The Hurst

The Hurst is a house built around 1813 for the Morris family, although it appears to have been modified around 1835 and may incorporate parts of an earlier structure. It features coursed and squared limestone with a rendered front and a slate roof topped with stone ridge stacks. The building has two storeys and an attic over cellars, with three windows that are sashes set in chamfered surrounds beneath flat arches. The first floor has four-pane sashes, while the ground floor has long 15-pane sashes. A string course runs above the first floor and is raised over the windows.

The house has two gables with coped verges and panelled finials, and a central link parapet capped by a coarse fleur-de-lys. Tall diagonal buttresses with two set-offs and cross-gabled finials flank the central porch, which features a wide Tudor arch and diagonal buttresses, along with a parapet string and a crest depicting a spread eagle, the Morris family crest. The steps have been replaced and are flanked by cross-gabled piers leading to two leaf half-glazed doors with marginal glazing.

The garden front includes a square bay with four transomed lights, a cornice, and a parapet that steps up at the corners. Inside, there is a top-lit stair hall with oak stairs featuring stick balusters and a mahogany rail, along with a columular newel. The interior also has fielded panelled shutters with early Victorian mouldings and parallel architraves on doors with flat corners. Notably, the porch and buttresses seem to have been added later, as indicated by straight joints. Overall, The Hurst is a charming minor gentleman's residence.