The Old House

The Old House is a house that was formerly a lodge, dating from the late 16th century, with additions from the 18th century, late 19th century, and around 1928. It is constructed of red brick, which is painted, and features timber-framing with plaster render. The building has steeply pitched tiled roofs, including a half hipped roof at the west gable end, and two side stacks on the north wall. Originally, it was a single range parallel to the road, forming the north crosswing of an H-plan manor house from around 1600.

The house has two storeys and an attic, with part of a band remaining between the storeys. The elevation facing the road features 19th-century hung sash windows that are placed irregularly, and one gable end has a two-storey canted bay. Access is provided by a 19th-century porch. The east gable end displays an oriel window and has the dates 1764 and 1858 inscribed in a panel above. Adjacent to the house is an early 18th-century wall with two piers made of narrow red and yellow brick, topped with a stone cornice and ball finials.

Inside, some original timber-framing is visible in the east end at first floor level. The central room on the ground floor has intersecting main beams that are stop-chamfered, and another room contains an early 18th-century niche with a rusticated surround, a moulded cornice, and part of an overmantel. The raised and fielded panelling from this room has been repurposed to form a partition wall in a bedroom. Another bedroom features early 17th-century panelling below dado height.

Historically, the house was the north wing of Old Shelford House, which has been home to the Wale family since around 1700. In about 1880, a new house was constructed to the south, which burned down in 1928, after which this building became the lodge. A model of the original house is housed in the Cambridge and County Folk Museum in Castle Hill, Cambridge. Notably, the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay attended school here from 1813 to 1815 and mentioned an attic room, possibly located in the west gable end, in his correspondence.