Great Ruffins Wickham Bishops, Great Ruffins Wickham Bishops  Essex  CM8 3EA

A stunning Grade II* listed Italianate house designed by Mackmurdo

6/7 bedrooms  Drawing room  Dining room  Library

Sitting room  Kitchen/breakfast room  Billiard room

4 bathrooms (3 en suite)  Cellar  2 bedroom flat

Three storey tower  Garaging  Beautiful gardens and grounds  Woodland  About 9 acres

Witham 3 miles (Liverpool Street from 43 minutes), 4 miles, Kelvedon 4.5 miles (Liverpool Street from 48 minutes), Hatfield Peverel 5 miles (Liverpool Street from 43 minutes), A12 (junction 22) 3.7 miles, Chelmsford 12 miles (Liverpool Street from 34 minutes), Felsted 16 miles, Stansted Airport 24.5 miles, M25 (junction 28) 26 miles, M11 (junction 8) 27 miles. Situation Great Ruffins is located in a secluded position at the end of a long drive on Beacon Hill, which is on the south side of the village of Wickham Bishops. This village and the adjoining village of Little Braxted, have a good range of amenities, with a number of local shops and public houses including The Green Man. A more extensive choice can be found in the nearby town of Maldon and also in , which is on the main railway line into London Liverpool Street (from 43 minutes) and where there is access to the A12. Particulars prepared for the sale of the house in the 1920’s stated “occupying what is generally admitted to be the finest position in the county of Essex and possibly in the eastern counties”. Description Great Ruffins was designed and built by the architect Arthur Mackmurdo for his own occupation. Mackmurdo (1851-1942) was born in London and decided to become an architect. While at Oxford he attended drawing classes by John Ruskin, became a keen advocate of his ideas and visited Italy with him drawing classical and renaissance buildings. Mackmurdo was also active in setting up the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), through which he met William Morris and influenced the Arts and Crafts movement. Samples of Mackmurdo’s work can be seen in the William Morris Gallery in London. Mrs Eliza Mackmurdo was a member of the d’Oyly Carte family and when Great Ruffins was being designed and built one of the objects was to provide a weekend retreat for members of the Opera Company.

The house is listed as being of architectural or historical interest Grade II* and part of the listing states “circa 1904, brick built and rough rendered roofs...Slate roofs, hipped to left and right crosswings. Symmetrical. 2 storeys. The tall square central tower is balustraded and surmounted by an octagonal domed lantern. Small unglazed lanterns to right and left hipped roofs...” Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’s ‘The Buildings of - Essex’ states: “It is surprisingly Italianate, considering that remarkable architect’s earlier style”.

The house is not typically Edwardian and has a number of unusual features not least the tower and matching cupolas. The main part of the house is symmetrical, arranged around the tower with matching bays and windows to either side. The building is well orientated with the principal reception rooms facing south overlooking the gardens, which were designed at the same time as the house. Accommodation The internal accommodation, which is arranged over a number of split- levels, is light and airy and flows well. The ground floor rooms include a reception hall with original panelling, dentilled cornice and dog-leg stair leading to the first floor and a kitchen/breakfast room, which has been reconfigured by the current owners to take advantage of the views down the drive and make the most of the access onto the rear terrace with its wisteria clad pergola. The kitchen has been redesigned, re-fitted with hand-painted Shaker style units, granite work surfaces, a range cooker and integral appliances and provides access down into the large cellars currently used as a utility room and wine cellar. A separate self- contained ground floor two bedroom flat on the east side of the house (with a separate entrance) may also be accessed from the back kitchen.

The principal reception rooms on the upper ground floor level include a large dining room with a curved bay window looking down over the grounds and extending the width of the room, a fireplace housing a woodburner and original display cabinets. The breathtaking drawing room has three sets of south-facing French windows opening out onto steps leading down to the principal terrace, an ornate plaster work ceiling picked-out in gold and, at either end of the room, curved recesses, one of which contains a fireplace and wood burner. A large playroom with a curved bay window mirroring that in the dining room and two bedrooms (one with an en suite bathroom) are also located on this floor.

The large first floor landing has a library at one end and a billiard room at the other, both with original panelling, polished wooden floors, open fireplaces and remarkable vaulted ceilings. A spiral cast iron staircase from the same landing leads up to the three-storey tower, the top of which provides the most spectacular views of the grounds and surrounding area. The other two floors contain studies. The principal bedrooms, including the master bedroom suite with en suite bathroom and adjacent dressing room, a guest bedroom, adjacent bathroom, separate WC and bedroom six (which could also be used as a dressing room) are all on the upper first floor. Outside A pair of substantial ornamental wrought iron gates supported on pillars stand at the end of the long gravel driveway, which passes between an avenue of limes with lawns and shrubs including stunning rhododendrons on one side, and sweeps up to the front door.

A branch of the drive leads through a five-bar gate to the east of the house to a parking area adjacent to the flat and garage, to the side of which is a brick machinery store (6.55m x 3.05m). Further to the south is the former kitchen garden, now laid to lawn, enclosed by a high red brick wall with an open brick outbuilding (5.65m x 4.05m).

