Pensax Court

Pensax Court is a house with origins in the 18th century, largely rebuilt in the 1840s, extended in 1882, and restored in the late 20th century. It is constructed of brick, partly stuccoed, with plain tiled roofs, decorative ironwork to the ridge, and massive stacks, some with chamfered corners. The building has a square plan with a projecting east wing and a central clock tower.

The south front has three bays, articulated by gables. Each has a ground-floor canted bay with a cornice (added in the late 19th century) and a large first-floor window with a cambered head and hood mould. A central first-floor window has five lights, and the outer bays have four. There is a 3-light casement in the attic of the left gable, a circular traceried window in the attic of the right gable, and two large chimneys in the valleys.

The north entrance elevation features a twin-gabled projection originally attached to a kitchen wing, which has since been demolished. A 4-panelled door and a 3-light first-floor casement are set beneath the left gable, with pointed attic lights featuring Y-tracery. The fenestration to the left of the gabled projection is irregular, with three ground-floor cross-casements, a 3-light first-floor casement, a large stairlight with a 4-centred head and Y-tracery, and two gabled dormers with pointed lights and Y-tracery. A gabled balustered timber porch leads to a studded door. The octagonal clock tower has clockfaces on its north and south elevations, a domical roof, and a ball finial.

Inside, the house has an open-well staircase with a cast iron balustrade. One ground-floor room on the south front features an ornate ceiling cornice and a marble fireplace with foliated panels and corbels.

The east wing, added in 1882, is partly brick and partly timber-framed with rendered infill on an ashlar base, with a plain tiled roof. The wing is single-storey with half-dormers and a basement. The timber framing consists of lower rectangular panels and upper concave-lozenge panels, with a jettied east gable end featuring a decorative herringbone truss above. The date "1882" is inscribed on the tie-beam. The north elevation has a large gabled half-dormer with a 4-light mullion and transom window. Steps with a simple cast iron balustrade lead down to a basement door. Some 18th-century brickwork in the north entrance elevation represents the only visible evidence of an earlier structure which must have been incorporated into the 19th-century building. The house was undergoing restoration at the time of the survey in April 1985.