Moat House

Moat House is an estate villa with an attached outbuilding, dating to approximately 1840, and featuring minor 20th-century alterations. It was likely designed for one of the land agents working for the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, for his Haigh Estate. The villa is constructed of red brick with painted dressings, and has prominent ridge and mid-slope stacks with stone cappings. It has both hipped and gabled roof sections covered with Welsh slate.

The building follows an irregular cruciform plan, with the main entrance front aligned east-west and a single-story outbuilding attached to the north end. The south (front) elevation has two storeys and four bays, with a centrally positioned entrance enclosed by an openwork cast-iron porch with a flat roof. The entrance door is a three-panel design, with a glazed upper panel and a fanlight of radiating glazing bars. To the right is an 8-over-8 pane sash window with a flat, gauged brick arch above. Above this window are two 3-over-6 pane sash windows. To the left of the porch is an advanced gable featuring a full-height canted bay window beneath overhanging eaves formed as an open pediment. Further to the left is a set-back end bay containing a 12-pane ground floor sash window and a 9-pane opening above. The angled corners of the right-hand end wall feature sash windows to each storey, and a low, pitched-roof porch with a pointed arched window in the gable.

The west (side) elevation presents a wide gable to the left. A ground floor canted bay window is located to the right, and a tall tripartite sash window is to the left, with the sill extending to ground level. Further left are two sash windows with glazing bars—one with 16 panes and the other with 12—with matching plain sash windows above lacking any glazing bars.

The north (end) elevation is a wide, plain gable with a tripartite glazing bar sash window. A small, 20th-century lean-to is attached, adjacent to a wall connecting the house to the single-story service outbuilding to the north. This outbuilding has a hipped slated roof and a later inserted garage door.

The interior retains its original layout, with an entrance hall leading to a curved staircase featuring decorative cast-iron balusters. Six-panelled doors are found throughout, along with moulded architraves and skirtings. Principal reception rooms contain contemporary hearth surrounds and ornamental plasterwork. A large room facing the rear garden has a decorative frieze.

Moat House is a well-preserved early 19th-century villa with significant original interior features. It formed part of the Haigh Estate, owned by the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, and sits on the island of a former moated site, now designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument.