The Vern

The Vern is a house, likely dating from the mid-16th century. It was substantially refronted around 1730 and remodelled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with further alterations around 1920. The house is constructed of handmade brick, likely replacing or facing a timber frame, with a sandstone rubble base and blue brick dressings. It has a plain tiled hipped roof with overhanging eaves and large brick stacks, and the roof was raised in the early 19th century. The plan is in the shape of an ‘H.’

The two-storey house has an attic with dormers. The south elevation has three-course banding between the main storeys of the central range and the right wing, and two-course banding between the main storeys of the left wing. The main south elevation has a 1:3:1 bay arrangement, with blue brick header lozenge patterns above the first-floor windows of the central range. The windows have cambered heads; the first-floor window openings in the central range are 18th century and feature alternate red and blue brick headers. There are two ground-floor 3-light 18th-century casements, three first-floor 2-light casements and a flat-roofed dormer with a moulded cornice and a 3-light casement in the central range. An entrance between bays 2 and 3 has a flat moulded canopy on consoles, fluted pilasters and a 20th-century partly-glazed door. The gable ends of the wings each have a 19th-century 3-light casement on both floors. The main entrance is on the left side elevation and features an ashlar entablature and pilasters, with a 6-panelled door. A flat-roofed addition has been added to the north elevation of the central range.

The interior was remodelled around 1920 and in the late 20th century. The ground floor of the central part retains moulded main ceiling beams. A room on the ground floor of the west wing has an 18th-century fireplace carved with a farmyard scene, including water and wind mills, a shell niche cupboard, and is flanked by Ionic pilasters and carved with hop and flower garlands.