This
picturesque building named Farleigh
House is situated in Farleigh Hungerford
Nr Bath. The buildings owner Robin Totterman
of ‘Inspects’ (makers of designer
glasses and sunglasses) had suffered for years
with water ingress, repairing splits and cracks
all the year round. They called in Kevin Hodge,
owner and Director of County Flat Roofing Ltd
for help and advice on a cure for their flat
roof problems. After listening to what the customer
wanted to achieve Kevin came up with a Single
Ply waterproofing system (Alwitra/ Evalon) on
top of a 100mm rigid insulation boards, attached
to the original Asphalt roofs to give a ‘warm
roof’ single ply waterproof system.
The Evalon Single ply waterproofing system also
has the benefit of an manufacturers guarantee
and has been assessed to last ‘in excess’
of 30 years (Backed by the British Board of
Agrement).
The History of Farleigh House
Houlton family
The house has sometimes been called Farleigh
New Castle. Indeed, it was largely built with
stone taken from the ruins of the mediaeval
Castle itself. A Trowbridge clothier, Joseph
Houlton, bought the Farleigh estate in 1702.
His son, Joseph Houlton, Junior, lived at the
Home Farm, an old gabled house, which he completely
rebuilt and turned into Farleigh House, a modest
gentleman's residence complete with a 120-acre
deer park. In 1806, Colonel John Houlton inherited
the estate. He enlarged and altered the house
in the fashionable Gothic Revival style spending
£40,000 - several million in today‘s
values - on extensions to the main house, a
chapel, hot houses, conservatories, stables
and six lodges. Most of the present house dates
from that period. One of the lodges was called
the Castle Lodge and is now the Bath Lodge Hotel.
The Houlton family remained at Farleigh Hungerford
until 1899, when Sir Edward Houlton died with
no male heir.
Later owners
The estate was sold in 1906 to Lord Cairns and
later passed through several hands. In the 1950s
and 1960s, Farleigh House and its estate were
owned by the Hely-Hutchinson family, a cadet
branch of the Hely-Hutchinsons, Earls of Donoughmore.
Ravenscroft School
In 1970, the main house and a number of cottages
were sold to Mr John F. R. Gillam, the headmaster
and owner of Ravenscroft School, which had previously
been based in nearby Beckington Castle. In about
1980, John Gillam also bought much of the Farleigh
Hungerford estate. In 1998, Ravenscroft School
closed and the house became Farleigh College,
a new special school, but that subsequently
moved to new premises near Mells. John Gillam
and his family continued to own the house until
it was sold to an optical company called Inspecs
to serve as the firm's headquarters.
