Gorst Hall

Gorst Hall, now divided into two houses, dates to around 1700, with alterations in the 18th century and later. The building is constructed of lime and sandstone rubble, with the left three bays thinly rendered and the remainder colourwashed. It has a pantiled roof with stone eaves to the central section, rendered and ashlar chimneys, and stone gable copings. The building is two storeys and has eight bays. A six-panel door with an overlight sits under a thin wood lintel in the second bay, while a C20 door with long-and-short stone jambs and a corniced lintel is located in the sixth bay. Corniced canted bay windows are present to the right of the first door, and a wide window extends through bays four and five, featuring renewed plain sashes. Similar sashes are on the first floor of bays four, five, and six, set in plain stone surrounds. Sashes with removed glazing bars are in the first bay, and on the first floor in bays two and three, under thin stone lintels, accompanied by some stone jamb pieces suggesting earlier plain stone surrounds of 17th-century proportions. The walls of the first two bays are vertical, while a battered wall starts to the left of the third window. The two right bays are blank, and the three central bays are set back at the first-floor level.

The roof changes direction to the right of the third window, with the section to the right having a steeper pitch. It features three gable copings with moulded kneelers, varied chimneys (one at each gable on the ridge and a corniced ashlar chimney with a plinth to the right of the sixth bay). A gabled stair wing at the center of No. 12 shows blocked 2-light stone mullioned windows. A two-storey, one-bay C20 addition is attached to the right of the stair wing, and a corniced chimney sits on the stair gable.

Inside No. 12, the principal ground floor room to the right has a dentilled stucco cornice and a thick chimney breast flanked by inserted cupboards copied from those above, which feature keyed moulded round heads on panelled, fluted pilasters. A stone Tudor-arched doorway with a stopped chamfer facing the house leads to the stair wing. The newel stair features a moulded flat handrail, turned balusters (halved on the newels), and a close string. Visible roof trusses are upper crucks with removed collars and lower purlins on blocks; the upper part is ceiled. According to the owner, the original door was located to the right of the present doorway, suggesting an original battle entry plan.

The interior of No. 11 was not inspected.