This photograph was taken for the
sale brochure in 1915 when the Froyle House Estate was sold,
but Sylvesters (also spelt Silvesters) is much older than
that. It took its existing form in 1674, according to a date
let into its back elevation. This date presumably refers to the
time when the wing was added at right angles to a timberframed
early Tudor house, then, or subsequently, hung with weather-tiling
on its north and west sides and at the back faced in stone. This
use of stone - from a quarry beside the main road - and the whole
character of the house, belong rather to the country across the
Wey, with its geological affinities to Sussex, than to Froyle
and North Hampshire : implying that the latter’s tradition of
brick building was not yet established. The 1674 wing has moulded
brick window jambs and lintels, with stone mullions on the south
and original wooden casements on the north. A Sylvester appears
in the registers in 1670, and others of the name up till 1760
; in 1800 Sylvester's was one of Sir Thomas Miller’s farms. |
