Clive House And Adjacent Dwelling

Clive House and the adjacent dwelling is a house, now functioning as a museum, that dates back to the 16th century, with a facade added in 1752. The building is timber-framed, encased and extended in brick, topped with plain tiled roofs. The main elevation faces south and features two storeys with a six-window range. It has 12-pane flush-framed sash windows with cambered heads. The central doorway is adorned with a pedimented architrave, rusticated pilasters, and modillions in the pediment. There is a dentilled eaves cornice and coped gables, along with six gabled dormers in the roof. The house has axial and gable end stacks, and the side elevation displays parallel gables, a six-panelled door with a traceried fanlight set in an architrave with rusticated pilasters and a flat entablature. The rear wing serves as a separate dwelling, also two storeys with a three-window range, featuring three- and 12-pane sashes, a six-panelled door to the left, and inserted lower windows, with the original flat-arched head still visible above the central window.

Inside, the range facing the garden largely dates from 1752 and includes panelling, plaster cornices, and fireplaces from that period, as well as a staircase with two turned balusters for each moulded tread. The rear range contains significant remains of the earlier building, including a timber-framed partition wall with exposed panelling in the end wall of the current drawing room, believed to be part of a 15th-century hall. Timber-framing is also visible upstairs. Historically, the earlier building was part of the College of St Chad, and in the 18th century, the house belonged to the Clive family, serving as the home of Robert, Lord Clive, in 1762.