The Tan House

The Tan House is a tannery, now a house, with a core dating back to the 16th century, significantly altered and restored around 1910 by the sculptor Derwent Wood. It is constructed primarily of painted timber frame with painted infill panels, alongside coursed rubble stone. The windows are largely of leaded glass with a latticed pattern. The roof is covered in plain tiles, with a thatched projecting porch. Notable features include a projecting stone gable-end stack with a brick upper shaft, and a central brick stack. The building has an irregular plan based on a three-bay core and a cross wing.

The east front features a central projecting gable truss showcasing square framing with herringbone pattern bracing and close-studding. A projecting three-light casement window is positioned to the right, above a moulded bressumer and entrance door sheltered by a decorative thatched porch. A tall rectangular framing extends to the right. The gabled left return side mirrors the front’s framing. A recessed stone range on the left features two three-light casement windows on both storeys, and a large, prominently jettied early 20th-century dormer with decorative mullioned windows on three sides.

The rear elevation presents a pair of projecting framed gable trusses, each exhibiting restored close-studding and early 20th-century decorative leaded windows. The right return sides of the gables have similar framing. A recessed range of square-framed first-floor construction features an inset later oriel window above a stone ground floor with two casements, and a further early 20th-century overhanging projecting framed first-floor extension is located to the far right.

The south gable end displays a stone gable-end with a central stack and a projecting tiled gabled bay window to the left, alongside a three-light casement. The interior includes reset 17th-century panelling, a staircase, and a 16th-century carved stone fireplace, with a fireback dated 1571. There are also chamfered joists with ogee chamfer stops, moulded chamfered bridging beams, and cross bridging beams; vestiges of a cruck frame are also present. The house is associated with the writer Ian Maclaren, who stayed there while writing his books, and with Beatrice Harraden, and is referenced in "In Varying Moods."