Knowlehill, House, Tea Room And Other Buildings, Including Underground Caves

A house, associated walls, and a tea room, now partially derelict, dating back to the 17th century, with later additions from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The building is constructed of red brick and timber framing, with a plain tile roof and brick gable stacks. It is situated against a hillside, with a single-story section to the west and a two-story section to the east, enclosing a courtyard.

The west-facing single-story section has a central 19th-century doorway with a panelled door and bracketed hood, flanked by two-light casement windows. The east elevation displays exposed boxed timber framing in large irregular vertical panels filled with brick. The ground floor has a doorway, two windows, another doorway, and a window, all beneath timber lintels. Four two-light casements are above. The east side of the courtyard contains a range of derelict buildings, with a doorway featuring a wedge brick lintel. The range to the left is largely collapsed, while the right side houses a late 18th-century tea room featuring a south-facing semi-circular projection with an ogee doorway and flanking ogee windows. Further ogee windows are visible on the west elevation, with the lower portions of the walls built from large sandstone blocks and featuring four semi-circular headed windows.

Inside the tea room, features include an ogee door and doorway, remnants of a fluted cornice, and, within the undercroft, a four-centred arched fireplace. To the northeast lie fragments of what appear to be a late 18th-century pleasure garden, including a terrace with a concave curved ashlar wall containing half-domed statue niches. Below the terrace is a passage cut into the rock, leading to two circular chambers lined with small niches.

Knowle Hill was the former home of the Burdett family before they moved to Foremark. In the late 18th century, the site was developed into a pleasure garden with terracing along the steep hillside. The underground caves are similar in style to those at West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire.