A second walk along the walls (2023)

In the first of these walks, we went as far as Matford Lane along Wonford Road.  In the slightly warmer months of spring, we’ll go eastwards along Wonford Road to Barrack Road.  As I pointed out in the first article, until the 20^th century, traffic flowed from Matford Lane into the east end of Wonford Road.  After Lyndhurst Road, the walls on the left illustrate three different approaches to using Heavitree Breccia (the sandy stone); the walls were the boundaries of three 19^th century properties.  First a very well made wall of regular blocks from the local quarries --- regular meaning rectangular, even if not all the same size.  Past the gate, to the second property wall, and there are several very small “filler” blocks.  But the sad aspect of this wall is that the mortar has been repaired with a very hard concrete, which has led to damaged stones; water has been trapped behind the tough material, eroding the sandy material.  (On the opposite side of the road is the coach house of Lahill; the house was lost in the Second World War, and there are a few fragments of the stones of its boundary walls.)  The third part of the wall on the left of Wonford Road used lower quality stones and this material has been shaped by rainwater and the splashes from traffic in rainstorms.  The result is an irregular surface. 

Water splashes have created holes in the wall ---sometimes used for birds' nests

It is worth walking a short way along the two side roads here.  To the left, Victoria Park Road runs between two 19^th century properties; on the left is Magdalen Court School, built around “Fairhill”.  Parts of its walls survive, most notably at the north end of the property, where there are stones from a rougher wall.  Turn round here, and look past the cricket pavilion to see the raised glass canopy of the structure In the grounds of Larkby --- a Victorian racquets court, a grade II listed building.  Once back at the junction, take a look down Matford Avenue.  On the left, there is an Edwardian brick wall, which provides a uniform front to the properties.  Opposite, the two blocks of 1930s semi-detached houses have a stone wall; it has been built with much smaller stones than those on the main road and show a range of types of stone, mainly Breccia and Pocombe stone, but with occasional pieces of trap and granite…probably what the builder had in his stock.  The smaller stones in these walls could be laid by one person; that’s not possible with the larger blocks in the older walls.

Larkby’s wall facing Wonford Road uses good quality Breccia, but even this may be eroded as can be seen at the corner by the postbox (installed in the reign of Edward 7^th, reflecting the business from the increased number of local houses) and in patches further along.  Mardon House is built on the site of Matford Lodge, the lodge building for the eastern half of today’s Larkby Centre and its wall continues the Breccia --- but this section shows less attention to maintenance.  Further along, on the right is Old Matford with a 400-year old cob wall topped with tiles and protected against the weather with porous rendering.  The opposite side of road sees a sudden transition of material and quality.   

Irregular filling on the left

 Why?  Have a look at the kerbstones of the pavement; they are dropped, because this was a field entrance until after the Second World War, leading into the allotments which existed before the development of the Nuffield Hospital.  The walls look as if they have been formed from a heap of odd blocks --- put together with care, but not for aesthetics!  A little further, a second dropped kerb marks another former gateway, but the filling here is significantly better.   

Neat filling on the left

The stone wall comes to an end at the small stream just before the hospital entrance.  From the end of the Larkby wall to here, the original walls are well-built, but use a wider range of quarried stones than those used for the fine houses earlier.  Appearance was not so important for small-holders.

Entrance to Gras Lawn

Beyond the stream the old walls have been lost to development, but on the opposite side of the road are the limestone walls and lodge of Gras Lawn, the former home of members of the Veitch family.  It was a modest home, and the modesty extended to the small gateposts.  Barrack Road’s walls are a mixture from several eras and have been much altered over the 20^th century.

Next issue we’ll explore some different walls.

David Smith  (http://lookatstls.blogspot.com/)

Keywords: St Leonards, Exeter, history, geography, beauty

 

Have you ever looked at porches in St Leonard’s?

Have you ever looked at porches in St Leonard’s?

A year or so ago, one of the local free magazines featured our neighbourhood as a good place to live, and included the description: “St Leonard’s is the Notting Hill of Exeter”, referring to the film that starred Hugh Grant in 1999. I commented on this amusing description to one of my friends, and she retorted, “Nonsense! Notting Hill is the St Leonard’s of north London!” Let’s put our national capital in its place.

Several of the scenes in the film centre around the front door and porch of William Thacker’s (Hugh Grant) flat. This issue, let’s have a look at the porches of our neighbourhood. And there is a huge variety. A porch is a structure whose purpose is to shelter and cover the front door. It is a small extension of our living space, a place where we move between the outdoor world and the security behind our front door. In that simple description, there has been scope for the imagination of architects and house owners.

Looking round St Leonard’s, it is quite difficult to categorise porches. Of course, not all houses have a porch. For a lot of houses the front door is in a shallow recess, offering a small amount of protection from the weather – provided the wind is in the right direction. Then there are some very simple porches, which offer a roof over the front step. Again, these are numerous in the streets of St Leonard’s. But look a little closer at the variety of roofs. It may be a flat projection, supported by brackets on each side. Or it may be pitched like a gable, draining to each side. Or it may be sloping, to left, right, or away from the house. The roof may match the house roof, indicating that it was planned to be an original part of the house. Thus many local houses have tiled porches, but others have clear glass panels above the front doorstep. In St Leonard’s Road, there are porches which resemble tents.

Look at the way such porches are supported; is there a beam across a wider space than the front door space? Or is the porch as wide as the door and little more than that? If the latter, is the roof on brackets, or is it supported on pillars? So what shape is the pillar, and what shape is the beam? Some porches are in a corner, needing one pillar, others have two.

Several older houses have flights of steps leading into the porch, or through the porch to the front door (pre-dating concerns of access for disabled people). Sometimes this creates a plinth for the porch, designed to impress the visitor. I have mentioned the mosaics at the entrance to The Lodge in Spicer Road in an earlier article. Other houses have rooms above a projecting porch, in the way that is often associated with Devon farmhouses. You’ll find examples of these in several roads, in houses of the twentieth century and earlier.

Instead of having the porch outside the house, there are many houses whose porch is integral with the building, in a recess. Many of these have been modified with panels to create an enclosed porch, just as many projecting porches have been enclosed. The result changes the architecture of the building, while providing a new room at minimal cost. It is interesting to wander down some local streets to see houses which were built at the same time, and whose porches may have been modified. Has it always been for the better?

Last of all, there are the porch rooms which were designed as part of the house, found in several Victorian houses in Denmark Road, and the older houses of Friars Walk and Magdalen Road. Once again, they offer a space for discarding outer garments, storing umbrellas and walking sticks, overwintering house plants and have a hundred and one other uses.

My favourite local porch has to be that of The Lodge in Spicer Road, but those at Woodhayes in St Leonard’s Road and The Maynard School in Spicer Road run it a close second. There’s a set of fine ones in Wonford Road below Woodhayes, and another in Victoria Park Road. Have a look for yourself and see which you find the most interesting!

Thinking about porches, there was a time when house names were written above the front door, on the lintel or on a pane of glass. Many houses in Denmark Road still have their names like this.

And while you are looking at porches, keep a look-out for the houses which still have coach houses. The wealthy Victorians who moved to St Leonard’s needed coach houses for their horses and carriages and some of these buildings remain, in Denmark Road, Lyndhurst Road, Victoria Park Road and elsewhere. Does anyone know which is the most recent house in the neighbourhood to have been built with a coach house? I wonder how many coach houses there are in Notting Hill?
(September-October 2011)

The porch of The Lodge in Spicer Road

The porch of The Maynard School, seen from Spicer Road

William Thacker's flat, the ‘blue door’ – now the black door: in  Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill,