Higham Dykes

Higham Dykes is a house dating from the late 17th century, with extensions added in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is constructed of brick in English Garden Wall Bond, with a graduated Lakeland slate roof. The main block is a double-span structure, and a lower wing projects to the rear, forming an L-shaped plan.

The front elevation is divided into two sections. The main block is two storeys high plus attics, with five bays. A set of four moulded steps leads to a two-leaf half-glazed door within a late 18th-century wooden surround, featuring attached Tuscan columns, a dentil cornice, and a pediment. Narrow windows are set within thin roll-moulded wooden surrounds with projecting sills and wedge lintels. The ground floor has renewed two-pane sashes, while the upper floor has twelve-pane sashes. A first-floor string course runs around the building. The steeply-pitched roof has Flemish gables and five segment-headed dormers with twelve-pane casements, with end stacks.

The east wing, recessed on the right return, connects to the rear span and is built of a different and later brick. It has three windows. The ground floor contains smaller, irregular windows added later. A stone first-floor sill band and twelve-pane sashes, in surrounds similar to the main block (possibly incorporating re-used windows from the rear of the house), are present. The gabled roof has an early 19th-century Flemish gable on the right, and three dormers are visible.

The rear facade is irregular, with a centrally located original stair projection featuring a tall round-headed window, band and Flemish gable. The rear span was built in several stages around this central feature. It has twelve-pane sashes to the right and sixteen-pane sashes to the left. An early 20th-century brick porch with a shaped gable is also present. A lower service wing to the left is of several builds and has three 19th-century Flemish gables.

The interior features a late 19th-century imitation 17th-century staircase. An Art Nouveau fireplace contains seven painted gesso figures representing the arts and abstract virtues. Several two-panelled doors are present, including a particularly impressive former external door within the kitchen. Stout ceiling beams are found in the kitchen.