: Late C18- Early C19.
Former Occupiers: Mrs 'Packet o' Stars' Mussell; Ted Maxted.
Yarnbrook
Yew Tree Cottage
1 Carver Cottages
Carver Cottages were built in 1925, by her children, to fulfil the work of Mrs Lavinia Mary Carver, late of The Moot. They were intended for occupation by ‘financially deserving’ tenants and are administered by the Carver Trust.
Former occupiers: Edward Derrick (1930s-1960s).
2 Carver Cottages
See 1 Carver Cottages.
Former occupiers: Jack Ireland (1930s- 1950s); Mrs Ireland (1960s).
1 Council Houses
Former occupiers: Mrs E Crowe (1960s).
2 Council Houses
Former occupiers: Joseph C Hughes (1960s).
3 Council Houses
Former occupiers: Mrs E Mitchell (1960s).
4 Council Houses
Former occupiers: Cecil Thomas (1960s).
Allotment Gardens
Church of The Good Shepherd and Our Blessed Lady Queen of Angels
The Roman Catholic Church was built on land donated by Earl Nelson and consecrated in 1950. The large Icon in the church came from the now unused chapel at Standlynch (see separate entry under Standlynch Chapel, Standlynch).
Scout Huts
Former Recreation Ground
Harvest Cottage
- Here is the track to Barford Park Farm and Fish Farm (see below) -
Railway Cottage
Park Side
Formerly known as Pump Cottage.
Former occupiers: Mr Coffin (1930s); Bertram Newman (1964).
Barford Park
In about 1690 Charles Duncombe, the MP for Yarmouth, bought the 800 acre Barford Estate. In 1695 he was elected MP for Downton and around the same time had a new country home built on the estate, to the north of the modern day Barford Park Farm complex.
The Duncombe family also owned land in Helmsley in Yorkshire.Their connection with the Downton area lasts until the present day as the Earl of Radnor is descended from one of the Duncombe lines. Robert Shafto, MP for Downton from 1779 to 1790, married into the Yorkshire line and lived at Barford Park. He was the subject of the traditional song ‘Bonnie Bobby Shafto’.
The house was destroyed by fire in 1815, at which time it was the residence of the Stockman family. The trees leading from Barford Park Farm to the lane are all that remain.
On 5 July 1828 a severe thunderstorm began at sunset and raged for three hours. It was later reported that hailstones had killed all the rooks in Barford Park.
One of Downton’s most popular legends
involves Barford Park. At the age of
about six weeks Queen Elizabeth I was
taken by her nurse to stay at the
house. Unfortunately she died shortly
after her arrival and the nurse,
fearing for her own safety, rushed
into the village and stole the first
baby she saw.
In her anxiety to save her head from
the block she grabbed a baby boy by
mistake. When the house was pulled
down after the fire of 1815, the old
cellar yielded a small coffin
containing the bones of a small baby
boy.
So, Queen Elizabeth I was in fact a
Downton Boy and this explains why she
never married, her tremendous power of
leadership and her love of the
village.
Barford Park Farm
The Farmhouse is a grade II listed building, upgraded from grade III.
Listing description: Farmhouse. Late C17, C18 addition and early C19 enlargement to south west. Flemish bond with vitrified headers, tiled hipped roof, brick stacks. L-plan. Original front of 2-storeys, 3 windows has half-glazed door in eared surround with pulvinated frieze, tripartite sash and plate glass sashes to either side, first floor has 3-light sash to right and two C20 windows to left; all sashes with flat arched heads and keystones. Left part has moulded eaves cornice. Right return has glazed door with side-lights and 12-pane sashes to first floor. Rear is now main entrance front, to C18 build, door in C20 porch to right, 12-pane and tripartite sash to ground and first floors. Attached to this front is single-storey kitchen range in English bond brick, with hipped tiled roof and C20 casements. Interior has moulded ceiling cornices and classical-style fireplaces.
The following other buildings at Barford Park Farm are also grade II listed buildings in their own right:
Alley Cottage attached to north side
of Barford Park Farmhouse.
Listing description: Cottage and
stable. CD 1695 incised on keystone
over window on front, converted to
farm cottage early C19. English bond
brick, tiled hipped roof, brick
stacks. Single storey and attic, 3
windows. Planked door in beaded case
to left, cross window to centre with
dated keystone, blocked door to left
and inserted doorway and C19 casement
to right. Three gablets with 2-light
casements to attic. Right return has
inserted planked door, 3-light cast-
iron casements and small casements.
Rear outshut with double gabled roof,
central planked door in chamfered case
and 2-light and 1-light cast-iron
casements. Valley between gables has
tile-hung extension. Interior has
planked doors, C17 newel stairs with
splat balusters and plank and muntin
partition below hand rail, C18 beaded
fireplace and doorcase to north side,
Initials CD are of Sir Charles
Duncombe who bought the Barford Park
Estate in 1690; Barford House was
demolished 1815.
Summerhouse in garden of Barford Park
Farmhouse
Listing description: Summerhouse.
Early C19. Flint with brick bands,
conical thatched roof. Hexagonal. Open
on east side, one small fixed window
to south side.
Granary to north of Barford Park
Farmhouse
Listing decscription: Granary. C18.
Flemish bond brick, on staddlestones,
half-hipped tiled roof. 4 bays.
Planked door with strap hinges and
segmental head on south side, blocked
door on left return with loft window
above, planked door on north side.
Interior has loft to west end only,
with planked partition, lined planked
roof. Roof trusses have interrupted
tie-beam, with vertical posts from
collar to cross rail. Possibly
originally timber-framed and rebuilt
in brick C18.
Despite its listed status, District Councillors granted consent for the demolition of the granary in 2008. However, at the eleventh hour the pressure group Save Britain's Heritage mounted a legal challenge and raised £70,000 to save and preserve the building.
Barn to east of Barford Park
Farmhouse - Upgraded from grade III
Listing description: Barn. Late C17.
English bond brick with some flint,
tiled roof with coped verges. 6 bays,
north and south aisles. Two hipped
porches on south side with C20 double
doors, planked stable door to left.
North side has one hipped and one
blocked gabled porch, planked stable
door to right, opposite one to south.
Gables have rectangular pitching
doors. Interior has flint and brick
wall dividing barn into two equal
halves. Tie-beam roof trusses with
raking struts to principals, straight
windbracing to purlins and to aisle
posts.
Range of barns and stables to north of
Barford Park Farmhouse
Listing description: Range of barns
and stables. Late C17 and C18. English
bond brick, tiled roofs. Single-storey
with lofts. East front has inserted
double hinged garage doors to left,
planked door with segmental head and
keystone to stable, two cross ranges
to right have inserted open fronts.
Stable has planked loft door. Left
return has 2-light casement and loft
door over garage. Rear wall has some
lozenge diaper-work, cross range to
left has hipped roof, range to right
has coped verge with kneelers.
Interior of north cross range has 4-
bay roof with tie-beam and raking
struts to principals, range to south
has 4-bay roof with tie-beam and
raking struts to collar.
Former occupiers: Mr Wookey; Cyrus Carter (1935-1953); Mrs E Hayter (The Laundry, Barford Park) (1935); Major Sir Dudley Forwood Bart. (1964)
Garden Cottages, Barford Park Farm
Fishery Cottage
Formerly known as Salmon Hatchery Cottage.
Former occupiers: Alistair Lees (1964)
Trafalgar Fish Farm
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