Bourne Eau House

Bourne Eau House

The most charming private residence in the town must be Bourne Eau House, standing beside the river on the site of the old Abbey infirmary and overlooking Church Walk, a picture of peace and serenity from another age. The front of the house is in South Street but it is the rear prospect that attracts and visitors can often be seen capturing the view with their cameras and it must surely be one of the most frequently photographed properties in the district, also being Grade II listed. 

It is a complex building, or a series of joined structures in contrasting styles from different periods between the 16th and 20th centuries. The property began as a single storey timber-framed house built circa 1580 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and in 1630 it was enlarged and a second storey added with the original cross wall serving as a convenient support for the massive flooring beam spanning the dining room which remains intact today, the wood used being reclaimed from salvaged ships' timbers. In 1680 and later, during the reigns of James II and William III, further accommodation was added and these rooms are used today as a playroom and master bedroom suite and a recessed wall cupboard in one of the bedrooms is fitted with the original butterfly hinges dating back to 1660 while a carved oak fire surround identical to that in the Jacobean music room can be found in Monkstone House, West Street, one of the oldest buildings in Bourne.

In 1784, the house was again extended to include the present hallway, drawing room and an additional bedroom above and this extension was heightened circa 1800 to form the present hallway and staircase with a Decimus Gothic fanlight on the landing and unusual dual chimney stacks. The house was again extended at this time to add what is now the library/study and a bedroom above. A few years later, in 1832, the unusual rear porch was added, comprising a shaped copper-hooded roof and treillage or lattice work.

There is a large stable and store block at the north end of the house built in 1784 and later contained old beer brewing vats, with grain lofts over. A large listed warehouse is joined to the house and this was once used for corn and seed distribution by the Wherry family and although now in separate ownership, both house and warehouse have been closely connected in past years and a careful look will reveal the architectural styles that link their relationship.

John Mawby (1758-1818) was a wool merchant who lived at the house in the early 19th century, followed by his children and grandchildren, until 1894. The family were all regular worshippers at the Abbey Church nearby, building the elegant Regency bridge over the Bourne Eau, one of the few in England ever to be cast from a solid block of iron and connecting the grounds of the house with the church, to make their journeys shorter on Sundays. The bridge bears a shield giving the date of construction as 1832 and the family initial "M".

In 1894, the house was bought by William Wherry, a county alderman and grain merchant, who remained there with his family until he died in 1915. During this period, the stables housed the horses he used to bring grain and produce from barges arriving at the wharves in Eastgate to his dried pea factory nearby in what is now Church Walk. After his death, three of his sisters, all widows, lived there for a time but after they died, the property was left to Daisy, a maid, much to the chagrin of the family, but she was unable to maintain the property which soon fell into disrepair.

View from the south

The house from Church Walk

The warehouse and outbuildings at Bourne Eau House were once the home and headquarters of Alderman William Wherry while the bridge (below) was built by the Mawby family who were earlier tenants.

The cast iron bridge

During this period, the house was called The Cedars because of a large and stately cedar tree growing in the garden but it was blown down in a gale on 3rd January 1976. Daisy eventually sold the house to a Mr Smith, a sergeant serving with the United States Air Force who made rocking horses but he sold it three years later when the name was changed to Bourne Eau House. The new owner was another American, Mr J Douglas White, of Lincoln County, Mississippi, and latterly from California, who had worked as secretary to the American multi-millionaire film maker and recluse, Howard Hughes. He was then employed as an electronics designer with the Space Technology Laboratories in London and moved to Bourne to retire with his brother-in-law, Mr James Burrill, completing the purchase of the house in 1977. Both were also writers and featured their new home and a history of the town in an article for the local newspaper circulating in Lincoln County, USA. Two mature swamp cypress trees standing either side of the path from the river to the back door of the house were planted by Douglas and James as a reminder of their homeland.

The house had been neglected in previous years and extensive modernisation work was carried out before they moved in during 1979 but the new owners retained its period charm and the result is a pleasing mix without ostentation and retaining the red brick Georgian appearance that enhances so many of the historic buildings in the town.

The property is now in the form of a cross with the original hall in the centre. The accommodation is extensive and may even be described as rambling as every step and turn reveals another surprise and more interest for the curious. The American ownership ended in the 1990s when the house was again sold by Douglas and James to Dr Bishop and his wife and they turned it into an upmarket bed and breakfast establishment while Dr Bishop also wrote a number of books during the time he lived there. When he moved to South Wales in 1999, the property was sold to Martin Preen and his family and when they decided to move to Stamford in 2008, the house was offered for sale for an asking price of just under £1 million although this was later reduced to offers in excess of £875,000.

