Description of Historic Place

This rare stone house is built in the Georgian style with a symmetrical facade, gable roof, and central gabled dormer with eave returns. The front entrance has a fanlight in the transom and a carved name and date lintel stone.

Heritage Value

The house is valued for its rare stone construction and Georgian style and for its association with the Bagnall family.

Construction of this stone house was completed in 1851, but may have begun earlier. It was built for Edwin Cantelo Bagnall (1826-1865), the Commissioner of Highways for Queen's County.

His father, Richard Bagnall (1789-1857), once owned a Georgian style inn in Hazel Grove in 1813 which he called the Halfway House - since it was on the road between Charlottetown and Princetown (Malpeque).

His grandfather, Samuel Bagnall (1745-1810) had been born in Derbyshire, England. He emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before the American Revolution and was imprisoned in Albany, New York for eighteen months because he refused to join the rebel cause. During this time, his property was confiscated in Philadelphia. Eventually released on two thousand pounds bail, he reunited with his family and they made their way to Shelburne, Nova Scotia with the rest of the Loyalist refugees. He would come to PEI and today rests in Charlottetown's Old Protestant Burying Ground.

The house is one of few stone houses in Prince Edward Island. It represents the achievement of the Bagnall family in Hazel Grove as successful farmers and businessmen. The design remains relatively intact. The fenestration remains unaltered with a fanlight above the front door and three-over-four windows on the first storey.

Until 2007, it remained in the Bagnall family. The current owner is restoring the house. The chimneys on either side of the gable roof are being rebuilt and both interior fireplaces are still functioning. The property is a landmark in Hazel Grove and an asset to its rural setting.

Source: Culture and Heritage Division, PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4320-20/R1

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the house is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the one-and-one-half storey stone constuction
- the gable roof
- the central gable roofed dormer with eave returns
- the stone chimneys
- the symmetrical facade
- the central entrance door with fanlight
- the three-over-four windows of the first elevation
- the palladian window in the central dormer
- the wooden extension at the back of the house
- the carved lintel stone on the facade
- the location of the house on a treed lot in a rural setting