The Moat House

The Moat House is a house dating back to the mid-15th century, with significant alterations in the 16th and 19th centuries. It stands on a moated site and is considered the best-preserved mediaeval house of its kind in the area. The house comprises a late 15th-century gatehouse with a 16th-century timber-framed hall and solar section, alongside a timber-framed rectangle and a 19th-century addition. The roof is plain tiled, with one span covering the gatehouse and another covering the rest of the building.

The gatehouse front is built of ashlar, with a stone plinth, and ashlar continues around half of the gable ends, the remainder being brick. Shaped stone string courses run across the stonework, with the first floor cut back. The remains of four large buttresses, which once edged the moat, are visible. The original front door is a gateway with a three-centred arch. To the left is a renewed crosslet, and to the right a single-light window. Above, a renewed rectangular tablet features three quatrefoils enclosing three plain shields, above which are a three-light mullion window with renewed pointed arches and a two-light mullion window with cusped arches. A further window to the right is likely original, with a projecting stone drainage bowl inside. The first-floor string course is interrupted by later rebuilding. The left gable of the gatehouse contains a narrow slit opening below and a two-light mullion cusped-headed window above, with two further 19th-century windows. The right gable also features a single-light window below and other 19th-century windows.

The timber-framed section has close studding, angle braces, and plastered infill, with a stone plinth set 1 meter behind the gatehouse. A large central stone chimney has a 19th-century brick ridge stack. On the front, visible to the left of the gatehouse, are a seven-light and a four-light wooden mullion window. The left gable end features a small four-light wooden mullion on the first floor and a brick gable with a three-light casement. The rear wall is a combination of timber framing, stone of the central chimney, and 19th-century ashlar. Various windows are present, including a five-light mullion. There is also a 19th-century brick stack in the valley between the gatehouse and the addition.

Inside, exposed stone and timber-framed walls are visible, along with a series of carved stone panels, likely from an earlier house, above the fireplace of the ground floor room. A stone arched fireplace is in the dining room. The house replaced the original mediaeval manor house of the Appleby family, who held the manor as far back as the reign of Henry II. George Appleby sold the manor in 1560, and the timber-framed house may have been built shortly after by the new owner.