Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Helix Ltd to carry out a programme of historic building recording of St Edmunds House and 20 Ray Mill Road West, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8SB, centred on Ordnance Survey NGR 488832, 181891. St Edmunds House is regarded as a non designated heritage asset. Planning permission has been conditionally granted by Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (ref. 19/02085/FULL) for the erection of 14 no. affordable units across three proposed buildings. Condition 12 specified that 'No works shall commence until the buildings on site have been recorded to Historic England Recording Level 1 Levels of historic building recording are outlined in Understanding Historic Buildings: A guide to good recording practice (Historic England 2016). There are four buildings on site, all of which have been recorded as part of this programme of work. 20 Ray Mill Road West, St Edmunds House (a non-designated heritage asset), and Two garages at the rear of 20 Ray Mill Road West. No. 20 Ray Mill Road West is a single-storey L-plan property situated on the south side of the street, which historic mapping indicates was built in the mid-19th century, sometime between 1843 and 1875. It is located near to the northern entrance to the plot and adjacent to the access drive leading down to St Edmunds House at the southern end, suggesting that it may have originally been constructed as a service building or stable block to that property. However, when recorded it was a domestic bungalow with no obvious evidence of any earlier or former function. The walls are externally rendered brick construction and it has a hipped roof clad in tile. Most of the windows and doors were boarded at the time of the site visit, and due to concerns regarding the stability of the building, the interior of the building was inaccessible. Visible windows included an original timber sash window and timber casement windows with leaded lights. The building fronts west onto the access drive leading to St Edmunds House rather than north towards Ray Mill Road West. A flint and partly rendered wall recorded to the west of the house is either a former garden boundary wall or may be part of a demolished outbuilding visible on the 1876 Ordnance Survey map. At the southern end of the plot, St Edmunds House is a substantial mid- to late 19th century villa constructed sometime between 1843 and 1875 with early and later 20th century extensions. The building is designed in Victorian Gothic Revival style design with Gothic and other more freestyle architectural detailing. It is one- to three-storeys height and irregular in plan, although there is a line of symmetry through the three-storey main range. The house is predominantly built of yellow stock brick, with tile hanging to gables on the east side and the upper floor of the east end of the north range. The main range features multiple pitched roofs clad in tile with decorative ridge pieces, slate roofs over the canted bay windows and tall chimney stacks. Architectural features which add to the buildings mid-19th century Gothic Revival character include canted bay windows with Gothic detailing, a mix of timber sash and casement windows including some with textured and stained glass, shouldered stone surrounds to the main entrances and a pair of lancet windows, and decorative barge boards to the southern gable ends. The interior of St Edmunds House features generous sized and high-ceilinged principal rooms throughout the ground and first floors. Original features observed within include panelled doors, decorative skirtings, cornices, ceiling roses, fireplaces and an ornate moulded plaster ceiling at ground level within the principal rooms, as well as the staircases within the main and secondary stairwells, the latter of which featured a quarry tiled floor. The two garages are located to the rear of 20 Ray Mill Road West.
Thomas Piggott (Sun,) studied this question.