Kennel House

Kennel House is an early 18th-century house, extended in the 20th century, located on Brentwood Road, Ingrave. It is constructed of red and blue brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a roof of handmade red clay tiles. The house has a rectangular plan facing southwest, with a central internal brick stack at the rear forming a lobby-entrance. A two-story wing was added to the rear, centrally located, with a single-story extension beyond. A further single-story extension in the rear left angle creates a catslide roofline with the main roof.

The original facade has two symmetrically arranged 20th-century casement windows on each floor, with flat brick arches. A central first-floor window is also a 20th-century casement. There are two casements in original hipped dormers. A half-glazed door, likely from the early 19th century, is set within an introduced 18th-century hardwood door frame with egg and dart mouldings; it is situated in a wider original aperture, now with chamfered brick jambs rising to a height of 1.70 meters, and a rebuilt head which probably contained a semicircular arch originally. Blue headers and red stretchers create a patterned effect. A raised band of three brick courses runs around the house at first-floor level. Inscriptions “EB. 1714” and “J.C. 1714” are visible in brick to the right of the right ground-floor window and to the left of the doorway, respectively, at heights of 1.50 meters and 3.0 meters. Original sprockets remain all around the roof, and the left elevation features three 20th-century casements, one of which penetrates the raised band to provide light to the stair. The rear elevation partially uses an English bond brick pattern within the lean-to extension, and a blocked original window aperture is partially covered by the rear wing.

The interior retains substantial original features. The timber structure of both floors, the staircase, the roof, and the dormers are all original, crafted from high-quality oak. The attic floor comprises three bays with joggled longitudinal beams, chamfered with lamb’s tongue stops. The first floor is of a similar design, with plain, vertically sectioned joists, mostly plastered to the soffits. Each ground-floor room has an original large wood-burning corner hearth; the left hearth has been altered by the insertion of two cupboards and a 20th-century grate, while the right hearth has a 19th-century grate. A winder staircase leads from the ground floor to the attic, located in the front left corner, and features a plain newel, handrail, one turned baluster, and an original moulded three-plank door at its foot. An early 19th-century attached corner cupboard in the right ground-floor room includes arched heads, profiled shelves, and panelled doors. A further 18th-century corner cupboard, with a serpentine slatted grill, is found in the right first-floor room. The roof structure is of joggled butt-purlin construction. There are original inscribed symbols below and on each side of each dormer, likely used for protective purposes. It is believed the house was built in 1714, and its exceptional range of original features warrants careful preservation.