Yew Tree House

Yew Tree House

House, late 16th to early 17th century. Built of narrow red brick in English bond with a steeply pitched roof now covered in concrete interlocking tiles. End parapets sit on kneelers with brickwork rising to a corbel or gable end finial at the east end. A side stack with adjacent staircase projects slightly from the north wall, with end stacks also present. The building is arranged as a single range plan of three rooms across two storeys and an attic.

The front wall retains three first-floor three-light iron frame casements, probably late 17th or 18th-century enlargements, and one original small window in a hollow moulded stone surround. All three ground-floor windows are mid to late 20th-century three-light casement enlargements. The doorway, however, retains part of the limestone quoins of the original opening. The east gable end features iron ties in the form of the initials RM. Below this, an attic window has a cyma moulded limestone architrave to its casement. At first-floor level, the stone mullions of a five-light window have been restored, though the chamfered architrave is original. The rear wall contains two small window openings, now blocked, which originally served the staircase. At the west end, a straight joint in the brickwork suggests a rebuild, and here a 19th-century bead and quirk moulded door provides access to the first-floor loft, probably a later insertion. This gable end displays tumbled brickwork, unlike the east gable, indicating a later build phase. The end stack is flush with the gable end, though no corresponding break appears in the front wall brickwork.

The interior features deep stop-chamfered main beams in the east ground-floor room. A rebuilt inglenook hearth occupies the centre room, with an adjacent original stone staircase leading to the first-floor chamber. Disturbance at first-floor level suggests the staircase originally continued with a further flight to the attic. The first-floor chamber at the east end retains parts of wall painting, originally extending throughout the room, depicting a horse, deer and dog, probably forming part of a hunting scene. The remaining colours are black with ochre on plaster. An aumbry with a tiled floor occupies one corner. This room features a deep chamfer to the wall plate forming a cornice. The partition walls are timber-framed and generally remain intact. The ground-floor wall between the east and centre rooms is most complete, with substantial framing. An original doorway, now blocked, opens in this wall. The partition wall on the ground floor from the west room to the hall was also framed but has been substantially obscured or removed; however, an original doorway with frame and ogee arch survives in situ, leading from the cross-passage to the west room. This room contains an inglenook hearth, though possible disturbance or rebuild of the adjacent gable brickwork may suggest a later date for this feature. The ceiling features a later main beam.