The Oaks

The Oaks is a house, now converted into flats, built around 1830. It features a stucco exterior with a hipped slate roof and stands three storeys tall. The main façade is symmetrical with a three-window arrangement, complemented by a two-storey, two-window extension on the right and a 20th-century single-storey extension at the front of this extension. The main part of the building has curved walls leading to the forecourt, with quoins, a top cornice, and a blocking course.

The windows are all sashed and have architraves; the ground floor windows include friezes, consoled cornices, and four-pane horned sashes. The first floor windows have eared architraves and feature 16-pane sashes, along with a central Venetian window that has small-paned sashes. The second floor has square windows with 12-pane sashes and a central Diocletian window with an archivolt and a six-pane sash. The large central entrance has half-glazed doors with side and overlights, and is sheltered by a modern porch. The extension to the right is similar in style.

There is a cross-axial stack and another stack on the return. The left return mirrors the main façade and includes a large bow window with paired flat pilasters, as well as a similar two-storey bow window at the rear. The right return features a large round-headed stair window with a tripartite sash and etched glass. Inside, the property has a moulded cornice and a stick-baluster staircase leading to the stair hall.

The Oaks was the family home of John Marston, a Justice of the Peace, founder of the Sunbeam Company, and Mayor, who lived there from 1836 to 1918, along with his son Sir Charles Marston, an industrialist and author, who lived from 1867 to 1946.