Ludlows

Ludlows is an early 15th-century house with alterations spanning several centuries. In the 17th century, a stack and floor were inserted into the open hall, and a bay was added to the solar wing. The house underwent extensive remodelling in the late 19th century when a double-fronted block was added to the front, almost completely incorporating the original structure. The medieval part of the house was restored in 1984.

The late 19th-century addition is of white brick with a low-pitched, hipped slate roof. It is two storeys high and double-fronted, with a three-window range and ground-floor bay windows. The medieval part of the house is timber-framed, rendered, and cased in brick, with steeply pitched slate roofs and a ridge stack. The original layout comprised a hall and solar crosswing, with a possible bay or crosswing at the low end of the hall, which has since been demolished. The hall is now two storeys high, featuring 19th or 20th-century windows. The solar crosswing is now largely incorporated into the late 19th-century block, with replacement windows dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. A fine original doorway, featuring a hollow-moulded four-centred arch in a square head, is located in the angle between the hall and solar.

Inside, the hall retains two bays, largely intact except for the removal of two or three pairs of rafters when the stack was inserted, and the mutilation of some timbers. The stack was inserted into the cross-passage, and part of the four-centred head of one opposing doorway survives. The framing uses substantial scantling with close centres, except for the gable end wall, which shows timber of poorer quality, suggesting a 17th-century date. The display truss features fine hollow moulding to the four-centred arch bracing of the cambered tie beam. The roof is of crown post construction with four-way bracing, the crown post being square with stop-chamfered corners and an unmoulded head. The roof is generally sooted. An original six-light window with diamond mullions is in the rear wall, and a late 16th-century window with ovolo mullions in the front wall likely replaced an earlier window. A rebuilt staircase in a stairturret leads from the dais or high end of the hall to the great chamber and bed chamber above the parlour in the solar crosswing. The great chamber has a crown post roof, without moulding, with four-way bracing and wide, curved arch braces to the cambered tie beam. A parlour ceiling displays ogee mouldings to the main beams, converging at the square of the timber to form a stop, creating a cornice. The flat-laid joists are of substantial scantling. In the 17th century, the solar was extended by a further bay to the rear, also timber-framed. A first-floor room, possibly a further bed chamber, has diamond mullions to a gable-end window.