Building record 0168301000 - DORTON HOUSE (ASHFOLD SCHOOL)

Plan Form - U shaped.
Erected on very ancient foundation early C17. Staircase has date 1626. Modernised & improved c.1784 (B1).
2 storeys with basement & attic. Forms 3 sides of courtyard. Recently restored to original condition (B3).
Grade I. Mansion, now school. Early C17, dated 1626 on staircase soffit, altered 1784. Built for Sir John Dormer. Red brick, moulded ashlar plinth, ashlar quoins and first floor band course, brick parapet with moulded stone string below and stone coping. Tiled roofs, brick chimneys with rows of octagonal shafts. U-plan with central range of 5 bays, gabled side wings of 4 bays and square projections in inner angles. Another short wing to rear. 2 storeys, basement and attic, the central range a little taller than remainder. On the E. front C17 moulded stone windows have had mullions and transoms removed so as to accommodate late C18 sashes. Central range now has tripartite sashes in altered openings, those to first floor in wooden Venetian window frames with minimal Doric pilasters. Central upper window has single arched sash in matching wooden frame with heraldic stone tablet in parapet above. Front gables of side wings have similar Venetian windows to first floor and oval windows in moulded stone frames to attic. Paired sashes to central bays of side wings, one in right wing altered to half-glazed door. Moulded stone mullion windows to basement, 4-light in central range, 2-light to sides. Central range also has C20 hipped dormers. Central C20 door in restored stone arch with late C18 pedimented Doric porch. N. front has 5 widebays, the outer slightly advanced with canted bay windows, the centre bay with square projection. Original fenestration with moulded stone mullions and transoms, the ground floor windows double transomed, each window in the form of a paired cross casement. Irregularly gabled W. front with rectangular oriel window to left, C20 central porch and small C20 extension in angle with rear wing to right. Long S. front, also irregular, has central porch with C17 stone arches, 2 semi-circular, one 4-centred with carved spandrels. Interior: C17 panelling in central screens passage. Hall has very fine early C17 panelled screen with Ionic pilasters, carved frieze and elaborate strapwork crests. Hall also has C17 panelling to lower walls, and moulded stone fireplace with 4-centred arch and plaster cartouche overmantel. Passage to rear of central wing and door to N.W. room have semi-circular stone arches with scrolled keyblocks and ornamental coffering to soffits. Fine staircase in N. wing has turned balusters, moulded handrail, stop-chamfered newels with moulded finials and pendants, and entrance screen with 2 arches on Ionic columns. Elaborate C17 plaster ceiling. Similar ceilings in ground floor room in N. wing and first floor rooms in central range. One of the latter, probably the withdrawing room also has C17 panelling and good wooden fireplace with panelled overmantel and strapwork crests. Former long gallery in N. wing has plain vaulted plaster ceiling. C17 back staircase with moulded square balusters and modillion handrail; another C17 winder stair with splat balusters in S. wing. RCHM I p. 132-5 Mon.2.2 (B7).
Plan of house (copied from a portrait of Sir John Dormer at Rousham, Oxfordshire) in Henry Dryden collection (B8).
Included in English Heritage's Buildings ar Risk Register. Described as priority 4 ©: 'Slow decay; no solution agreed' (B11-14).