St Joseph'S Cottage The Old House

This is a house, originally built in 1679, with an early 19th-century wing added later (as documented by Wood-Jones). It has now been divided into two separate dwellings, known as St Joseph's Cottage and The Old House.

The house is constructed of regular coursed ironstone, with alternating wide and narrow courses, with the left return side of the wing built of brick and featuring a brick dentil cornice. It has old tile roofs, coped gable parapets, and a 19th-century ashlar end stack on the right side. The other end has 20th-century brick stacks. The house follows a three-unit plan, with a later through-passage, and has been extended to form an L-shape with a wing added to the front on the left. The wing and the left bay form The Old House.

The main range is two storeys and an attic, with a two-window façade. The wing is two storeys and is windowless on its front. The doorway has moulded jambs, a shallow 4-centred arch with sunk moulded spandrels, a large lintel, an elaborate hood mould with lozenge stops, and an original ribbed and studded oak door. A moulded datestone above the doorway bears the initials I.A.D. The main range features a three-light mullioned window with a hood mould on both the left and right sides, as well as to the rear. A ground floor window on the right is a four-light window with a lowered sill. The right return side of the wing has a one-window range with three-light casements and painted wood lintels. The left return side has a door and casements set within segmental brick arches, with a sash window on the first floor.

At the rear, there is a four-window range, originally three, with mid-20th-century mullioned windows inserted between the first and second bays. A central doorway has a 19th-century ribbed door and overlight, with a painted wood lintel beneath a hood mould. A 19th-century lean-to with a slate roof adjoins the left bay. Four late 19th-century gabled roof dormers feature two-light casements with glazing bars.

Inside, there are stop-chamfered ceiling beams. A staircase with flat-shaped balusters is present, believed to be from an earlier 17th century and imported. A principal bedroom contains a fine angle fireplace with a moulded arch and cornice, similar to the entrance. According to Wood-Jones, the doorway represents the last dated example of a four-centred arch in the Banbury region. The building was formerly used as a convent.