Millbank

Millbank is a house dating from the early and late 16th century. It is timber-framed and rendered with gabled clay plain tile roofs, with a hipped corner on the north side. The house has a two-story 'L' plan form, with a garage lean-to on the southwest end. The projecting southeast gable features imitation framing and a 20th-century oriel window on the first floor above a flat-roofed bay window, both with casements. A 20th-century plaster date of 1661 is above a flat-roofed porch. The main south elevation has a 20th-century triangular oriel window over a 19th-century double-hung sash window with three vertical glazing bars. A late 16th-century brick stack with three diagonal shafts rises from the northwest corner, rebuilt at the head but retaining its original base, which has two canted brick corner gablets at the springing of the shafts. The plan arrangement is mysterious, seemingly resulting from the incorporation of an early 16th-century structure into a later 16th-century complex.

The southwest-northeast block is the remains of a late 16th-century ‘baffle entry’ house, likely of two bays plus a central stack bay. The southwest bay is now missing, showing evidence of serious fire damage. The framing features close studding, evidence of diamond mullioned windows, jowled posts, and arch braces to tie beams. The roof has clasped side purlins. The contemporary stack originally contained back-to-back wood-burning fireplaces and a ‘solar’ fireplace above. A mantel beam on the ‘hall’ side is covered in inscribed protective lines and the initials “FR WR” and the date 1668, alongside a separate date of 1661. Remains of a door opening are located at the flank of the stack, and an old rebated board partition separates the ‘hall’ from the older wing. A three-bay, two-story section has a mixture of jowled and unjowled posts, with an arch-braced crown post roof. The remains of diamond mullioned windows and external wall bracing are also present. At the junction with the late 16th-century block is a wide opening with arch braces to the wall plate, creating one large L-shaped first-floor room. An angle tie is visible at roof plate level on the northeast corner. A former partition on the ground floor has been moved, showing evidence of a further door opening. The building was likely non-residential when first built.