The Hermitage

Location

Set well back from the street and reached by path immediately W of The Old Barracks, or from New Street to the N by private drive.

History

Part of an C18 house, comprising The Orchard, The Hermitage and Old Barracks Cottage, and known as The Hermitage. The main house was what is now The Orchard, with service rooms contained in what is now the Hermitage and Old Barracks Cottage. Old Barracks Cottage is the earliest component of the 3 sections that made up the house. The house is shown on the 1829 town plan. It was divided into separate dwellings in the second half of the C20. After it became a single dwelling in the second half of the C20 it was raised at the rear and otherwise modernised.

Exterior

A 2-storey house of pebble-dashed walls, slate roof and roughcast end stacks. The entrance front, constricted by houses to the R (Old Barracks Cottage) and L (The Orchard), has its entrance in a lean-to on the R side, built against the adjoining Old Barracks Cottage. It has a half-glazed panel door, to the R of which is a 2-pane horizontal-sliding sash window and a boarded door. The main range has a replacement 2-light window to the L of the entrance, and in the upper storey an enlarged 3-light window to the L and plain stair window to the R.

The 2½-storey 2-window rear elevation was raised in the second half of the C20. It has an added lean-to conservatory in the lower storey, 12-pane horned sashes in the upper storey, and 2-light roof dormers and central skylight.

Interior

The entrance hall has an open-well stair with plain newel and balusters, but is otherwise altered.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding modern alterations, for its special architectural interest as an integral part of a group of buildings making up a large early C19 house now known as The Orchard, The Hermitage and Old Barracks Cottage, and for its contribution to the historical integrity of Rosemary Lane.