The Brook House

The Brook House is a late 16th-century farmhouse, later altered in the mid-19th century and restored in 1933. It is now a house. The construction is timber-framed with painted brick and rendered infill between lias limestone rubble. It has plain tiled roofs. Originally built as a hall and cross-wing, the hall originally comprised two framed bays aligned north/south, with an external sandstone ashlar chimney at the rear. This chimney features a chamfered plinth and a pair of star-shaped stacks on its south elevation. The hall was later extended in 1933 with two further framed bays, continuing the main roof ridge and a gable-end chimney matching the original. Large gables were added to the front and rear of the original hall, and to the side, to flank the centrally-positioned cross-wing. The house has two storeys and an attic, displaying decorated bargeboards. The timber framing features four panels from sill to wall-plate, with short straight braces in the upper corners and collar and tie-beam trusses, including two collars, close-set studding to the lower collar and two struts above, with a concave V-strut in the apex. The cross-wing's attic storey is jettied to the west, supported by richly carved consoles. The west elevation has wood-mullioned windows with leaded casements. The original hall has two 4-light ground-floor windows, one 3-light first-floor window, and a 4-light and a 5-light ground-floor window, and three 2-light and one 3-light first-floor windows on the addition to the right. The main entrance is located within a timber-framed gabled porch adjoining an outshut to the rear of the north bay. The entrance features a moulded architrave, flanking carved Ionic half-columns, and a 17th-century door. Inside, the original section has stop-chamfered main beams, panelled ground-floor rooms incorporating some 17th-century features, and a staircase with turned balusters. Later additions from the 19th and 20th centuries include an ogee-arched doorway, possibly of late medieval origin. Lead rainwater goods with cable mouldings are dated 1760.