The Spinney

The Spinney is a house built in 1907 by William Johnson Harrison Weller for a Mr Hall-Jones. Later alterations and extensions occurred in the late 20th century. The house is constructed of red brick with decorative half-timbering, beneath a complex, plain-tiled roof punctuated by tall ridge and end parapet wall stacks with plain stone cappings, some of which have been reduced in height.

The building’s layout is complex, although somewhat disrupted by a single-storey, 20th-century restaurant dining room and kitchen extension. The main range runs east-west, with a set-back gabled entrance range on the east end, and a rear range extending northwards and reducing to a single storey. The south elevation, which faces the garden, is asymmetrical but balanced, two stories high and six bays wide. This elevation is dominated by advanced, two-story canted bay windows, designed as turrets. Each facet of the ground floor turrets features a two-light timber mullion and transom window, with a half-timbered panel above, and a two-light first-floor window. The roof slopes down between the turrets to the level of the first-floor cill, covering a full-height mullion and transom window, three lights high, in the centre of the elevation. Balconies with fretted balusters extend from each turret to the central bay, supported by timber posts that also support the eaves. First-floor doorways serve these balconies. The windows are leaded with rectangular and lozenge quarries. The west end bay’s walling rises to a parapet at mid-roof slope level of the adjacent turret roof. Chimney stacks are diagonally set at each corner.

The east elevation is set back from the hipped end of the main range and features angular brick towers with a half-timbered advanced gable. The cill beam of this gable encloses the entrance below, which has a plank and cover strip door. A three-light first-floor window is formed by direct glazing between the studs. A two-bay, half-timbered rear range is interrupted by a projecting diagonal chimney, and continues as a single-story service range with a hipped roof. Late 20th-century extensions at the west end are not considered to be of particular architectural interest.

The interior retains several notable features, including two ground floor inglenook fireplaces with integral fixed settle seating, a first-floor hearth with a decorative surround and overmantle, a first-floor galleried walkway and staircase with fretted balusters. The Spinney is a well-designed Arts and Crafts composition by a local architect; the quality of both the external and internal detailing has, despite later additions and alterations, remained high.