Cosby House

Cosby House is a farmhouse, now residential, built around 1608 with 19th-century additions and 19th and 20th-century alterations. It is constructed of brick with stone dressings and slate roofs.

The building comprises two storeys plus garrets arranged in an L-plan with four unequal bays. The plinth is chamfered stone and rubble with stone quoins and coped gables. The east front features moulded dentillated eaves. There are two external lateral brick stacks with renewed diagonally set double stalks, plus two 19th-century gable stacks, the northern one external.

The east front has an off-centre round-headed mid-20th-century doorway with a recessed 6-panel 19th-century door with fanlight, and a large 20th-century casement to its left, both beneath the remains of a flat hood mould. A blocked window with chamfered surround lies further left. To the right is a 19th-century triple sash window and a basket-arched blocked doorway. Above these is a slightly off-centre glazing bar sash flanked on either side by triple sash windows, the left one in an altered 17th-century opening. To the left, a gabled wing contains a double 20th-century French window with flanking lights and wooden lintel, with a triple sash above and a 2-light sliding sash in a chamfered opening above again. A single-storey 19th-century lean-to outbuilding on the right has 20th-century 2-light casement.

The south side has a 20th-century 2-light casement in a 17th-century opening to the right. To the left, beyond an external stack, are two single-storey 19th-century outbuildings separated by a boundary wall, with 20th-century fenestration. Above are a 2-light mullioned casement to the left and a 20th-century 2-light casement in a 17th-century opening to the right.

The rear elevation has an external stack to the left flanked by a blocked basket-arched doorway, above which is a 2-light mullioned casement. To the right is a gabled stair enclosure with an altered 2-light stair window with flat hood mould on the first floor and a small fixed light to its left. Above is a 2-light mullioned casement. A slightly projecting wing to the right features a 5-light 20th-century casement and above it a 4-light 19th-century casement in an altered 17th-century opening, with a 2-light mullioned casement above again. Beyond, a single-storey 19th-century outbuilding has a 6-panel 19th-century door and a 3-light sliding sash in the return angle. To the left, a 19th-century lean-to outbuilding has a 20th-century 6-panel door to the right and two 19th-century 2-light casements to the left.

The north gable has a 20th-century full-height 2-light casement to the right and an altered 2-light 18th-century casement above it, with two 20th-century 2-light casements above again. An exposed queen post truss with V struts is visible.

The interior contains framed and stud partition walls with chamfered span beams. The principal rafter roof features wind braces, struts and double notched purlins. A lower flight of mid-18th-century dogleg stair has Chinese Chippendale balusters and moulded handrail; the upper flight is a mid-20th-century replica. The foot of an earlier winder stair survives to the south east.

The former central hall and former hall chamber contain Tudor-arched ashlar fireplaces with chamfered openings to the west; the lower one includes an oven. The southern first-floor room has a similar fireplace with lambs' tongue stops. The southern ground-floor sitting room contains an 18th-century Classical wooden fireplace from Hazelbech Hall. The north-eastern first-floor room has a re-sited panelled oak dado with reeded frieze inscribed 'R M (Richard Miles) 1608'. Other rooms contain three 6-panel 17th-century framed doors.