The Montefiore Institute

The Montefiore Institute is a house that has been converted into an institute and cottage. It dates from the 18th century and was altered around 1860 in the Gothic Revival style. The building is timber framed and has a roughcast render, with a roof made of handmade plain and ornamental red clay tiles. The main part of the building faces northwest and features a large external stack at the rear, slightly left of center, which is partly enclosed by a catslide extension on the left rear, roofed with slate. There is also a 19th-century external stack at the left end of the building. A single-storey wing extends to the rear of the right end. The structure has two storeys and attics, with a four-window range of 19th-century casements arranged in groups of three, three, three, and one light, all with cast iron lattices. There are three similar casements with three lights each in gabled dormers that have fretted bargeboards. The building features two plain boarded doors, each topped with a 19th-century gabled canopy supported by scrolled brackets, and both canopies are roofed with ornamental tiles and crested ridge-tiles. The gambrel roof is decorated with ornamental tiles in diamond patterns. The rear stack is truncated at the eaves level.

Inside, the ground floor of the main range is divided into two large rooms used for public and library purposes, while the rear extensions and upper floors comprise the dwelling known as No. 17. In both ground floor rooms, the transverse beams are boxed, and the joggled longitudinal beams are partly boxed and partly chamfered with lamb's tongue stops. Each room has a 19th-century freestanding post, chamfered with plain stops, supporting the transverse beam. There are two late 19th-century staircases leading from the ground to the first floor, with the right staircase altered. A late 18th-century dogleg stair leads from the first floor to the attic, featuring turned newels, stick balusters, and a moulded handrail, which is missing on the first flight. Above the first floor, the beams are chamfered with lamb's tongue stops. The rear stack is made of 16th-century bricks with lime mortar, and behind it is an 18th or 19th-century hearth with an additional shaft for sweeping the chimney, while in front of it is a 20th-century grate.