The Old House, including low brick wall topped with iron railings to the front garden

The Old House, including low brick wall topped with iron railings to the front garden

This is a 18th-century house, formerly associated with a maltings, with later alterations. It is built of red brick laid in Flemish garden wall bond, with tiled roofs and brick chimneystacks.

The Old House and its adjacent Grade II listed neighbour, Grain Ridge, form a linear east-west range set back from the north side of Sandy Lane. The Old House stands to the west as a three-bay, two-storey building with an attic over the main range, featuring historic extensions to the rear. A further extension was added in 2019 but is not included in the listing.

The front elevation is roughly symmetrical, slightly wider on the western side. A central front door, with a shallow timber awning and glazed light, is of plank timber dating probably to the 19th century. To the right is a small window. Each bay on each storey contains a window set in a cambered opening with rough brick arch. Ground-floor windows have six lights with timber mullions and a transom; first-floor windows have three lights with mullions, with a narrower two-light central window. The glass is leaded and was replaced, probably in the second half of the 20th century. A dentil cornice runs to the eaves, and the pitched roof has gable stacks, partially rebuilt.

The rear elevation shows the original arrangement of the house clearly, interrupted by a large 21st-century extension on the ground floor (not included in the listing). At attic level, the original rear wall of the main range is visible, with the dentil cornice to the eaves interrupted where a pitched dormer was inserted in the 1980s. Two two-storey ranges with pitched roofs project from the rear elevation: the eastern range has two pairs of casements with a dentil cornice suggesting it is contemporary with the main range, while the western range features a multi-light bow window in the gable. Between these projecting ranges, an outshut roof above the ground floor remains visible. The attic level of the east gable has a small window opening, though the ground and first floors are obscured by extensions.

Interior Layout

The house originally appears to have been a two-cell plan with a central stair rising from cellar to attic, a through-passage, and a projecting rear wing to the north-east. An additional north-west rear range had been added by 1838.

The western principal room on the ground floor contains a deep axial ceiling beam with chamfers and lamb's tongue stops. At the west end, a transverse beam positioned just out from the chimneybreast takes its weight, with the chamfer stop further away, possibly indicating a reduction in depth of an earlier inglenook fireplace. Squared joists support the floor above. A doorway has been inserted in the north wall. The eastern ground-floor room has a ceiled floor frame with the axial joist boxed in. The brick fireplace, behind a later chimneypiece, shows evidence of modification, and the window frames retain catches for shutters. The central hallway is quarry tiled, with a staircase featuring stout square newels with turned balusters and a wide moulded handrail.

To the rear of the hallway, the opening in the original rear wall is splayed outwards with an over-light in a timber frame. A small lobby area and second opening with a dressed stone arched lintel lead to small rooms within the two perpendicular rear ranges. The eastern room, formerly the kitchen, has a match-boarded ceiling and narrow chamfered joists characteristic of the late 19th century, with a blocked brick arch and later arched opening in the rear wall. The western room has exposed transverse joists.

The cellar, accessed by brick steps beneath the main stair, occupies the space beneath the eastern half of the house and central hallway. It contains a ground-level opening in the front wall, a blocked arch in the rear wall, and a well with an iron cover in the south-east corner.

The first floor mirrors the ground floor layout with two principal rooms in the main range and a further room in each rear range. The western principal room has a small brick fireplace with moulded stone lintel and later chimneypiece, with a pair of small cupboards above and a chamfered axial ceiling beam. The eastern room has a matching chimneypiece to the one below, with a small brick opening containing an iron grate, a built-in cupboard and drawers, and a chamfered ceiling beam. The turned balusters around the first-floor landing stairwell differ from those above and below, appearing to be of earlier date.

The eastern rear room shows exposed fabric and timbers of early date. Missing plaster exposes wide boards acting as a substrate, while wall plates and purlins are very roughly hewn with vacant mortises suggesting timber reuse. Two pairs of casement windows in the gable appear to be insertions, one featuring a peculiar arrangement with one casement angled outwards and a narrow light linking the two. The western rear room has more finely hewn purlins, suggesting a more recent date. The multi-light bow window in the gable is likely a 20th-century replacement.

The attic is reached by stairs with square newels and an inserted balustrade matching the ground-floor stair. The landing provides access to a bathroom within the rear dormer through an inserted doorway. Two rooms, one on either side, are accessed by doorways with pegged frames and have wide board floors. The eastern room contains a small cast iron chimneypiece. Deep purlins of the roof structure are exposed; those in the eastern room are more roughly hewn and bear signs of reuse. The roof structure comprises pegged coupled rafters with carpenter's marks.

The house retains a good collection of historic doors in historic architraves: four- and six-panel, and ledge and plank, with strap and L-hinges. While some appear in their original locations denoting room hierarchy, others have been inserted.

The front garden is enclosed by a low brick wall topped with iron railings.

The 21st-century extensions to the north and west of the Old House are not included in the listing.