Leahurst

Leahurst is a small country house dated 1825, which underwent significant enlargement and refashioning at that time, although it has origins from the 17th century. The building is constructed of coursed squared rubble gritstone with ashlar dressings, featuring coped gables with moulded kneelers and ball finials, as well as intermediate and end ashlar ridge stacks, including one to the north-east of the entrance porch with clustered octagonal pots.

The house has an asymmetrical plan that mimics the local 17th-century vernacular while incorporating free Gothic detailing. It is a two-storey structure with attics, characterized by gabled projecting crosswings and gabled dormers. The windows are generally 2 and 3-light chamfer mullioned types, some with glazing bar sashes, all beneath hoodmoulds or drips.

On the north-west elevation, there is a long two-storey projection at the north-east end, likely the original 17th-century part, featuring a shallow projecting gable stack. To the south-west, a low gable includes a pointed traceried window, followed by a broad two-bay gable. Further south-west is a gabled porch of two and a half storeys, which has 2-light chamfer mullioned windows beneath stopped hoodmoulds, leading to a moulded entrance doorway with half-glazed double doors featuring Gothic glazing at the apex. Above the door, there is a plaque inscribed with "N 1825."

To the south-west of the porch, there are three single light openings with Gothic heads, and above them, a 3-light mullioned window with segmental heads to the lights below a flat head, supported by heavy corbels at the cills. The end of the house features a deep canted bay that is single storey with a balustraded parapet. The garden elevation includes a broad projecting wing with a canted two-storey bay and ashlar crenellations to the parapet. Notably, Leahurst was the home of Florence Nightingale and her family.