The principal gardens are to the south and are adjoined by a raised terrace, flanked on either side by lower lawn terraces edged by shrubs and roses. Steps on the south side lead down between shrubs and flower beds to a gravelled path which divides around a circular pond and continues away from the house and between the lawns to the south, dividing again around a circular rose bed. The side borders are planted with shrubs, including more rhododendrons, and at the outer edge is a sunken garden also edged by shrubs and with a gap in the yew hedge leading to steps down to a secluded lawn area. Another set of semi-circular steps leads down to the former croquet lawn, which is largely enclosed by yew hedges leading to a lawned amphitheatre and beyond this small paths meander through the woodland with large specimen trees including beech, cooper beech, cedar, oak and birch, many of which were planted at the same time as the house was built. Services Mains water, drainage and electricity. Oil-fired central heating. Directions (from the A12) From the B1389 Hatfield Road, turn right at the roundabout onto Maltings Lane. After approximately 3/4 of a mile turn right at the roundabout onto the B1018 Maldon Road and at the traffic lights turn left onto Blue Mills Lane towards Wickham Bishops. Continue for another 1.5 miles onto Witham Road before turning left at Snows Corner onto Tiptree Road. After 1/3 of a mile continue past the war memorial and then after a few hundred yards the entrance to the drive will be found on the right hand side between bollards in the verge, the gate posts behind. Postcode CM8 3EA Viewing Strictly by prior appointment with the sole agents Savills.

Floorplans 22 N3 7

Ridgewood Abbotswood BEACON HILL Main House gross internal area = 7,793 sq ft / 724 sq m Tall Trees Pingles

Garage gross internal area = 473 sq ft / 44 sq m Elm Lodge Flat/ Annexe gross internal area = 781 sq ft / 73 sq m Hawthorns Ruffins Total gross internal area = 9,047 sq ft / 841 sq m 23 Lodge

Concorde For identification purpose only. Not to scale. N Chateaulaine

Bedroom 8 2.92 x 2.92 Queens Play Room 9'7" x 9'7" Little Ruffins 8.03 x 5.91 Crawley Dining Room 26'4" x 19'5" 8.40 x 5.94 27'7" x 19'6" F/P Drawing Room Great 10.32 x 6.13 F/P 33'10" x 20'1" Ruffins

Garage 8.37 x 5.79 hatch 27'6" x 19'0" Path (um) Bedroom 3 Hagbeach 7.12 x 3.56 23'4" x 11'8" Copper Beeches

Reception Hall 10.97 x 4.26 Bedroom 2 Sitting Room Back Kitchen Kitchen/ 36'0" x 14'0" Wine Store Breakfast Room 5.87 x 5.05 3.19 x 3.00 6.28 x 3.02 4.08 x 2.80 5.83 x 2.69 10'6" x 9'10" 20'7" x 9'11" 6.18 x 5.82 19'2" x 8'10" 19'3" x 16'7" 13'5" x 9'2" F/P 20'3" x 19'1" Laundry Room Sky

Utility Room Bedroom 1 Kitchen 3.697ha 5.83 x 2.92 5.83 x 3.16 5.68 x 3.02 3.63 x 3.02 Ground Floor 19'2" x 9'7" 18'8" x 9'11" Boiler 19'2" x 10'4" 11'11" x 9'11" 9.14ac

Cellar Flat/ Annexe

Lower Ground Floor Bedroom 2 8.44 x 4.07 Master Bedroom 27'8" x 13'4" 7.72 x 4.88 25'4" x 16'0"

Bedroom 7/ Sky Dressing Room 3.43 x 2.85 Sky Woodlands 11'3" x 9'4"

F/P F/P

Bedroom 6 F/P 3.46 x 2.79 F/P 11'4" x 9'2" Observatory 2.68 x 2.68 8'10" x 8'10" First Floor Sky Sky Study 1 Study 2 3.73 x 3.38 3.70 x 3.30 Seat 12'2" x 10'10" Lodge Cottage 12'3" x 11'1" Bedroom 5 Billiard Room Library 4.45 x 2.94 6.54 x 6.54 6.55 x 6.53 14'7" x 9'8" 21'5" x 21'5" 21'6" x 21'5"

Fourth Floor Second Floor Third Floor Bedroom 4 5.65 x 2.95 Caper Cottage 18'6" x 9'8"

NOTE - Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map with the permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY - NOT TO SCALE © Crown copyright licence number 100024244 Savills (UK) Limited The position & size of doors, windows, appliances and other features are approximate only. NOTE - Published for the purposes of identification only and although believed to be correct its accuracy is not guaranteed. Denotes restricted head height MCL: 19584/GT RUFFINS_BROC Date: 04/06/2014 The Cartographic & Design Team, Wessex House, Wimborne, Dorset. BH21 1PB © ehouse. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited. Drawing ref. dig/8204029/CPP NOT TO SCALE Tel: (01202) 856800

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