Sea court was designed in 1884 by Charles T
Miles, the same architect who designed
Westbourne Library and several other listed
buildings.
The site was originally part of 'Eightholds',
one of several long, narrow plots of land
over looking the coast. These holdings were
based on a pattern of land ownership dating
from early medieval times. The ancient
boundary of this land can still be traced
in the present day line of Taunton Road.
The narrow carriageway, the lack of
pavement and the stone wall on the west
side of Taunton Road, are remnants of a
past rural character.
In 1875, the Eightholds land was bought by
Sir John Charles Robinson, Art Advisor to
the Victoria & Albert Museum and Queen
Victoria's Surveyor of Pictures from 1882-
1901. In the late 1870's, Robinson began to
develop the northern part of 'Eightholds',
and the new roads (Cluny, St Vast's,
Stafford, Exeter) were named after the
original monastic and ecclesiastical owners
of the land. Several large seaside villas
were built but one of the most prominent
buildings built was 'Sea Court' formally
known as Penlu.
The existing buildings dates from the last
quarter of the 19th century, and represents
a period which saw rapid urbanisation
prompted by the arrival of the Southern
Railway in 1885.
One of the first tenants was G. W. Joy who
came to Swanage with his family in 1896 and
went on to spend his winters in Swanage
painting the pictures for the following
years’ exhibitions at the Royal Academy and
in Paris. Many famous paintings were
painted here using the Old Brewery Barn,
the Rectory Tithe Barn and a garden studio.
With the coming of the railway and the
development of Swanage as a Victorian
seaside holiday resort the need for
accommodation meant that Sea Court became a
‘High Class Boarding Residence’. This was
run by Miss Wiley through the 1920’s and
1930’s.
During the War years it was occupied by the
RAF and in 1946 until 1952 it was used by
Swanage Urban District Council to house
local families.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s it was the private
residence of Air Commodore Gareth Barrett.
To date the building has been recently
refurbished and converted to a very high
standard into three separate flats
independently residing at each level and a
further two basement flats occupying the
ground floor. These works were completed
towards the end of 2008.
Sea Court remains a wonderful example of an
attractive, three storey Victorian villa,
of late-19th century origin.
The house has a strong late-Victorian
flavour, with red brick walls and chimneys,
The design involves Purbeck stone quoins,
steeply pitched gabled roofs with deeply
overhanging eaves. Sea Court still
possesses considerable character and charm,
being substantially unaltered from the
original design. Many of the original
attractive period features, including some
of the fireplaces characteristics, the sash
windows, the grand hall's stain glass
window, an oriel window, ancient thick
walls and most unusual a cupola as been
conserved. Furthermore Sea court is
surrounded by beautiful communal gardens
and boasting some of the best panoramic sea
views of Swanage.
