Colneford House

House. Built in 1685 for George and Elizabeth Toller. The house is timber framed, with plaster infill and a roof covered in handmade red plain tiles. It is arranged in an L-shape, facing northwest, with an original stair tower and a 20th-century extension to the rear. There is an earlier 17th-century wing to the northeast. The house features 16th-century red brick chimney stacks, one central and one on the external northeast end wall. The house has two storeys and attics, with a five-window front featuring 20th-century leaded casement windows, many incorporating original parts. A 20th-century square bay window is at the southwest end, and a similar gabled dormer window above, with leaded lights and Gothic 2-centred heads. Elaborate pargeting, decorated with conventional foliage, strapwork, and foliated borders, has been accurately restored, and contains a cartouche inscribed with the date 1685 and the initials GET.

Inside, the timber frame is largely complete, with stop-chamfered bridging joists throughout. Later 15th-century moulded joists were re-used in the 17th-century rear wing. The roof structure includes double top plates with halved and bladed scarfs, clasping tiebeams and attic floor joists. The main roof is framed with staggered side-purlins and collars to the principal rafters. The 17th-century rear wing has a simpler roof with yoked collars. Late 17th-century, bolection-moulded fireplaces are present in wood and marble, and the main ground-floor rooms have matching panelling. Most of the original doors remain, along with an original open well staircase with turned balusters, a square handrail, and ball finials to the newel posts. The staircase now terminates at the first floor, but a section of the upper part survives at attic level. The main chimney stack includes a re-used 15th-century mantel beam with a cambered top, located in the center room. The house is notable for the quality and completeness of its detailing, and especially for its important example of 17th-century pargeting, considered one of the most significant in the county and in southeast England.