Rivenshall

Rivenshall is a house dating from the late 16th and 17th centuries, with possible earlier origins. It is timber framed, with plaster infill and a roof of handmade red clay tiles. The building has a complex layout, comprising a main range facing southeast, a 3-bay range built around 1600 to the rear of the right end, a 17th-century rear wing behind the middle of the main range, a shorter and lower range at the left end of the main range, and a single-storey lean-to extension to the rear.

The main range has a central axial stack to the left. The ground floor has one 19th-century casement window, one 20th-century casement, and one 20th-century bay window. The first floor has two 19th-century casements and two 20th-century casements. A flush 6-panel door is set within a simple pediment head. The roofs are hipped. Each of the two stacks features four grouped octagonal shafts. A cast iron rainhead is present.

On the right return side are two 18th-century 3-light windows with rectangular leading, each with a wrought iron casement, and one 2-light window with ovolo mullions, which has been moved from another location.

Remnants of an earlier open hall building are visible in the main range, including a fragment of an aisle sole plate, an octagonal post with a moulded capital and base, and parts of a former spere truss. An adjoining barn also contains remnants of this earlier construction.

The southwest block is a well-carpentered structure of one storey with original attics. It has a single long bay between two short bays, with a full-width ovolo-mullioned window of 6 lights in the middle bay. The structure features storey posts with moulded imposts two-thirds of the way up, supporting bridging beams. The attic is designed for habitation and has a butt-purlin roof with heavy double collars. The intermediate posts are unjowled. The southeast end wall is of interrupted tiebeam design to accommodate a large attic window. This block appears to have originally been conceived as an independent cottage of markedly original design. Later, the northeast wall of this building was altered with the introduction of a western stack, which created an arched fireplace of 3-centred curvature to the southwest and a fireplace with a timber lintel to the northeast.