Eastleach House
Encyclopedia
Eastleach House is Grade II listed country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...

 in Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, designed by the architect Walter Cave and completed in 1900.

History

The property in Eastleach Martin was built by the Bazley family
Bazley Baronets
The Bazley Baronetcy, of Hatherop in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 November 1869 for Thomas Bazley. He was a cotton spinner and also sat as Liberal Member of Parliament for Manchester from 1857 to 1880. He was succeeded by his...

 late in the 19th Century on the site of an earlier 19th-century farmhouse. It was completed in 1900. Gardner Sebastian Bazley son of Sir Thomas Bazley
Sir Thomas Bazley, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Bazley, 1st Baronet was a British industrialist and Liberal politician.He was born at Gilnow, near Bolton, Lancashire. His father, also Thomas, was a cotton manufacturer, mathematician and journalist. Following education at Bolton Grammar School, Bazley was apprenticed to the...

 built the house for his daughter as a wedding present, using stone from two ruined local houses: Blunsden Abbey (which, in particular, supplied the medieval grotesques which decorate the wings of the west elevation) and Paul's Castle.

Designed by Walter Cave, architect, stylistically the house is Cotswold manor house, Jacobean Revival. The exterior is constructed of coursed rubble oolithic limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 with ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 and a stone slate roof.

The interior is decorated, in the arts and craft style, with simple panelling and boldly projecting, simplified mouldings. The fireplaces, though classically derived, have attenuated column mantelshelf supports rather similar to Charles Voysey
Charles Voysey (architect)
Charles Francis Annesley Voysey was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts and Crafts style, but he is renowned as the architect of a number of notable country houses...

's designs; the central hall fireplace has a carved datestone: 'GSB 1900'. The involved shape of the oak staircase in the central hall forms a half-landing above the main entrance lobby.

The stable and coach house were built for the previous house on this site.

The house is not open to the public.

Gardens

The creation of the current gardens began in 1982 when the house was acquired by Stephanie and David Richards. The gardens cover 14 acres (56,656 m²), and include a walled garden, a garden with a stone rill running through it, the south-facing lawn, and a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) park. Designed to follow the natural contours of the land, the gardens present the different and contrasting aspects--from the smooth lawns to the avenue, parkland and arboretum--of a traditional English country garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...

. The gardens are currently open upon only upon request.
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