Mill Vale House - The Bash/Melbourne Street
Mill Vale House - The Bash/Melbourne Street


Mill Vale House (Listed Grade II) was built in the 1770s (probably 1778) by Thomas Jarvis. He lived there until he moved to Luccombe House sometime after 1809. It was altered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

There are two parallel ranges. The walls are of Flemish bond brick and the roofs are of Welsh slate, with gable ends and brick stacks. The central four-panelled door is set in a stone architrave with a flat stone hood on brackets. The lower sash windows have 12 panes with 'horns' on either side.

The first floor has three 12-pane sashes. The eaves and the cornice are of moulded stone with a brick blocking course, said to be 20th century. There is a ceramic ridge cresting to the roofs. The right return has earlier brickwork to the footings, and there are some blocked segmental-headed window openings.
The rear is built partly in rubble stone and has a segmental-headed planked door with a 20th century portico. There is a 16-pane sash window to the left and a 20th century casement window to the right. The first floor has two 12-pane and one 16-pane sash windows.

The interior has stairs in the central hall with stick balusters and a moulded handrail, and doors each with six fielded panels in reeded or fluted architraves.
When Thomas Jarvis died in 1839 the house passed to a relative called John Coombs (a clothier in Trowbridge) who died in 1840. The adjacent mill business, established by Jarvis, was sold to William England (a business owner at Wellhead in Westbury) which then went bankrupt. In 1859 the house was sold to R&J Reeves. Mr Higgins, a diplomat and/or business owner, lived in the house with his family (including a son and two daughters) from about the mid-1950’s. They used the house as their holiday home. The present owners bought Mill Vale House from the estate of the Higgins family in 2005.

Historic England listing



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