Description
George Richmond purchased Porch House for £150 in December 1871. On December 29 he wrote in his diary: The house is extremely beautiful and I hope to rescue it from the hands of improvers and destroyers, it is now tenanted by 5 families who will pay 2/- a week each. The restoration of this house became a matter of deep and sustaining interest to Richmond in the years ahead. It is due to his interest that the house, one of the best known timber-framed domestic buildings in England, retained a good state of preservation; even though, as some have suggested, a fine mosaic floor he installed looks out of place, it is the only element for which he was responsible which is in any way incongruous.
A painting by George Richmond, ‘The Agony in the Garden’ can be seen hanging above an oak settle. The mosaic floor is illustrated in two of the rooms, one of which has a plaster or marble plaque of GR, displayed on a mantelpiece. The plaque: ‘In Memoriam to George Richmond’, was designed by his son William Blake Richmond, and may have been placed in the room as a mark of respect for his fathers efforts in restoring the building.
