Bethesda

One of the earliest and also one of the largest of the many Victorian villas built as children’s homes in the village created by the philanthropist William Quarrier from 1876. Each detached, stone-built house is different in style, though all share the rather robust fusion of Gothic and quasi-Baronial forms adopted by Quarrier’s architect, Robert A. Bryden (1841-1906). Bethesda served as both home and village post office. Constructed in 1881, the building has hip roofs, bargeboarded eaves dormers, two half-octagonal wings, and an inset square tower capped by a slated pyramid on mock machicolation.