Riddings House

Riddings House is an early 19th century house and coach house, significantly altered in the late 19th century and converted into an old people's home around 1970. It is constructed of coursed squared sandstone, ashlar, and red brick with stone dressings. The main house has hipped roofs covered with Welsh slate, while the former coach house has plain tile roofing.

The original house comprises three bays by three bays and was extended to the west by a single bay. A large billiard room and tower were added to the north-west corner, with the coach house beyond to the west. The front of the main house features a plinth, raised quoins, and a plain first-floor band. The central entrance has a 20th-century panelled door with a plain overlight, flanked by two 12-pane sashes on the ground floor and three more above. All windows have raised wedge lintels incised with voussoirs and keystones. The south, or garden, front has an added bay with glazed doors, three full-height 2-pane sashes, and four 12-pane sashes above, all with similar lintels. A raised eaves band is present on the three right-hand bays. Corniced brick ridge stacks are prominent.

The rear elevation has three 2-pane sashes to the ground floor and three 12-pane sashes above, also with wedge lintels. A two-bay addition to the right of the rear elevation mirrors the design. Beyond is the billiard room, featuring a deep rusticated stone basement, and a single-storey section above with raised quoins and a bracketed cornice over the hipped roof. A large glazed lantern tops the billiard room. Paired 2-pane sashes are set within quoined surrounds with keyed segmental heads and rusticated central mullions. A red brick tower stands to the right, blank on the ground and first floors, topped by a hipped slate roof with a glazed lantern and a square clock tower with clock faces on all sides, culminating in a small leaded spire. A modern glazed screen links the tower to the coach house, which is red brick with a hipped roof and brick ridge stacks, and features glazing bar sashes with plain stone lintels.

Inside the original house, you'll find a grand late 19th-century staircase with an elaborate iron balustrade, carved oak newel posts, marquetry treads, and a central lantern. The hall and landing feature painted and moulded cornices. The billiard room is richly decorated with pitch pine panelling, a painted cornice, a coved timber ceiling, a marble fireplace with an overmantel mirror, and carved window surrounds. The property was built and extended by the local ironmaster, Oakes, who also developed the village of Riddings.