Feering House

Feering House is part of a mansion dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, with later additions. It is timber-framed, plastered, and roofed with handmade red plain tiles. The property has a complex plan forming a rectangle facing south-east, comprising seven distinct blocks.

The left side of the property contains a 14th-century 2-bay 2-storey crosswing with a 17th or 18th-century stack in its left wall, and a 19th or 20th-century extension to its rear. To the right stands an early 16th-century 2-storey main range of one short and one long bay, with a stack positioned on its front axis. Behind this is a 16th-century 2-bay 2-storey crosswing with a stack to the left. To the right of the main range is a 3-bay hall aligned with the street, now reduced to one storey with attics, featuring a stack near the middle behind the ridge. Behind this hall is another 16th-century 2-bay 2-storey crosswing with a contemporary external stack to the right of the rear bay, and a 20th-century 2-storey flat-roofed extension to its right. A late 16th-century stair tower stands in front of this stack and extension.

Originally, this property was combined with adjacent buildings (Sun Cottage and The Sun Inn) to form a mansion known as Strangers.

The fenestration is scattered across the building and includes one early 19th-century sash window with 16 lights on each floor, and one 19th-century casement in a gabled dormer. A 20th-century door with a 2-centred head is present. On the right return, the first floor contains one 18th-century 2-light window with diamond-leaded crown glass in the fixed light and an altered casement, plus two octagonal shafts on the right stack.

The earliest block (the left crosswing) features an underbuilt jetty at the front, mortices for a former line of studding forming a through-passage at the right side, plain joists of horizontal section jointed to the binding beam with central tenons, a blocked stair trap against the rear wall, and curved tension braces trenched to the outside of the studs. Its roof is a crownpost construction with wide axial bracing. On the first floor is an 18th-century hearth with a rounded back. Enclosed inside the first floor of the rear extension is 18th-century external basket-pattern pargetting on the rear wall.

The early 16th-century main range (block 3) has an underbuilt jetty, plain joists of horizontal section, a chamfered axial beam, and early 17th-century oak panelling on the ground floor. It retains a crownpost roof with axial bracing, standing above the roof of the adjacent crosswing.

The 16th-century crosswing behind the main range (block 4) preserves on its first floor a large unglazed window with three of six diamond mullions remaining in situ, now blocked by the adjacent later block, and a small 19th-century cast iron grate in the left side.

The 3-bay hall (block 5) contains a 17th or 18th-century inserted floor, a Victorian cast iron range, and on the first floor a small early 17th-century oak panelled door with contemporary cockshead hinges. The rear wallplate exposes empty rafter seatings, the rear wall having been raised when block (6) was constructed. Only the right bay retains a crownpost roof with axial bracing.

The rear 16th-century crosswing (block 6) features a chamfered binding beam with lamb's tongue stops and plain joists of horizontal section. The wallplates are also chamfered with lamb's tongue stops. The rear wall originally contained a large oriel window with smaller lights to each side; one of these survives, with moulded jambs and mullion and two diamond saddle bars. The roof is of clasped purlin construction with high collars and arched wind-bracing, exposed to the collars.

Of particular note is a floral wall painting of high quality dating to around 1580, which survives almost intact on the front wall of the first floor, with traces of similar painting visible on other walls. On the ground floor is a large wood-burning hearth with a chamfered and mitred mantel beam and some renewed brickwork at the sides. The first floor contains another large wood-burning hearth with rear splays, chamfered jambs, and a depressed arch, retaining its original plaster. Above this hearth is a painted text from the Geneva Bible, Deuteronomy VI, verses 4-9. In the upper side of the stack is an original plain cupboard opening off the stair tower. The stair has been rebuilt, and a doorhead on the ground floor is modern.