The house itself is not reputed to be haunted although there is a local legend that a woman has been seen walking from the nearby churchyard into the garden.

A WALK ROUND DESCRIPTION
Reproduced from The Local newspaper Friday 9th May 2008

The garden and rear aspect

WALKING around Bourne Eau House is like taking a step back in time. While the decor is simple and stylish to suit modern tastes, the property is jam packed with original historical and architectural features dating back well over 400 years.
The Grade II listed house, sitting next to Bourne Eau river in the shadow of the 12th century Augustinian Bourne Abbey, has been the home of the Preen family for nine years. But the stunning seven bedroom property is on the market because owners Martin, aged 43, his wife Caroline, 40, and their three children, Harry, 11, Eloise, 9, and Charlie, 8, are moving to a Georgian property in Stamford.
Martin says: "This has been very much a family home and we have thoroughly enjoyed living here. We love period properties and there is no denying this house is full of character. The new owners will not only be purchasing an extensive and much-loved home but a slice of local history."
When the family bought Bourne Eau House it was being run by an elderly couple as an upmarket bed and breakfast. Martin said: "The interior was a little tired, stuck in a 1970s time warp, but the majority of work we had to undertake was cosmetic improvements such as plastering, painting and new flooring."
Everywhere you look there is something to fascinate or surprise. The house is understood to have been built on the 12th century foundations of an Augustinian Abbey hospice, then converted into almshouses, and dates back to the 1500s, with 17th, 18th and 19th century additions. On the ground floor there is a drawing room, music room, kitchen, breakfast room, library/study, playroom and cloakroom. Upstairs there is a master bedroom suite with en suite bathroom and dressing room, two en suite bedrooms, four further bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large open plan office/study. Rooms at the back of the house enjoy fabulous views of Bourne Abbey and those at the front overlook the Memorial Gardens in South Street.
The dining room is in the oldest part of the house, having been built in the 1500s, and it is stuffed with original features. There is an inglenook fireplace, two warming ovens with cast iron doors, a beamed ceiling, cheese cupboard, York flagstone floor, leaded mullion windows and hand carved wooden sconces. The central hallway was added in the 17th century and has an original York flagstone floor. The master bedroom suite is also 17th century, having been added in the 1680s, and it boasts an exposed original brick wall, scroll and foliate cornice frieze on the side walls and an oak fire surround with carved motifs, originally part of an altar from Bourne Abbey.
One of the other bedrooms has a Carolingian stone fireplace from the 1640s and exposed oak beams with yet another having a cast iron Georgian fireplace and tiled hearth, ceiling cornice and picture rail. The music room is within the Jacobean part of the house and boasts a magnificent carved oak fire surround with heraldic central panel and lunette carving. It was carved by Jack Rayner, of Bourne, out of wood salvaged from 16th century cottages that burned down in 1605. The room also has a restored hardwood herringbone parquet floor and an original oak beamed ceiling.
The main entrance hall and drawing room were added in the 1700s. Both rooms feature original Georgian architecture and artefacts, including an
impressive marble effect chequered tiled floor, framed wall mirrors, acanthus leaf patterned coving and banister in the hallway and marble fire surround, restored pine floorboards and plaster leaf design coving in the drawing room.
The library/study, added in about 1800, boasts an original oak Gothic style fireplace with an inset cast iron fireplace featuring hand painted Dutch tiles.
The property stands in about three quarters of an acre of formal gardens with a rare Grade 11 listed wrought iron Regency bridge spanning the Bourne Eau, which borders the east side of the house. There is even an original brewhouse and three-bay stable block.
Just when you think you have exhausted all the delights this historic property has to offer, Bourne Eau House has another surprise up its sleeve.
Martin said: "Jack the swan has lived here for as long as we have and we like to think of him as the guardian of the house. He has a damaged wing, which means he cannot fly and he is alone after his partner died a few years ago. Jack sleeps under a tree in the garden next to the river and we feed him during the winter. We hope that the next owner of the house will do the same."

Breakfast room

Sitting room

The kitchen

The cast iron bridge

See also Jack Rayner

 

BOURNE EAU HOUSE
IN PAST TIMES

This picture was taken in 1950 by painter and decorator Graham Luesby. He was working on the roof of Wherry's warehouse in South Street, now demolished, and found himself looking down on to the front facade of the building, a photo opportunity too good to be missed. There have been drastic alterations to the appearance of the property since, the front courtyard being replaced by landscaped gardens, but its exclusive location only a few yards from the church is clearly defined.

Photographed in 1950

Photographed circa 1950

A view from the church tower taken by Trevor Brodrick, circa 1950, showing the old pea factory on the right and other outbuildings, now all demolished.

See also     The Mawby family     William Wherry

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